Home Alone Triple Pack


Overall | Home Alone | Home Alone 2: Lost In New York | Home Alone 3

Overall Package

        The Home Alone Triple Pack boxed set is basically a collection of three films with a small amount of supplemental material on each disc, nothing more. There is no extra disc with any particularly revealing insight into how the films were made or what technical considerations had to be accounted for. Instead, we have the entire trilogy in a single box, with the same extras replicated on each disc. Ordinarily, I wouldn't recommend this boxed set, but its retail value is equivalent to the price of buying the first two films separately. However, you would have to be a fan of the first two films in the extreme to derive any sort of viewing pleasure from the third film, which I personally put in the same basket as all the retarded rubbish that Disney likes to pass off as suitable viewing for children. At Michael's suggestion, I have compiled the following list of pros and cons to buying the boxed set:

    The Pros of the boxed set are;

  1. Three discs for the price of two
  2. You get a nice box to put them in
  3. Home Alone 3 makes a nice frisbee, coffee coaster, microwave tester, shot-put target, etc
  4. A spare Transparent Amaray case always comes in handy
    The Cons of the boxed set are;
  1. The third disc is Home Alone 3
  2. The box takes up more shelf space than three unboxed Transparent Amaray cases
  3. Force your children to sit through Home Alone 3, and they'll spend the rest of their lives wanting to kill you (I know I would have).
    It is worth bearing in mind that Home Alone 3 is not available separately, but I'm sure you'll understand why from my incoherent raving about its absolute badness. Nevertheless, the first two films in the series are good for a couple of hundred minutes' worth of distraction.
 

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall


Overall | Home Alone | Home Alone 2: Lost In New York | Home Alone 3

Home Alone


This review is sponsored by
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Details At A Glance

General
Extras
Category Comedy Home Alone Theatrical Trailer
Home Alone 2 Theatrical Trailer
Home Alone 3 Theatrical Trailer
Rating pg.gif (1010 bytes)
Year Released 1990
Running Time 98:36 Minutes
(Not 114:10 as per packaging)
RSDL/Flipper No/No
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region 2,4 Director Chris Columbus
Studio
Distributor
Fox.gif (4090 bytes)
Fox Home Video
Starring Macaulay Culkin
Joe Pesci
Daniel Stern
John Heard
Roberts Blossom
Catherine O'Hara
Case Transparent Amaray
RPI Boxed Set - $79.95
Disc - $31.95
Music John Williams

 
Video
Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None Audio (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192 K/bs)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9Yes.jpg (4536 bytes)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
Miscellaneous
Macrovision Yes Smoking Yes, Joe Pesci's hand smokes rather well at one point
Subtitles 1 (Czech)
2 (Danish)
3 (English for the Hearing Impaired)
4 (Finnish)
5 (Hebrew)
6 (Hungarian)
7 (Icelandic)
8 (Norwegian)
9 (Polish)
10 (Portuguese)
11 (Swedish)
Annoying Product Placement Yes, very mildly
Action In or After Credits No

Plot Synopsis

    In 1990, John Hughes and Chris Columbus teamed up to make the best family comedy since Ghostbusters, a Vaudevillian film simply titled Home Alone. Parents around the world dragged their children along to see a pre-pubescent child use improvised booby-traps to beat the crap out of two incompetent bandits, all to the frantic pace provided in musical form by the legendary John Williams. As a matter of fact, very few films that could be viewed as being specifically aimed at children are this pleasant to watch, thanks in a big way to a brilliant performance by Joe Pesci.

    Of course, the plot of this film is simple, even if it contains a lot of interesting subtexts about family relationships. Of course, another area where Home Alone succeeds is that it manages to present such subtexts without descending into the preachiness that plagues other films of this ilk.

    The McCallister family are in a frantic rush, making preparations for a holiday that entails flight, as well as having a lot of problems relating to the fact that there are too many children and not enough responsible adults in the house. As Peter McCallister (John Heard), Kate McCallister (Catherine O'Hara), Frank McCallister (Gerry Bamman), and Leslie McCallister (Terrie Snell) rush to and through the airport with a horde of children in tow, they leave one essential thing behind: Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin). Meanwhile, two robbers in the forms of Harry (Joe Pesci) and his idiotic cohort Marv (Daniel Stern) are planning to rob the family house, thinking that even with a solitary pre-pubescent boy in the house, their task will be relatively simple. Parallel to this, we are treated to some dialogues between Kevin and Old Man Marley (Roberts Blossom), as well as the frantic efforts of Kate to make her way back to the house and protect her son. Of course, on the night that the bandits attempt to raid the house, they discover that the child they saw as little threat has a talent for rigging some nice booby-traps out of common household items, leading to some hilarious slapstick, at least in the short term.

    Of course, the replay value of this film is somewhat lacking if you watch the film frequently, but if you want to sit through something that will keep both the adults and children in the family amused for a while, then this is a very good place to start.

Transfer Quality

Video

    Having seen this film at the theatre, I believe this transfer is as good as we could really ask for.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and is 16x9 Enhanced. This is a slight variation from the theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but it doesn't appear that any picture information is missing from the sides of the frame.

    The transfer is sharp in the foregrounds, but not quite as sharp as the later episodes in the trilogy, although you'd have to be rather picky to really care. Like the other films in the trilogy, the transfer was slightly blurry in the backgrounds. The shadow detail can best be described as good, and since it is good enough to make out who is being hit with what, there's no reason to complain. There is no low-level noise, which is an important thing when you consider how much darkness there is in some parts of the transfer. Film grain is a slight problem in some shots, but this was only limited to a couple of shots that appeared to be stock footage, anyway.

    The colour saturation is bright and vibrant, in spite of the fact that a lot of the film takes place in the dark. The film has a real warm and friendly look to it, and there are plenty of shots with a myriad of bright colours on display.

    MPEG artefacts were not especially noticeable during the feature, although there were occasions when the picture seemed to be on the edge of dissolving into a mass of pixels. The condition of the source material and length of the programming, combined with all of the extras, seemed to be pressing the compression just a little bit too tight. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of some shimmering on the edges of objects, but overall, this artefact was quite well-controlled. Film artefacts were somewhat more prevalent, with black marks occasionally streaming across the picture, but they were never too distracting.

    In case you're wondering why the subtitles are numbered in the technical information above, it is because this disc was authored without any language names for either the audio tracks or the subtitles. Annoying, for certain, but unless English is not your primary language, I wouldn't sweat it.

Audio

    There is only the one soundtrack on this DVD: the original English dialogue in Dolby Digital 2.0 with surround-encoding. It would have been nice to have a 5.1 remix, but the audio transfer is more than adequate, all things considered.

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times, within the limits of Macaulay Culkin's occasional mumbling. There were no apparent problems with audio sync, although the sound effects during the climactic sequences exhibited a tendency to be out of sync by a fraction of a second.

    The score music in this film is the work of the great John Williams, and it is literally worth listening to by itself. The music and the onscreen action are well linked, so much so that the music manages to make a sequence as mundane as the setting of the booby-traps seem like a big, grand adventure. Events as ordinary as visits to the local supermarket are lent a sense of importance by the music, which also enhances the comedic value of the moments when Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci fall all over each other.

    The surround channels were generally silent during the establishing sequences of the film, with just the occasional special effect and music directed into the rears. This changed quite dramatically in the last third of the film, with the surround channels constantly active to support the sounds of the burglars being injured. The sound of flying paint cans was particularly well supported, with both the rears and the subwoofer springing to life in support of this hilarious sequence. Speaking of the subwoofer, it was consistently active throughout the film, supporting the lower registers of the music, as well as the sounds of airplanes. Again, it was more active in the last third of the film than in the lead-up, awaking with a real start once the burglars entered the house.

Extras

    It appears that the same three trailers are on each of the three discs in this boxed set. This is a waste of the bits on each disc, which I feel is worthy of point deductions when you consider that the main features need as much space as they can possibly get to look their best.

Menu

    The menu is static, but 16x9 Enhanced. Navigation is easy, except the print is a little difficult to read.

Home Alone Trailer

    Presented Full Frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, this trailer features some of the funniest lines in the film without giving them all away. It provides an excellent demonstration of why the original is the best film in the franchise.

Home Alone 2 Trailer

    Also presented Full Frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, this trailer features a bastardization of an old Christmas Carol. Worth watching once.

Home Alone 3 Trailer

    While we're on the subject, all the trailers on this disc are encoded without timing information. This is a practise I severely do not want to see Fox taking up, as it is almost as annoying as Universal's habit of only 16x9 Enhancing their worst films. This trailer is also presented Full Frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, and features a couple of minutes too much from the film.

R4 vs R1

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;     The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;     There's no real contest here, although reliable reports state that a 16x9 Enhanced version of this film is coming to Region 1 soon. However, the fact that John Williams' score music is available on a separate compact disc eliminates any compelling reason to endure the 3:2 pulldown artefacts that are part and parcel of the NTSC format.

Summary

    Home Alone is a fun comedy that the whole family can enjoy, although some parental guidance is definitely recommended. It is presented on a good DVD.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is good.

    The extras are reasonable.
 

Ratings (out of 5)

Video star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green_half.gif (874 bytes)
Audio star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)
Extras star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)
Plot star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green_half.gif (874 bytes)
Overall star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green_half.gif (874 bytes)

© Dean McIntosh (my bio sucks... read it anyway)
October 28, 2000

Review Equipment
   
DVD Grundig GDV 100 D, using composite output; Toshiba SD-2109, using S-video output
Display Panasonic TC-29R20 (68 cm), 4:3 mode, using composite input; Samsung CS-823AMF (80 cm), 16:9 mode/4:3 mode, using composite and S-video inputs, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder Built In (Amplifier)
Amplification Sony STR-DE835, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers Yamaha NS-45 Front Speakers, Philips PH931SSS Rear Speakers, Philips FB206WC Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Active Subwoofer

Overall | Home Alone | Home Alone 2: Lost In New York | Home Alone 3

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York


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Details At A Glance

General
Extras
Category Comedy Home Alone Theatrical Trailer
Home Alone 2 Theatrical Trailer
Home Alone 3 Theatrical Trailer
Rating pg.gif (1010 bytes)
Year Released 1992
Running Time 115:07 Minutes
RSDL/Flipper No/No
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region 2,4 Director Chris Columbus
Studio
Distributor
Fox.gif (4090 bytes)
Fox Home Video
Starring Macaulay Culkin
Joe Pesci
Daniel Stern
Catherine O'Hara
John Heard
Devin Ratray
Case Transparent Amaray
RPI Disc - $31.95
Boxed Set - $79.95
Music John Williams

 
 
Video
Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192 Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9Yes.jpg (4536 bytes)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
Miscellaneous
Macrovision Yes Smoking Yes, people generally smoke after being blown up.
Subtitles Czech
Danish
English
Finnish
Hebrew
Hungarian
Icelandic
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Swedish
Annoying Product Placement Yes, want to guess which hotel helped pay for the film?
Action In or After Credits No

Plot Synopsis

    Home Alone 2 is another symptom of a creative illness that is running rampant throughout the brains of Hollywood executives. Essentially, this illness has them believing that if a film with a vaguely interesting idea is successful, one must make as many sequels as one can get away with. Not that this is a bad film, because I quite enjoyed it when I saw it at the theatre, it's just not anywhere near as good as the original. One very minor problem with the original Home Alone was the product placement, a problem which has been compounded quite badly in this sequel with the obvious placement of a Donald Trump hotel, not to mention the usual usage of specific brands of various implements. This would be just fine if it weren't for the fact that this film's plot relies on way too many coincidences and plot devices to set up the central scenario. Then there's the manner in which everything that happens in the original Home Alone happens in this sequel, just a little differently. Even the sequence with Kevin's family watching foreign-dubbed television has been recycled for this film.

    Before you get the idea that I severely dislike this film, let me just say that I quite enjoyed the film when I saw it theatrically, and I still enjoy it after several repeat viewings. It's just not the sort of ultimate classic that I could rewatch several times in a day. The plot concerns itself with the McCallister family's preparations for a holiday in Florida and their manic rush through the local airport due to the alarm clock being conveniently reset again, resulting in the convenient pressing deadline. Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) finds himself stranded in New York after another string of improbable coincidences, where he once again encounters Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern), the Wet Bandits of the previous film, except that Marv has decided they need a new trademark. To this end, he has decided to wrap a hand in double-sided duct tape so that whatever he decides to pinch will be stuck to his hand, hence the Sticky Bandits. Thankfully, this one-scene gag was only stretched out for the film's ending, although it doesn't quite have the same ring as the Wet Bandits jokes in the previous film. In any case, the two bandits plan to rob a toy store that makes an annual donation to a prominent charity, hence they have a surplus of cash just in time for Harry and Marv to rob the place on Christmas Eve. Kevin, naturally, decides that he must foil their plans using the only method he knows: constructing a series of crude booby-traps and leading them through one disaster after another.

    Home Alone 2 was, and still is, an adequate follow-up to the original. It lacks the spontaneity and excitement of the original to some degree, but since the main stars of the original are still present for this episode, it will more than adequately fill a couple of hours. The stunts are more vaudevillian, the one-liners are more cheesy, the bandits are a little more stupid, and the parental-nightmare subplot is milked for even more than it is worth. At least it is still a genuine family comedy in that it can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages, even if some degree of leaving the brain at the door is required.

Transfer Quality

Video

    I was expecting this transfer to be marginally better than Home Alone, but the one thing I can say about this disc as any serious criticism of the transfer is that it would have looked better with RSDL formatting.

    The transfer is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is 16x9 Enhanced.

    The transfer is very sharp whenever the camera is focused upon the foreground, but shots in which we are meant to see details in the background, such as 17:20, after the obligatory discovery that Kevin is missing again, were blurry and indistinct. Having seen this shot in the theatre, I can say for certain that this is not how the people in the background of the shot were meant to look, even if they were only slightly more in focus than they appear to be on this disc. The shadow detail is very good, and certainly more than adequate for the night-time scenes. There is no low-level noise in the transfer, and the grain that plagued certain shots in the original Home Alone seems to be mostly absent.

    The colour saturation is well-balanced, giving the shades of green and blue that dominate this transfer a natural, vivid look. The Christmas lights that feature more prominently in this episode are also rendered well, with none of the colour-bleeding, misregistration, or cross-colouration that plagued the VHS version of this film being apparent.

    MPEG artefacts were not a serious problem with this transfer, at least not in the foreground, but the tight compression has resulted in a loss of background details that I found a little distressing at times. There is no pixelization or macro-blocking evident in the backgrounds, however, so this is as good a single-layer transfer as we can expect. Film-to-video artefacts were not present in the transfer, save for the occasional mild instance of aliasing that went by without becoming a serious distraction. Film artefacts were occasionally present, mostly taking on the shape of white flecks during the last forty minutes.

Audio

    There is only the one soundtrack on this disc: the original English dialogue in Dolby Digital 2.0, with surround-encoding. The bitrate is a rather paltry 192 kilobits per second, but, like the original, the bitrate might as well be ten times as high, the soundtrack is that lively. If I remember correctly, the film was originally shown in theatres with Dolby Stereo sound, making this mix something of an improvement.

    The dialogue, such as it is, was clear and easy to understand at all times, even with the limits posed by Macaulay Culkin's tendency to mutter from time to time. Audio sync wasn't a problem at any time in the film, although there were moments when it looked like there was some marginal ADR.

    Just as this sequel had the benefit of participation from the principal actors from the original, its score benefits from the magic touch of John Williams. Again, the score music is literally worth listening to by itself. The usual Williams trademark of making the music and onscreen events so inextricably linked that you cannot imagine one without the other is in full force here, and once again, events as ordinary as checking out of a hotel are lent a sense of importance by the music. Even if the rest of the film feels slightly recycled, the score music sounds so lively that you could be forgiven for thinking that Williams wrote the score a matter of minutes before he began recording it.

    The surround channels were frequently used to support the action sequences and the music, all without calling any immediate attention to themselves. This matrix-encoded soundtrack sounds a lot more lively and active than its discrete cousin on Home Alone 3, reflecting the greater amount of technical and artistic care taken with the making of the film. The subwoofer was frequently called upon to support the sounds of bodies hitting the ground, among other things, and it did so without calling attention to itself. Overall, this would be the best soundtrack afforded to the trilogy.

Extras

Menu

    The menu is static, but 16x9 Enhanced.

Home Alone Trailer

    Presented Full Frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, this trailer features some of the funniest lines in the film without giving them all away. It provides an excellent demonstration of why the original is the best film in the franchise.

Home Alone 2 Trailer

    Also presented Full Frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, this trailer features a bastardization of an old Christmas Carol. Worth watching once.

Home Alone 3 Trailer

    While we're on the subject, all the trailers on this disc are encoded without timing information. This is a practise I severely no not want to see Fox taking up, as it is almost as annoying as Universal's habit of only 16x9 Enhancing their worst films. This trailer is also presented Full Frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, and features a couple of minutes too much from the film.

R4 vs R1

    The Region 1 version of this disc, like the other two films in the series, is not 16x9 Enhanced, although such a version of this disc is rumoured to be in the works.

Summary

    Home Alone 2: Lost In New York is a slightly lesser film than its predecessor, but it is miles ahead of the sequel that followed. It is presented on a very good DVD.

    The video quality is good, but appears slightly overcompressed in some shots.

    The audio quality is good, featuring one of the best matrix-encoded mixes you're ever likely to hear.

    The extras are sufficient.
 

Ratings (out of 5)

Video star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green_half.gif (874 bytes)
Audio star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)
Extras star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green_half.gif (874 bytes)
Plot star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)
Overall star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green.gif (100 bytes)star_green_half.gif (874 bytes)

© Dean McIntosh (my bio sucks... read it anyway)
October 28, 2000.

Review Equipment
   
DVD Grundig GDV 100 D, using composite output; Toshiba SD-2109, using S-video output
Display Samsung CS-823AMF (80 cm), 16:9 mode/4:3 mode, using composite and S-video inputs, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder Built In (Amplifier)
Amplification Sony STR-DE835, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers Yamaha NS-45 Front Speakers, Philips PH931SSS Rear Speakers, Philips FB206WC Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Active Subwoofer

Overall | Home Alone | Home Alone 2: Lost In New York | Home Alone 3

Home Alone 3


This review is sponsored by
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Details At A Glance

General
Extras
Category Comedy? Trailer: Home Alone (Full Frame, Dolby Digital 2.0)
Trailer: Home Alone 2 (Full Frame, Dolby Digital 2.0)
Trailer: Home Alone 3 (Full Frame, Dolby Digital 2.0)
Cast & Crew Biographies
Rating pg.gif (1010 bytes)
Year Released 1997
Running Time 98:21 
RSDL/Flipper No/No
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region 2,4 Director Raja Gosnell
Studio
Distributor
Fox.gif (4090 bytes)
Fox Home Video
Starring Alex D. Linz
Olek Krupa
Rya Kihlstedt
Lenny von Dohlen
David Thornton
Haviland Morris
Case Transparent Amaray
RPI Boxed Set $79.95 Music Nick Glennie-Smith

 
 
Video
Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9Yes.jpg (4536 bytes)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
Miscellaneous
Macrovision Yes Smoking No
Subtitles Czech
Danish
English
Finnish
Hebrew
Hungarian
Icelandic
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Swedish
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

Plot Synopsis

    All I have to say is "please don't make me watch this piece of [several expletives deleted] again!", or something along those lines. When film buffs talk about bad films, they generally divide bad films into two separate and very distinct categories: films that are so bad that they become good, and films that are just plain bad. It is my sad duty to report that Home Alone 3 is in a subcategory branching off from the latter, in that it is so bad that I would voluntarily burn my anus closed with a propane torch in order to get the hundred minutes I spent watching this pile of drivel back. Of course, the other two episodes in the Home Alone franchise were nothing to rave about in terms of dramatic quality, but they still managed to entertain in a sadistic sort of way that appeals to the sort of viewer who likes seeing an idiot getting hit in the face with a brick. Another advantage the first two episodes had was that it had characters who were appealing or charismatic, which makes a contrast with the ugly child and moronic burglars in this instalment. Of course, with Hollywood being as fickle as it is, it wasn't long before Macaulay Culkin's youthful appeal faded away, and the producers of this film were forced to have a new child actor take the spot he filled so well in the first two films. Their choice, Alex D. Linz, would have to qualify as one of the ugliest and most lifeless child actors I've seen in living memory. On top of that, the real star of Home Alone one and two, a volatile and versatile actor with great comedic talents by the name of Joe Pesci, must have decided he didn't want a bar of this third episode.

    Everything that happens in the first two Home Alone films happens in this one, more or less, without the spontaneous feeling or score music by John Williams that made the other two films so enjoyable. Indeed, Home Alone 3 belongs in a similar category to Godzilla, where it is necessary to leave your brain and most of your body at the door in order to enjoy this mess. The plot, such as it is, revolves around a foursome of thieves who have stolen a microchip that can make missiles invisible to radar. Excuse me for a second while I deal with my inability to swallow such a huge load of codswallop. Anyway, getting back to the foursome of thieves, as they are leaving an airport, the bag in which they've placed the remote-controlled car in which they've hidden the chip gets switched with a bag belonging to an old lady. This particular old lady happens to be a neighbour of what has to be the ugliest child actor I've seen since the one out of the colour episodes of Skippy, and she decides to give him the model car in lieu of payment for his shovelling of her driveway. The rest of the film concerns itself with the attempts by these burglars to retrieve the car and the microchip, in which said burglars display even less intelligence than the burglars from the previous two instalments. Excuse me, John Hughes, but the only thing I'd believe these thieves would be able to steal is their way into a prison cell. There is no way on Earth that a bunch of thieves this incompetent that they cannot even retrieve a remote-controlled car (which cannot possibly outrun a fully grown man) could possibly break into Silicon Valley and steal a microchip that contradicts the laws of science and technology just by existing.

    I don't know what in the name of donkeys Roger Ebert was smoking when he described this episode in the trilogy as being better than the first two (I hope for his sake that the quote was taken out of context), but you're going to need a copious amount of it to sit through this film. I had to view it in two sittings, it was simply that painful.

Transfer Quality

Video

    In keeping with my theory that the worst films get the best transfers, there is very little to complain about with this transfer in spite of being restricted to a single sided, single layered disc. By the way, Fox, can we please stop using "DVD 5" in lieu of this description? I've discovered that of all the patrons I've run into at the DVD sections of my local Grace Bros. and Target stores, the only one who knows what this description means learned it from me. Such techno-speak is fundamentally misleading.

    Anyway, the transfer is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and it is 16x9 Enhanced. The transfer is razor sharp in the foregrounds, but many of the backgrounds seemed to be blurry and indistinct, although the blame for this can be shared equally between the compression and the photography. The shadow detail is nothing remarkable, with there only being sufficient detail in dark areas of the transfer to discern between actors and props. Given that the vast majority of the film takes place in well-lit conditions, this is not a serious problem. There is no low-level noise to mar the transfer.

    The colour saturation is nicely vibrant, with vast expanses of snow having plenty of smooth gradation between white and pale blue, while flesh tones looked suitably cold and snow-affected. The few sequences that take place in locations such as airports and offices were also well-saturated, although there wasn't much in them to show this off with.

    MPEG artefacts were not especially noticed in the transfer, although there were occasions when the background of the frame appeared to be on the verge of breaking out into macro-blocks. Posterization was not apparent largely because the only noticeable transitions between colours occur in the snow. Film-to-video artefacts were not noticed in the transfer, either. Film artefacts were not noticed, although there was the occasional tiny black fleck in the picture here and there, only noticeable because of the vast expanses of snow. Aside from maybe a dozen black spots throughout the entire picture, this is a very clean transfer.

Audio

    The much-superior original and second episodes only get Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded transfers, while this road accident of a film gets the full Dolby Digital 5.1 treatment. Go figure. This is nothing to get excited about, however, as there is little to discern this Dolby Digital 5.1 mix from the mixes afforded to the other episodes in the trilogy, save for the very occasional discretely-placed effect.

    There is only one soundtrack on this DVD, that being the original English dialogue in Dolby Digital 5.1, encoded at 384 kilobits a second. The dialogue is perfectly clear and easy to understand at all times, much to my eternal horror. There were no audio sync problems to ease my suffering at any time, either. All I could do was shake my head and refuse to believe that this is the work of the same John Hughes who wrote the other two Home Alone films, as well as Uncle Buck. Perhaps it was merely the actors who made the dialogue seem as ridiculous and painful as it was, because none of them look like they have acted in a film before or since.

    The score music on this film is credited to Nick Glennie-Smith, a poor substitute for the great and powerful John Williams, who scored the first two episodes of the trilogy. One could have removed the score from this film entirely and it wouldn't have made any difference to me, it was that ineffective. Still, it does manage to create and maintain a certain Three Stooges mood, but considering that we're talking about a three year old film that approximates the style of films that are more than fifty years of age, that's faint praise.

    The surround channels were used in an aggressive manner to supplement all sorts of special sound effects during the film. Police cars, background chatter at the airport, and barbells falling from balconies and catching burglars who should, by definition, know better were all supported well by the surrounds. However, there seemed to be little in the way of discrete placement for these sounds, with most surround effects merely shifting from speaker to speaker in a series of uneven steps. Perhaps it was just the way the film used surround effects, as there was very little in the onscreen action that could be supported by inspirational use of the surround channels. The direction of the music to the rears helped diminish its already non-existent effect. The subwoofer had a moderate workout supporting a number of crashing, crunching, and squashing sounds, all without calling any specific attention to itself.

Extras

Menu

    A static menu featuring a shot of the ugliest, most irritating child actor since the cast of Full House and the worst actors since Police Academy. I think that kind of says it all.

Home Alone Trailer

    Presented Full Frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, this trailer features some of the funniest lines in the film without giving them all away. It provides an excellent demonstration of why the original is the best film in the franchise.

Home Alone 2 Trailer

    Also presented Full Frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, this trailer features a bastardization of an old Christmas Carol. Worth watching once.

Home Alone 3 Trailer

    While we're on the subject, all the trailers on this disc are encoded without timing information. This is a practise I severely no not want to see Fox taking up, as it is almost as annoying as Universal's habit of only 16x9 Enhancing their worst films. This trailer is also presented Full Frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, and features a couple of minutes too much from the film.

Cast And Crew Biographies

    Biographies for all the guilty parties are presented here, for Alex D. Linz (the butt-ugly child whose visage on the front cover was enough to make me feel sick at the prospect of watching this film), Olek Kruda, Rya Kihlstedt, Lenny Von Dohle, David Thornton, Haviland Morris, Kevin Kilner, Marian Seldes, and writer John Hughes. A list of people you never want to work on your film, as it were.

R4 vs R1

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;    An NTSC picture without 16x9 Enhancement is an ugly thing to look at. There are some exceptions, such as The Thing, but they serve to prove the rule. This is furthered by the fact that the Region 1 version retails for US$34.98, a price I wouldn't take to watch this film again. If you really, really, really must have this film, I strongly recommend purchasing the Region 4 boxed set.

Summary

    Home Alone 3 is a more ill-advised sequel than Scream 3, or even Friday The 13th, Part 3. There is nothing remotely entertaining about it, the kid hero is an annoying little sack with none of the redeeming features that made Macaulay Culkin such a hit, and the four thieves in this film have as much intelligence and charm as Daniel Stern's right thumbnail. I simply cannot recommend this film and live with myself, unless you're looking for a weapon to use against parents who insist on showing their children crap like The Wiggles. It is presented on a very good DVD.

    The video quality is almost faultless.

    The audio quality is excellent except for underutilisation of the surround channels.

    The extras are reasonable.

Ratings (out of 5)

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© Dean McIntosh (my bio sucks... read it anyway)
October 28, 2000.

Review Equipment
   
DVD Grundig GDV 100 D, using composite output; Toshiba SD-2109, using S-video output
Display Samsung CS-823AMF (80 cm), 16:9 mode/4:3 mode, using composite and S-video inputs, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder Built In (Amplifier)
Amplification Sony STR-DE835, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers Yamaha NS-45 Front Speakers, Philips PH931SSS Rear Speakers, Philips FB206WC Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Active Subwoofer


Overall | Home Alone | Home Alone 2: Lost In New York | Home Alone 3