I was writng an article about every Home Alone movie but then the sequels alone had too much going on for me to also add the originals. But then what can really be said about the original Home Alone movies with Macaluay Culkin? So we’ll be talking about interesting tidbits, the pontential the franchise had and what if future scenarios and missed opportunities for sequels involving the original cast that they have never capitalized on.
Home Alone
This movie is not short at 2 hours with a simple concept, It takes a long while setting up the premise. I think the family stuff could’ve been shorter but it’s also fine the way it is. Last time I rewatched it I actually was way fonder of the film than this current rewatch but it’s still a great movie with a great soundtrack. The whole movie flows.
Home Alone 2 Lost in New York
A requel of the original that has mostly the same plot but remixed and it works. The setting is new and offers new things while still giving us the same idea and concept of the original. I think it’s hard for a sequel to do the same thing and remain fresh and this movie does that. Adding New York really helped, it’s just as unrealistic but in an endearing playful way.
While Home Alone got tons of licensed stuff including video games which it got plenty of even if none were particularly great. It was a missed opportunity not to have a cartoon based on the movies. The 80s and especially the 90s were the time when any movie no matter the genre could get a cartoon spin-off even if it only lasted one season. The whole concept and characters would’ve been so easy to translate into an animated form. I mean if Free Willy and Beethoven got a cartoon why not Home Alone. I can already picture all the plots of the parents leaving and the wet bandits trying to get in with Kevin having some neighbor friend to interact with.
Macaulay Caulkin was too old for a Home Alone 3, it was likely the best choice not to have him in the sequels which would’ve not helped his career. But in the last decade or so we’ve seen commercials and recreations of the original film with Caulkin as an adult, even some of his costars have done it. We’ve also gotten memes of how Kevin is psychotic which could work like the karate kid Cobra Kai spin. It’s a huge missed opportunity not to have made a sequel with Kevin as an adult in some kind of holiday hijinx story. I think that idea if done correctly, with a darker twist but still family friendly could be a big holiday theatrical movie.
These movies became instant christmas classics and they continue to work as period pieces showing us a different less connected time and the hurdles it could bring. Watching as an adult some of the gags instead of funny can just feel mean spirited and even hurt watching them but overall these are solid movies. None of the sequels were ever able to match what these films did even though they are decent in their own way.