It's been a long time since Home Alone was last seen anywhere. It's not been quite the same since the third film, in what can only be described as the Terminator effect. Something I made up in which a film franchise has two great films, but then a pile of s**t ever since, with the Terminator films being the most well known of this effect of sorts. You see, since we last saw Kevin McCallister on screen, every single Home Alone film has not been great. Kevin doesn't return, and each of the films without him just get worse and worse as time goes on. But with a new film released which once again is without Kevin, I thought to give the franchise another try. Plus, seeing as I have yet to review the film before it, I'm going to watch that too. So let's take a look and see if the franchise is still going downhill or getting better:
The Holiday Heist
The Baxter family once resided in California until the events of this film, where they move to Maine (despite this not being a Stephen King thing in any shape or form) during December. Finn (played by Christian Martyn) and his older sister Alexis (played by Jodelle Ferland) are the type of people that are glued to a screen otherwise known as technophiles and choose to isolate themselves from the outside world and their mum (played by Ellie Harvie) and dad (played by Doug Murray). Finn learns from his new neighbour the legend of a smothered gangster whose ghost apparently haunts their new home, which has Finn get paranoid. The house soon attracts the attention of some robbers, who are after a supposedly valuable painting hidden within the house. Despite being unaware of the house being occupied, they start carrying out their plan at a time when the house may be unoccupied while a paranoid Finn sets up traps thinking its ghosts (at least at first). There's good reasons why this much like the last film was never bought to the big screen. It's cheesy, cringy and the acting is either too much over the top (and unnecessarily so) or just average. Villains you can get a laugh from, but overall it's just another meh Home Alone film. 6/10
Home Sweet Home Alone
So Disney bought Fox and one thing they were keen to do is to make more Home Alone things and this is possibly the first of said things. In the first Disney+ original to come from 20th Century Studios, we have a Home Alone film that actually feels more like a Home Alone film than any of the sequels between this and
Lost in New York. The McKenzie family are strapped for cash when Jeff (played by Rob Delaney) loses his job and Pam (played by Ellie Kemper) just doesn't have enough of a salary. With not many options to go on, the pair reluctantly consider selling their house without telling their own children. During an open house, a mother and son duo known as Max (played by Archie Yates) and Carol Mercer(played by Aisling Bea) stop by to use the restroom. Max and Jeff start talking, where it's revealed that the latter happens to have a box of dolls. One doll in particular is malformed with its head upside down, and Carol comments on how dolls like that can be sold for thousands of dollars. Max and Carol then leave and return to their big family to prepare for a trip to Tokyo. The next day, with Max sleeping in the garage, everybody leaves just as Jeff tries to find the doll, only for it to go missing, so he assumes that Max stole it. Max is left home alone by accident, so starts playing with his own devices while Jeff and Pam formulate a plan to retrieve the doll from Max's home, with Max misinterpreting what they actually are after. It feels like a Home Alone film and actually looks as if it's trying to mimic the first film, albeit with new characters along with some familiar faces and music for fan service if nothing else. I give the film credit for giving us sympathetic villains this time around, but I struggle to figure out how all the Mercer family is related when it clearly looks like it's a mix of British and American people, but not very clear on how they are all related. It's OK for a Home Alone film, and does well to actually feel like one. But like the other further instalments, it's not perfect and is just a rinse and repeat of what's been done before, with the exception of villains that are actually sympathetic for a change. 7/10
I guess, whether we like it or not, I really don't think Home Alone can really get another great film. I mean, sure, many of us would love to see Macaulay Culkin make a return, but we know it's never going to happen given how old he is now. Oh well, at least Disney gave it a shot, and it isn't too bad, but still not quite there.
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