I am a massive fan of Home Alone, I actually saw the original in theatres during Christmas break of 1990. The sequel was fun and the third movie is far better than people give it credit for. Then we got two terrible sequels before Disney decided to “reboot” things with Home Sweet Home Alone.
How to Stream or Download Home Sweet Home Alone
You can stream and watch the movie if you are a Disney+ subscriber. Click on the Download button at the end of the review to visit the movie website.
The Movie Review
I said reboot in quotes because actually, Home Sweet Home Alone is a sequel. Yes, this movie is a sequel to the first two Home Alone movies! The movie is full of these references that are supposed to be fan service for fans of the original movie. However, it comes across as so forced and makes you just wish you were watching the original Home Alone instead.
Look, I went into this with the lowest expectations you could imagine. I thought, it will probably be bad, but I may get a couple of laughs. Well, all the reviews are true, Home Sweet Home Alone is as bad as you have read, actually, I would say it is worse. This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen!
The plot is just terrible. We have these two people called Jeff and Pam who are down on their luck and have to sell their house. During an open house showing, Max and his mother pop in as Max needs to use the bathroom. Max comes across a box of creepy dolls in the house and asks Jeff about them. They have this awkward back and forth and Max goes on his way.
Jeff finds out that one of these dolls is worth a fortune and it could be the key to not having to sell the house! He goes to get the doll, finds it is missing and is sure it was that rotten kid Max who took it! Max’s family are going on vacation for Christmas in Tokyo and he ends up being left “Home Alone”.
Pam and Jeff decide that they need to break into the house and get the doll so that they can sell it. Now, what makes the plot so bad is that Pam and Jeff are not bad people at all. As a matter of fact, they are very sympathetic characters. They have kids of their own and they are devastated at having to leave their family home!
You actually want them to succeed! There is a misunderstanding and Max thinks that Pam and Jeff are breaking into his house and they want to kidnap him and sell him. It is so dumb and makes no sense whatsoever. Max is a very unlikeable character and I am not ragging in the kid playing him, but he has no real redeeming qualities about him at all.
It, of course, comes down to Max vs Pam and Jeff. The carnage that happens as he tries to defend his house from Pam and Jeff is nowhere near as much fun as the original two, heck I would throw the third one in there too! You have pretty much seen it all in the trailers and it just leaves you saying “meh” when Max does one of his tricks or pulls off one of his traps.
I am usually very forgiving when it comes to Christmas movies. I can watch the cheesiest and dumbest thing at Christmas, but I can always get with it as that is what Christmas movies are about for me. Home Sweet Home Alone on the other hand has no charm or Christmas spirit at all.
