Home Alone 2:
Lost in New York
Brief Description:
10-year-old Kevin McCallister is separated from his family on their holiday vacation to Florida, this time in New York City where he has another encounter with the Wet Bandits after their escape during a prison riot.
(from Wikipedia)
Date: 1992
Genre: American Christmas comedy
Running time: 2 hours
Cast:
Macaulay Culkin (Kevin)
Joe Pesci (Harry)
Daniel Stern (Marv)
John Heard (Peter)
Catherine O’Hara (Kate)
Devin Ratray (Buzz)
Hillary Wolf (Megan)
Maureen Elisabeth Shay (Linnie)
Michael C. Maronna (Jeff)
Gerry Bamman (Uncle Frank)
Terrie Snell (Aunt Leslie)
Jedidiah Cohen (Rod)
Senta Moses (Tracy)
Daiana Campeanu (Sondr)
Kieran Culkin (Fuller)
Anna Slotky (Brooke)
Tim Curry (Mr. Hector, the concierge)
Brenda Fricker (the Pigeon Lady)
Eddie Bracken (Mr. Duncan)
Dana Ivey (Hester Stone, the desk clerk)
Rob Schneider (Cedric, the bellhop)
Leigh Zimmerman (Fashion Model)
Ralph Foody (Johnny, the gangster)
Clare Hoak (Johnny’s girlfriend)
Monica Devereux (Hotel Operator)
Bob Eubanks (Ding-Dang-Dong Host)
Rip Taylor (Celeb #1)
Jaye P. Morgan (Celeb #2)
Jimmie Walker (Celeb #3)
Ally Sheedy (New York Ticket Agent)
Rod Sell (Officer Bennett)
Ron Canada (Cop in Times Square)
Director: Chris Columbus
Production company: Hughes Entertainment
Setting/Aesthetic/Feel: 4/5
I love the NYC aesthetic. I don’t know why. I also love hotel aesthetics... and rich hotels are pretty cool. ;) I feel like the film did a good job of getting the good and bad sides of a big city... the Christmas decor, the indifference, the kind strangers, the frightening nightlife... very interesting balances. But Kevin running around in NYC gives me anxiety for him—poor little kid!!
Characters: 4/5
I liked the family better in this film than in the first one. Buzz is still pretty nasty... and I’m still mad at Kate for punishing Kevin unfairly. However, it probably is realistic... Anyways, Peter made a better father here. Frank is still nasty, but Leslie and the kids aren’t too bad. And I liked Pigeon Lady. The concierge is sooooo irritating, but the bellhop isn’t too bad...
Plot: 4/5
I really love how the plot is similar to the first film yet different... same enough for you to tell what parts are similar but different enough that you’re unsure what will happen or surprised that something doesn’t happen. Kevin was more a brat here—definitely should have gotten in touch with his parents and shouldn’t have made the choices he did—but at least he felt remorse and tried to make up in a little way. I enjoyed the adventures around the hotel, and the toystore, and the fighting with Marv & Harry... that climax was just as much fun as the first, and sans swearing!! And the ending is pretty great again :)
Theme/Message/Topics: 4/5
I love the message about your heart... about how people don’t forget about you, but forget to remember you... and Kevin’s encouragement to the Pigeon Lady that she’s “good at talking to people…” and about how he think he’ll have fun by himself but ends up not.
Pigeon Lady: I’m just afraid if I do trust someone, I’ll get my heart broken again.
Kevin: I used to have this really nice pair of rollerblades. I was afraid if I wore them, I’d wreck them. So I kept them in a box. Do you know what happened? ... I outgrew them. I never wore them once outside. I just wore them in my room a couple times.... If you aren’t going to use your heart, then what’s the difference if it gets broken? If you just keep it to yourself, maybe it’ll be like my rollerblades. When you do decide to try it, it won’t be any good. You should take a chance. Got nothing to lose.... Your heart might still be broken, but it isn’t gone.
Wasn't a fan of the bogus “a good deed erases a bad deed” though.
Content: 3/5 (medium)
1 scene in a swimming pool (off-screen, Kevin’s shorts float off). Kevin watches a film where a gangster accuses his girlfriend of “smootching” with his brother and plenty of other guys; K later uses the film to play with the hotel people, causing people to assume the concierge “smootched” other guys, including a hotel worker. Kevin says Uncle Frank told him not to come into the bathroom when he was showering because if K saw him naked he’d “never grow up to be a real boy”; Peter tells him to go in anyways to get his tie; Kevin covers his eyes but you dimly see Uncle Frank in the shower; K records him singing & Uncle Frank calls him a pervert. 2 women smoke in one scene. Language: d**n, a**, g*d-dar*ed, OMG*d.
Violence: 3/5 (medium)
Basically the same thing as “Home Alone.” Bricks are thrown, fire is used, Harry’s head is burned, and a nail gun gets Marv twice. The robbers try to kill Kevin & the Pigeon Lady.
Overall: 3/5
Much better than the first film, and I actually quite enjoy it!
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