What would you do if you were home alone as a young kid? Eight year old Macaulay Culkin plays the lead role of Kevin McCallister in the award-winning movie, “Home Alone.” The film follows the story of a boy named Kevin who is accidentally left behind while his family goes on a trip to Paris. Many outrageous events happen to Kevin while he is without his family, the main one being him being caught up in the middle of a burglary. Although Kevin is a young boy, he did everything in his power to defend his house while anticipating the arrival of his family to come get him.

Filmed in 1990, “Home Alone” was directed by Chris Colombus and written by John Hughes. According to an article in The Spokesman-Review, “Home Alone is still the highest-grossing comedy in movie history.”

When first released, “Home Alone” became one of the most popular movies across the United States. Hughes’ film won many awards in its time and continues to dominate millions of views around the holiday season.

Many believe that Macaulay Culkin was the perfect main character for this movie, and no one else could have fit this role as good as he did. In an interview with People magazine, John Hughes mentioned he wrote this role specifically for Culkin after seeing his performance in Uncle Buck, and fell in love with how natural he played his character, despite being so young. Hughes hoped that Culkin would bring the same energy in “Home Alone”.

The main character, Kevin McCallister, goes through many events when he wakes up to his whole family being gone. At first he was ecstatic that his family “disappeared” but events soon turned for the worst. Kevin has to fend for him self while two burglars, Harry and Marv break in. Kevin, being so young, was frightened at what he should do with no family around to help. In attempt to protect his house, he starts setting up booby traps to delay the mischief the two con-men are seeking. One of his classic traps loved by many movie critics was the hot iron to Marv’s face. Along with that trap, Kevin set up the paint can to the face, blowtorch to the head, a hot door handle, and slipping down the icy stairs. As the burglars struggled to make their next moves, Kevin was not too far back hysterically watching the way he dominated them. Many would think Harry and Marv would give up at some point, however they were so determined to not lose to an 8 year old kid. And if you’ve never seen the full movie, you’ll have to watch the ending to find out how the story concludes.

“Home Alone” is a magnificent, nostalgia-filled holiday classic that will never be forgotten. Every holiday season we are reminded of the originality of “Home Alone” and its timelessness. After watching the movie, generations of kids are left wondering what they would do if they were left home alone.