Product Description

A band of international crooks has hidden a military computer chip inside a toy car, but an airport mix-up lands it in the hands of whiz-kid Alex Pruitt (Alex D. Linz) who's home alone with the chicken pox in a quiet Chicago suburb. When the criminals zero in on Alex's house with their high-tech gadgetry, madness and mayhem kick into high gear as the pint-sized hero defends himself against the bumbling bad guys -armed with an outrageous array of ambushes and booby traps!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8452 in DVD
• Brand: LINZ,ALEX
• Released on: 1998-11-03
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com
Here's a perfect movie for kids, who never seem to tire of John Hughes's sure-fire slapstick formula. Working yet another variation on his mammoth 1990 hit, writer-producer Hughes (regarded by many as Hollywood's antichrist) strands a youngster in his own home with the chicken pox in this 1997 retelling. While his parents go to work, he sees a team of burglars invading the neighborhood houses; in fact, they're spies, looking for a toy containing a stolen microchip. The inevitability of the finale--one kid holding off four professionals with toys and garden tools--will do nothing to lessen the amusement of youngsters, who love to see the bad guys get creamed. Adults may pause at the sadistic nature of some of Hughes's pranks, but kids will eat up the image of one of their own outwitting all the adults. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Home Alone should have been left alone
I'll admit that I loved the first two Home Alone movies. They had a certain charm to them given the silliness of the story. This third installment oozes with something else other than charm. Everything that was great about the first two HA movies is absent from this movie. Not to mention that the story is much different than the first two.

Plot: Some hi-tech crooks hide a microchip inside of a remote-controlled toy car. During their time in the airport, their luggage gets switched with the luggage of the crotchety middle-aged woman that lives next door to the Pruitt family. The crooks realize that their luggage has been swapped with the old woman and finds out where she lives. On arrival they meet up with the snotty scamp Alex who realizes something is wrong with them and plans to thwart them while his mother is away.

Opinion: After reading the plot, you already know that this has nothing to do with the MCcallister family. That is the least of its problems. What was fresh in the first two HA movies is now mundane. Every gag is the same: people get bonked upside the head with things and fall down. Alex D. Linz is about as bland as tofu. As a matter of fact, the whole cast is about as bland as tofu. The wisecracking parrot has more personality than these cardboard cutouts in this movie. The crooks made Harry and Marv look like geniuses. Did I forget to mention that this movie is lethally dull? Plus this movie is missing what made the first two great: Heart. This movie is emotionally distant like Marla Singer(Helena Bonham Carter's character in Fight Club). Nothing about this movie is redeemable. It's all routine. You've seen it all before done better. Home Alone 3 and 4 are classic examples of "milking the cow". If you love this "movie" you love these: BABY GENIUSES, SUPERBABIES: BABY GENIUSES 2, LOOK WHO'S TALKING NOW, ARE WE DONE YET, HONEY WE SHRUNK OURSELVES and PROBLEM CHILD 2.

A Modern Comedic Masterpiece
If you have not yet seen this film, I strongly encourage you to stop reading this review and run -- don't walk -- to the nearest video store to purchase a copy.

I recently had the pleasure of viewing this cinematic masterpiece in its entirety (on cable television). The uninformed may consider this film inferior to the first two, because it doesn't feature the endearing young Macaulay Culkin (and lovable rogues Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern). However, in my humble opinion, the plot, the pranks, and the lovable Alex D. Linz quickly will have viewers asking "Macaulay who?"

Left to his own devices, the fiendishly clever young Alex really puts these "Eurotrash" spies through the ringer. The sadistic pranks are every bit as good (if not better) than in the previous two Home Alone films. At the end of the day, the FBI is lucky to have Alex (and his affable parrot) on its side, as the international criminals -- having literally taken a beating -- are brought to justice.

Viewers may also be surprised to learn that, in an early high-water mark performance, actress Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation) appears as Alex's sister.

Well, at least this film had the right Idea.
This one is good, but not as good as the first two. I wish that the staring people in this were brought back for the fourth one. This movie had the right Ide because Macaulay Culkin was too old to play Kevin anymore, so they moved on to a different story. Recomended.

P.S. Stay away from the fourth.