Good if Unoriginal Sequel

Rating: Null/10 (21 December 2012)

Home Alone 2 (1992)
*** (out of 4)
A year after the events in the previous film, 10-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) finds himself alone once again but this time in New York City. It doesn't take long for him to run into Harry and Marv (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) who plan on robbing a toy store for some charity cash. It's funny but growing up I always thought HOME ALONE 2 was better than the original but revisiting it after all these years has me changing my mind. I was really surprised to see how this one didn't quite hold up as well as the original and I think a lot of it has to do with some pretty big errors with the screenplay. Needless to say, the main reason for this thing being made was because the first was such a massive hit. You can expect this type of sequel to be pretty much a remake as everything funny in the first film is copied here. This includes the old gangster movie with the gun, the various knocks and beatings taken by the crooks and of course the "true" meaning of family. All of that stuff here is still funny but it just doesn't come close to what the original offered. The biggest problem with HOME ALONE 2 is its running time, which is just way too long for this film and after a while you're really wishing that it would hurry up and end. Still, there's no question that Culkin is just wonderful here in the role that he will always be remembered for. Both Pesci and Stern are fun as the bad guys and we get nice support from Catherine O'Hara and John Heard who have to be the worst parents in screen history. Tim Curry is also fun in his small role.