Movie Info
Movie Name: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Studio: Hughes Entertainment
Genre(s): Comedy/Family/Seasonal
Release Date(s): November 20, 1992
MPAA Rating: PG
Scream if you want to be lost in NYC like Kevin!
Another year in the trenches! Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) seems to always find trouble. As his family is rushing to catch their flight to Florida, Kevin accidentally ends up on a plane to New York City. Rather then turn himself in, Kevin decides to see the town. The concierge of the hotel (Tim Curry) is suspicious of him but that is the least of his problems when the Wet Bandits (now renamed the Sticky Bandits) find Kevin alone in New York City after breaking out of jail. Now Kevin must stop Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) from robbing a charity chest at a toy store and find a way to get home without getting in trouble.
Directed by Christopher Columbus, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a family holiday comedy. A sequel to the 1990 blockbuster Home Alone, the movie was released to average to negative reviews, but it still was a blockbuster at the box-office.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was great…when it was Home Alone. Directed by Christopher Columbus again and written by John Hughes again…they decided to have Macaulay Culkin do the same jokes…again with Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as the victims…again.
It was really exciting when Susan Boyle and her pigeons saved the day (sarcasm)
The jokes and plotlines for the movies are virtually the same…although in this one Kevin isn’t as innocent since he chooses not to run away in New York City when he realizes he’s made a mistake. It is that decision that changes things and makes him a bit less sympathetic. It would be ok if this was the only problem, but the movie even puts the creepy old person…this time it’s Pigeon Lady played by Brenda Frick (who I’m now convinced is Susan Boyle). Kevin of course fears her, befriends her, and is saved by her…just like creepy shovel man in the first Home Alone.
Macaulay is starting to get old in Home Alone 2. He isn’t the cut little kid from Uncle Buck and the actors playing his family (minus his mother played by the always fun Catherine O’Hara) are all very unsympathetic. The movie wastes the talents of Tim Curry who tries to do what he can to make his role fun and also features small roles and cameos by Rob Schneider, Eddie Bracken, Ally Sheedy, and Donald Trump.
Oh, Marv and Harry…just shoot him in the head
The movie relies heavily on New York City for its visuals and the traps as the draw for viewers. The attacks on Marv and Harry are much more ruthless (throwing bricks off a building, lighting ropes on fire, fuel in a toilet, electrocution, etc) should have killed them. This also takes away a bit from the fun of the movie, and if he had done any of these things to them, they would have killed him…not just talked about it. The filmmakers made stuff like that but then they add in parts with ridiculous things like forever sliding and teeter-totters sending people flying and that just doesn’t seem to match up.
New York is a nice setting for the film, and if Home Alone hadn’t existed there are parts of Home Alone 2 that are better. Despite its flaws, the movie is one of those kind of bad movies I sometimes enjoy subjecting myself to. It feels a bit less unpretentious than Home Alone (which thinks it is really good), but as a result, the movie feels in a way a bit more genuine. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was followed by Home Alone 3 in 1997 which featured an all-new cast.
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