Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

I love Home Alone. It’s my favorite Christmas movie of all time. It’s timeless and it has something for everyone. Home Alone 2 is uninspired. It was a rush job in which they do the exact same thing but this time in NYC. Most of it is contrived and none of it makes a lot of sense. The Wet Bandits escape prison near Chicago and coincidently decide to go to NYC. Instead of a scary neighbor who turns out to have a great heart, there’s a scary homeless women who loves pigeons. And if you’ve seen the first Home Alone you know that the scary neighbor saves the day. The exact same thing happens here. To make matters worse, Kevin conveniently has an uncle with a big house in NYC. Even more conveniently is the fact that his uncle is out of town. To save the toy store, Kevin lures the Wet Bandits to the house and nearly identical mischief takes place. Literally everything that happens in this movie has a direct corollary in the first film. The biggest sin, however, is the complete lack of Kevin’s family. One of the best parts of the first movie is the interaction between Kevin and his family members before they leave him home alone. Buzz is great, but I Love Fuller and the French-speaking sister. What about big Pete Wrigley!? He needs more screen time! This was clearly a rushed sequel on a tighter budget that does nothing but tarnish the reputation of the first film.