Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Less a sequel, more a virtual remake of Home Alone, this "John Hughes production" follows the same route as its money-spinning predecessor, wheeling out the well-worn precocious-kid-on-his-todd scenario with scant regard for originality. Read full review

The studio has simply re-made the first movie, only with bigger pratfalls. Read full review

The action has been transferred from suburbia to New York City, but otherwise the filmmakers stick like glue to the formula of the original: a little boy from a well-to-do family left on his own is threatened by low-life working-class crooks whom he repeatedly foils and tortures, and upscale property values prevail. Read full review

I didn't much like the first film, and I don't much like this one, with its sadistic little hero who mercilessly hammers a couple of slow-learning crooks. Read full review

This routine sequel has a trio of nice cameos, but no surprises. Read full review

Filmmakers John Hughes and Chris Columbus go for repetition over comedy. Read full review

Even by kid standards, young Macaulay can't act. The boy just races through his dialogue, barely pausing long enough to be understood. And when the script requires him to actually show some emotion, he sounds completely mechanical - as if he were merely parroting a line reading that some adult had given him. [20 Nov 1992, p.16]

The new film does little but repeat the gags and situations of the first movie, with a slight change of venue. [20 Nov 1992, p.A]

This isn't art, it's commerce. [20 Nov 1992, p.1D]

Here, the signs of Culkin’s limitations begin to emerge. Read full review

Whatever was unforced and funny in the first film has become exaggerated here, whatever was slightly sentimental has been laid on with a trowel. The result, with some exceptions, plays like an over-elaborate parody of the first film, reminding us why we enjoyed it without being able to duplicate its appeal. Read full review

A film bursting with enthusiasm for a fresh, appealing fantasy has been replaced by one most eager to maintain the status quo. Read full review

Home Alone 2 pales next to its predecessor. Read full review

That's Home Alone 2's biggest shortcoming. Hughes merely moved his movie to a new locale and wrote a retread. [20 Nov 1992, p.5]