Replacing him was a futile endeavor, of course, but the biggest mistake made by the filmmakers for the rest of the series was botching (or all but ignoring) most of the aspects that made the first picture so treasured by so many-the warm Christmas cheer, the fantasy of vicariously living through a little kid suddenly able to do all the things they wanted to do but couldn’t under the watchful eye of parents/guardians, etc. An inevitable third outing was in the works a few years later, but Culkin declined to participate. So, yeah, the sequel was kind of a big deal. Twelve weeks at number one, a feat that’s only been topped by one film since then ( Titanic). And if you want to chuckle at the idea of “hype” for Home Alone 2, never forget how huge of a hit Home Alone was. But, oh, well even at that age, I knew that sequels weren’t going to match the hype. We also saw Home Alone 2 in theaters on Christmas Eve two years later, but even though I was still pretty young then (eleven years old), I could tell right away that it wasn’t as fresh or fun as I had thought the first one was. What’s not to like? Well, turns out plenty once you get a little older and wiser, but I’ll always have at least a little bit of a soft spot in my heart for it even as I recognize its myriad flaws and shortcomings today. And it had two dopes getting repeatedly bludgeoned to the face and groin and so on. It plays to kids because it’s about a kid living a fantasy of having unrestricted freedom (heck, it was a fantasy even before that part-check out that friggin’ house). I won’t lie: I liked that movie as a kid. As for the very first movie we saw as a family on Christmas Eve, that dates back to 1990, and it was a little movie called Home Alone. But, obviously, we’re not going to a movie this year, which is a shame, because we’ve seen some really good films on Christmas Eve, including all three Lord of the Rings films (and a few really crappy ones like… National Treasure? Yeesh, good call there, fam…). Going on about thirty years now, the four of us (me, mom, dad, and big bro) would take in a late afternoon/early evening show on Christmas Eve, and then come home and open up presents while eating hors d’oeuvres-yeah, we were Christmas Eve celebrators, and I truly pity all of the suckers out there who aren’t. One such tradition with my immediate family that is being “interrupted” is a trip to the local cinema. Thanks to 2020 being 2020, a lot of people are being forced to alter their Christmastime traditions. Today, it’s the Christmastime comedy Home Alone series. Grading the Franchise is a recurring feature at Cinecaps Digest where I review an entire film series.
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