Released: 1992
Directed by:Chris Columbus
Starring:
Macaulay Culkin - Kevin McCallister
Joe Pesci - Harry
Daniel Stern - Marv
Tim Curry - Mr Hector
Plot Synopsis: Macaulay Culkin returns as Kevin McCallister, the kid from the original
Home Alone. Set one year after the original movie, Kevin and his family are going to
Paris for
Christmas, and oversleep on the morning of the flight. In the confusion, Kevin accidentally gets a different flight than everyone else and arrives in
New York.
At first Kevin has a good time in a high-priced hotel (courtesy of his dad's credit card), but then discovers something from the past.
The "Wet Bandits", Harry and Marv (played by
Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) have escaped from prison and are also roaming New York. Kevin stumbles on their plan to rob a toy store on
Christmas Eve and decides to do something about it.
Going to his uncle's
abandoned house in New York, he sets up a variety of traps with which to injure and stop the theives, then arrives at the toy store on the day with a camera. Kevin takes a photo of the two breaking in for blackmail purposes and uses it to lure them to the house.
Like in the first film, Kevin also befriends a
scary person and teaches them the value of love or family or some such crap. The contrived ending (and I don't think I'm giving anything away there) is a little
cheesy, but I don't think that anyone'll mind too much after seeing people get set on fire and dropped off buildings.
Review: This film is essentially more of the same, and if you liked the original then you're bound to like this. The plot is thin at best and the entertainment value is in the "that-guy-should-be-dead-by-now" slapstick and recycled jokes, which have unfortunately become stale.
In all it's not as good as the (and I hate to admit it) fresh original, but more entertaining than
Home Alone 3. 4/10
After careful thought, I remembered that
Tim Curry is in the movie with his fantastic voice, so it gets two extra points. Then I remembered that Macaulay Culkin does that annoying "screaming" thing, take away a point. End result, 5/10.