Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

• Directed by Chris Columbus
• November 20, 1992

Kevin is accidentally separated from his family at the airport as they head to their Christmas vacation in Florida.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is the rarest of sequels in that it manages to re-capture the spirit of the film that started at all. This movie is just as fun and entertaining as the original. You can complain about Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) once again being separated from his family but that is the core gimmick of the series. Taking that away would be like removing spaceships from Star Wars. There is a reason some concepts work and standout from others.

This sequel tweaks the formula just enough to be different yet the same. By that I mean you can clearly see Lost in New York’s connection to the first film, but it does things differently enough that you can see that it is its own thing.

This time around Kevin find himself in New York City (where he would rather be this time around) without his family who are in Florida where they were headed for Christmas. Through his own wits and the creative use of a Talkboy (which became huge because of this movie) he is able to have the Christmas that HE wants.

They brought back Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as the Wet Bandits Harry and Marv respectively. Quite honestly you could not have had Kevin face off against anybody else. As bad as it is that his parents lost Kevin a second time around, it would have made it look so much worse if he had attracted another set of criminals. Not only that but the story would not have worked. There is just no way this would have been entertaining with anyone else. Have you seen the later movies?

Much like its predecessor, this film has a heartwarming interaction between Kevin and an older individual. This around time it is Piers Morgan as a homeless woman tending to pigeons in Central Park. Seriously though it is Brenda Fricker as the Pigeon Lady.

I find Home Alone 2 a little funnier than the last one. First films often have to find their footing. They are feeling around a little bit. While I think that the first film got everything right, this took that formula and polished it just a hair more to make the jokes a little better. Things get more cartoonish.

It’s unusual that the first and second films would be classics, but this manages to have be just that. Why? Because it focuses not only on the story of Kevin but also on the magic of the holiday. This story would not have worked as well during any other holiday. Kevin could not have had an effective interaction with the Pigeon Lady on Arbor Day or on Thanksgiving. His dealings with Harry and Marv would’ve been significantly darker in tone just because it occurred on Halloween.

Kevin also is not reset to the beginning of the first film when it comes to his character. Sometimes all the growth that the maintain character gets in the original is wiped away in the sequel. Not here. Kevin has matured enough that he is taking steps this time around to not repeat what happened last time but unfortunately what he did not foresee is what sends him off to New York and his family off to Florida.

They hang a lantern in this film on doing the same thing again. The characters in scenes or lines of dialogue acknowledge that they are doing a sequel. Even the people behind this movie understood what they were doing here and that helps the audience get beyond any issues they may have.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a near perfect follow-up to the first film. Not many sequels can say that. This is just as fun and entertaining and humorous as the original. This is definitely a must see!