Hello, moviegoers, and welcome back to the theater!
Since I looked at ‘Home Alone’ in the previous segment, I am now looking at its sequel, ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York’ (Don’t worry, though, my look at the ‘Home Alone’ series ends here, as the third and fourth films in the series both suck). Made in 1992 by pretty much the same people involved in the first one: Directed by Chris Columbus, written and produced by the late John Hughes, and starring all the old cast.
Everything takes place a year after the first film. As in the first film, we start with the McCallister family together again and planning a big Christmas vacation, this time to Miami, and as in the first one, young Kevin gets into an altercation with his jerk brother, Buzz. This time, though, you definitely side with Kevin (As opposed to the first film, in which he definitely overreacted), as what Buzz does to him this time is 20 times worse/ meaner than what he did in the first film; He completely humiliates Kevin during a solo the boy gives at their school’s Christmas pageant. Afterwards, Buzz gives an obviously fake apology for what he did, which the rest of the family buys into hook, line and sinker, then insults Kevin under his breath. Kevin of course refuses to accept his “apology,†and yells at everyone for falling for Buzz’s lies, so Kevin’s mom sends the boy to his room. Kevin goes to bed again wishing he’d never have to go on another vacation with his family again because he doesn’t want to be around people who trust a creep like Buzz more than they trust him.
The way Kevin winds up far from his family in this one differs from the first film. Here, he actually is with his family when they get to the airport, but gets separated from them as he can’t keep up with their frantic running through the terminal. He unwittingly follows a different man who he mistakes for his father (The man’s wearing the same outfit as Kevin’s dad, and Kevin only sees him from the back, so he doesn’t realize it’s a different man until it’s too late), and thus ends up on a plane to New York City.
When Kevin arrives there, he initially starts living it up, seeing the sites and using his dad’s credit card (Part of the reason why he was unable to keep up with his family at the airport was because he was carrying one of his dad’s carry- on bags) to get himself a room and exorbitant room service at the swanky Plaza Hotel. His fun doesn’t last long, however, as the hotel’s concierge (Played by villain actor extraordinaire Tim Curry), who had been suspicious of Kevin from the moment he checked in, soon accuses him of using a stolen credit card, and Kevin barely escapes arrest.
That’s far from the end of Kevin’s problems, though: The burglars Harry and Marv (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) have escaped from prison and arrive in New York, and when they learn Kevin’s there too, they’re eager to make him pay dearly for all the trouble he put them through. Aside from trying to kill Kevin, the burglars’ master plan in this one is much more ambitious and flat- out heartless than it was in the first film; They are going to perform a Christmas Eve robbery of Duncan’s Toy Chest, a magnificent New York toy store (The sort of toy shop that I would have given half of my teeth just to spend five minutes in when I was a kid, especially around Christmas), knowing full well that the money they’re stealing is intended by the store’s owner to be donated to a local children’s hospital. Of course, when Kevin learns of their despicable plan, he can’t let it happen (As he puts it, “You can mess with a lot of things, but you can’t mess with kids on Christmas.â€). He foils their robbery, and leads them to his uncle’s townhouse which was in the middle of being renovated, where he has a whole new arsenal of booby traps waiting for them.
By the end, Kevin is saved (With help from a new friend he makes in the city, a warm- hearted homeless woman in Central Park who likes to feed the pigeons), the burglars go back to prison, the money goes where it was supposed to, and the McCallister family is finally reunited once again and spends a merry Christmas in New York, compliments of the hotel and the toy store owner.
Of course, ‘Home Alone 2’ does have its problems. One is that, kind of like in the first film, there is a little error with how Kevin gets separated from the family. When they all arrive at the airport, Kevin clearly hears what gate they’ll be entering to board the plane to Miami (His dad and some other guys mention it while right next to him), so he should have known something was wrong when the man he thought was his dad entered a completely different gate. Also, they don’t do nearly as much with Kevin’s mom in this one. Since they have no idea where Kevin is until about 2/3rds into the movie, she’s not able to do a whole lot in terms of trying to find him like she could in the first film. When the rest of the family arrives in New York, however, she’s able to do more. The biggest problem, however, is that much of the movie’s plot has a heavy “Been there, done that†feel to it due to how similar it is to the first one in terms of structure and plot points. Still, they tweak those details just enough to keep it from becoming too stale.
One of the high points of ‘Home Alone 2’ is that, while it’s not as generally good as the original, it’s a great deal funnier. There’s an awesome scene right in the beginning that always makes me laugh in which Kevin, to prepare for the school pageant, has to retrieve his tie from the bathroom while his obnoxious Uncle Frank is taking a shower (Let’s just say that scene is a big part of the reason why I never sing in the shower). Also, the scenes in which he tries to scare off the Plaza Hotel employees (First just the concierge, through the use of an inflatable pool toy and his Talkboy tape recorder, then a few others using the audio of a movie) get a lot of laughs. The booby traps this time around are awesome, and kept me laughing. Kevin really shows Harry and Marv no mercy this time around. The great blowtorch trap from the first one makes a return appearance, and the way it’s used here is even funnier than the first one! Another memorable trap is when Kevin rigs up a basement sink to electrocute Marv when he tries to turn on the water. The electricity causes Marv’s screams to rapidly rise in pitch, his hair to turn into an afro, and even causes him to briefly turn into a skeleton (My favorite part of the scene)
The movie does have a few genuinely moving moments, such as one in which Kevin and his mom, while on opposite ends of the country, say goodnight to each other while looking out the windows of their respective hotels. Also, the homeless bird lady (A humble yet charming performance by Brenda Fricker) is a somewhat more developed character than the elderly neighbor from the first film as she reveals all the heartache and pain she’s gone through, and the scenes where she and Kevin are interacting with each other are quite touching. She makes for a wonderful supporting character, as does Eddie Bracken as Mr. Duncan, the kind toy store owner.
Pesci and Stern are effective as ever playing Harry and Marv. They’re dim- witted and funny as always, but now they’re also surprisingly more menacing, between their evil plan for the toy store, and trying to outright kill Kevin (When they capture Kevin in one scene and Harry’s trying to keep Marv from blabbing their plan for the toy store to him, Marv responds by saying something like, “Hey, it’s not like he’s gonna be able to tell anyone, except maybe a fish, or the undertaker.â€). Marv seems a good deal more dim- witted than he did in the previous film, almost like he has the IQ of a 10- year- old, and Harry now has the habit of angrily muttering to himself a lot, kind of like Yosemite Sam.
Speaking of villains, even though he’s only a minor antagonist, Tim Curry does a typically excellent job as the snooty, suspicious Plaza Hotel concierge. Even though he’s not that bad of a guy (He’s just doing his job after all, and credit card fraud is a very serious offense), Curry still manages to make him into a venomous and threatening character who you’d hate to see Kevin get caught by. He’s so nasty, they even juxtapose an image of him smiling when he learns that the credit card’s been reported stolen with a similar image of the Grinch smiling in the TV special Kevin’s watching! He also has some funny scenes, such as when Kevin’s parents confront him about what happened late in the movie.
Kevin seems a good deal smarter and more resourceful in this one than in the previous one, both in terms of the traps he sets, and in terms of how he interacts with adults such as the Plaza Hotel staff. He’s definitely more of a hero in this one, deliberately putting himself at risk to stop the burglars from stealing the money meant for the children’s hospital. It’s not like in the first one when he really had no choice but to act as he knew that they were targeting his house; He could have stayed out of the whole toy store affair if he wanted to, but he acts anyway simply because he knows it’s the right thing to do.
And so, there you have ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.’ Not as good as the original (Few sequels are), but definitely worth a watch. See you in the next installment!
