“Home Alone” already stretched the idea of logic and suspension of disbelief already, but when Dreamworks squeezed out a sequel hoping for equal to more success, we instead got “Lost in New York.” Not only did this follow up basically prove that the original’s premise was a tad far-fetched, but something of a flash in the pan. This sequel is just leaps and bounds sillier than even the third “Home Alone” and even presents a ton of misguided morals within its narrative. You can sense the movie is one giant misstep, when it casts the likes of Tim Curry as one of Kevin’s adversaries, and turns Rob Schneider in to a hilariously slimy bellboy, and wastes them in favor of rehashing the same dynamic we saw with Marv and Harry from the first film.
It would have at least been interesting if Kevin ended up in New York and stumbled upon another person or people trying to perpetrate some kind of crime. It would have also allowed another excuse at a climax similar to the first film. In “Lost in New York,” the McCallisters are taking another shot at a family vacation, and decide to keep Kevin at their side at all times. Of course their plans get scrambled, and while chasing after his parents, Kevin is mixed up and accidentally follows another group of passengers on to a whole other plane. The McCallisters are now in Miami, Florida, and Kevin is in New York City. Now with a wallet full of credit cards and cash from his nasty uncle Peter, Kevin decides to make the most of being stranded in the city, staying in a five star hotel.
While he evades the hotel’s snooty staff, he crashes in to a newly released Marv and Harry, both of whom are in New York at the same time (?) and have sinister plans for a local toy store. Said store collects thousands of dollars for charity every year, and they plan to steal the money. Kevin now has to figure out how to let the authorities know and—you know—there’s another scene involving prat falls and booby traps, of course. At least the original movie had Kevin McCallister fighting criminals while stuck at home without anyone to really help him. For all he knew, he was doomed to live the rest of his life without any kind of family. Here, Kevin not only is stuck in New York, but he steals his family’s credit cards, deceives a lot of people, and even tortures them for doing their job.
By a twist of fate, he comes across Marv and Harry, which is easily the biggest stretch of suspension of disbelief. In fact all sense of disbelief snaps under the weight of the movie’s absurdity. “Home Alone 2” feels so much like a cash grab that it’s sad to see John Hughes make up such nonsense on the fly like this. The climax is the worst, as Kevin conveniently has a family member in New York who is renovating their home. Said home is filled with hazards and traps Kevin is able to set up to ensnare Marv and Harry. By sheer luck Kevin never hurts himself. “Home Alone 2” is a bad movie, and it’s one I tend to hate watch whenever it’s on television. The climax is ridiculous, the final scene is downright stupid, and Kevin is, for once, downright nasty and never pays for his deception. But hey, at least Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern get to offer up one last dose of their bandit villains.