Synopsis:
Kevin is left behind all once again. This time though he ends up in New York City. Thankfully Kevin is a fairly resourceful kid.
Well here we are…. This… Is it. The granddaddy of them all…
the ultimate festive flick… the pinnacle zenith of Christmas Movies…. Home
Alone 2! Why is it so great you ask? What puts it on a pedestal above all the
other greats that came before it? Well, all you have to do is take a look at
the second best Christmas film… Home Alone. Now if you take everything that
film did right and times those things by a thousand you’d be somewhere close to
painting a picture of its sequel. I literally almost wept when I saw the
average rating on IMDB… 6.2/10. First of all it should be a criminal offense to
mark this any lower than a 9… especially at Christmas. Even those that give it
a nine need to be given a fine or something. Secondly, it helps represent
civilisations growing retardation. Bit over the top you may say. Well, let me
ask you this. If an advanced alien life form (far more advanced than us) had
seen Home Alone 2 (via satellite or something) and then read up on IMBD and saw
the 6.2 rating would the alien choose to become friends with us and share their
knowledge? Or would they annihilate us in a fiery blaze for being so stupid?
Exactly… they’d nuke us from space. I’m just stating the facts here.
Anyway... Much like its star, Home Alone 2 is the poster
child of Christmas films. In fact it’s the poster child for sequels that are
better than the original classic. It’s as if John Hughes looked back at his
original script and saw the potential it had. After Home Alone’s success he was
given the opportunity to expand the initial idea 10 fold and bring it to New
York. Is it damn near a carbon copy of the original? Hell yeah it is! But, on
top of raising it up to match the dizzy heights of the City of Dreams, someone
then took a shovel and added some crazy depth to it. It hammers home the
message of Christmas like never before and there isn’t a moment during the film
where you won’t feel warm inside as John William’s enchanting music guides us through
themes of kindness, family, friendship and strength.
The original cast is not only back but have matured,
bringing a lot more strength to the piece. I mentioned in my review of Home Alone how Macaulay Culkin may have
come across inexperienced (or something along those lines) but here he has
grown with his character and pulls off a leading MAN’s performance. Then of
course how can we forget Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. Only these two men can
make slapstick funny. Their reactions are flawless as we reach the final
chapter of the film as they get bulldozed by an absolute onslaught of pranks.
But, as before, what pulls the third act out of the dangerous area of badly
done slapstick comedy is the absolute outrageousness of these pranks! Without a
doubt EVERY single horrific thing that Harry and Marv get put through could
potentially and horrifically kill you. Yet their determination and cartoonish
hatred for this kid turns this into one of the funniest film sequences in
history. I can remember reminiscing over the carnage with a friend of mine over
the summer, both of us aged 21, we balled our eyes out with laughter for a good
half an hour. Since then I have waited patiently for the Christmas season to be
upon us so I can embrace the hilarity with open arms once again. Safe to say,
after such a long wait, it didn’t disappoint.
Overview:
It’s Christmas time people! If you haven’t watched this by
the 25th or if you felt the need to watch it and then give it a
slightly above average rating on IMDB… well… you may well have doomed us all to
a nuclear holocaust of extra-terrestrial proportions.
Rating:
★★★★★
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