Kevin is a MeanFella

HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK (1992)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Home Alone 2" is something of an anomaly - a highly contrived, sickeningly (and cartoonishly) violent sequel that has little of the charm of the box-office original. That in and of itself isn't anomalous - but the fact is some things do work in this sequel. It does have some laughs (and repeats certain gags from the original) but it is so dour and overcooked that it leaves one with a bad taste. That's the anomaly.

There is nothing that separates "Home Alone 2" from the original, including the change of setting. The problem is he is not home alone anymore, he is just simply lost in New York. Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) is the little tyke who is separated from his parents (John Heard, Catherine O'Hara) at the airport. The family is headed to Florida for Christmas yet Kevin inadvertently ends up on a flight to New York (I suppose such a contrived idea wouldn't work in this post-9/11 environment). So, for even more contrived reasons, Kevin encounters the two bumbling crooks from the original again (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) and foils each of their attempts to snatch him with elaborate, Rube Goldberg contraptions that no eight-year-old kid could ever devise.

Kevin stays at the Plaza Hotel and meets Donald Trump; a kind toy shop owner; a homeless woman known as the Pigeon Lady (Brenda Fricker); and a suspicious hotel clerk (Tim Curry). And as for getting lost in New York, well, Kevin seems to know his way around the Plaza Hotel, Carnegie Hall and Rockefeller Center since those are the only major New York locations we see in the entire film.

I first saw this film in 1992, and thought it was mildly entertaining but something nagged me about it. I realized after the screening that I did not feel comfortable watching it. When I saw it again, I knew it was the heavy cartoonish violence that turned me off. For a movie that promotes the goodwill of mankind around the holiday season, there is an awful lot of violence that will make you cringe. Kevin gives advice to the Pigeon Lady about the meaning of life, and then he throws a brick from the top of an apartment building and hits Daniel Stern on the head. Not once, not twice, but at least a few times. The movie gets off on excessive violence that surpasses the original and tries to sell you a Christmas homily as a catharsis - it is a convenient way for families who see this movie to make them forget Kevin's sadistic side. I don't know about you but I don't want to know what Kevin will be like when he enters his teen years.