Home Alone 3 Reviews

I don't think the film is as bad as the rating suggests, but it does pale in comparison to the first two films, which are holiday classics to me! There were some bits I liked, but some bits where improvements would have been appreciated.

The positives are that Alex D Linz makes a cute and charming lead, though Macaulay Culkin is definitely better. The film does look lovely, and there is evidence of some detailed direction. And the parrot was awesome. Believe me, this film is much better than the vomitous Home Alone 4.

The negatives are that some of the violence, that was classic in the first two films, seemed to have been reduced to cartoon slapstick. Another problem was that I didn't recognise any of the characters, and the uneven script didn't allow them to develop properly. Also, I do miss the antics of the Wet Bandits, the new villains weren't as effective.

All in all, a perfectly adequate, but uneven film, that is much better than its abysmal follow up. 5/10 Bethany Cox

This is the story of a boy who is left home alone and has to defend his house from criminals...no wait! That's 'Home Alone'! This is the story of a boy who is left home alone and has to defend his house from criminals...Yeah, this seems similar to the first movie really! Only new cast of characters and that the main character Alex (Alex D. Linz) has chicken pox and not that his family have gone on holiday!

There is a bit of funny slapstick but I say like the original, there's too much unfunny slapstick here and it's funnier in cartoons than in real life! 'Home Alone 3' is just the first movie again! Same old, same old!

Obviously, I was expecting much from this flick. I mean, it didn’t care much for ‘Home Alone’, even if it is supposed to be a classic and this 2nd sequel was not even starring Macauley Culkin who was the selling point of this franchise. So, basically, it was one of those cases that, beforehand, I was expecting to watch the worst movie ever made but, eventually, it was not that bad after all. Just for the record, I didn't say it was good or anything but it was simply not the worst movie I have ever seen. I would go as far as saying that this movie was actually better than the second one which was, in my opinion, totally lame. The point is that I always thought that Macauley Culkin was actually rather obnoxious in these movies so, frankly, for me, it wasn't a real loss when they decided to go for another kid. On a side note, it was actually one of the first movies starring Scarlett Johansson and she would get her breakthrough eventually a year later with ‘The Horse Whisperer’. Anyway, to conclude, it is a very average kid flick, I don’ think it is really worth a look and, if you are older than 12 years old, you should probably avoid it.

"You can run, but you can't hide, Junior!"

One's immediate instinct should tell you that a third Home Alone movie should be avoided. After all, it's the third movie in a series of declining quality. As is often the case, this particular instinct is accurate. When Home Alone hit cinemas in 1990, it was a breath of fresh air, and the box office gross indicated how much audiences appreciated a genuinely amusing family flick. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was delivered in 1992, but it may as well have been entitled Clone Alone considering the originality it exhibited. Screenwriter John Hughes subsequently began recycling the same type of villains and situations in a bunch of his follow-up projects, including 101 Dalmatians and the abysmal Baby's Day Out. But because of the profitability of the Home Alone label, a Home Alone 3 was inevitable. For Home Alone 3, however, a new bunch of characters were conceived (Macaulay Culkin refused to return), and a new director took the reigns (Raja Gosnell; replacing Chris Columbus). The result is a subpar, at times boring sequel which feels like a slapdash cash-grab.

This time around, Culkin's Kevin McCallister has been replaced by the young Alex Pruitt (Linz). Alex is not home alone because his family go on a trip and forget about him - instead, he has the chicken pox, so he can't go to school. His dad is away on business and his mum has to run errands, so Alex is by himself during the day for the most part. Through a series of barely-acceptable contrivances and coincidences, a top secret U.S. Air Force microchip comes into Alex's possession. A gang of international terrorists are seeking this chip, and begin searching the neighbourhood for it. Alex witnesses a number of break-ins, but the police are not astute enough to find the crooks after responding to Alex's calls, which are subsequently dismissed as pranks. With nobody able to help as the bad guys start homing in on him, Alex decides to deal with the problem himself. In typical Kevin McCallister tradition, Alex booby traps his house with all sorts of devices designed to humiliate, harm and incapacitate the villains.

Credit where credit is due, Hughes at least learned his lesson after Home Alone 2 and thus penned a script with a few new ideas. Home Alone 3 is, thankfully, not a completely shameful rehash of every plot point from the original Home Alone, though there's nothing too fresh here. The problem, however, is that the narrative is extremely implausible with all of the changes. The idea of four international terrorists against one little 8-year-old kid is absurd. While the concept of a couple of burglars against one child is at least mildly believable, terrorists should be more wise and cunning. But alas, the villains here are even dumber than Harry and Marv. For crying out loud, these incompetent idiots are not even able to retrieve a remote-controlled car. And let's keep in mind that remote-controlled cars cannot possibly outrun a fully grown man... Added to this, it's absurd that Alex is so smart. As a result, it's difficult to feel worried for Alex at any point. In the first two Home Alone movies, one could feel worried for Kevin at times when he made mistakes. Yet, Alex is completely untouchable here, and he's far too smart for his age.

The level of violence within Home Alone 3 is extreme. In fact, like in prior Home Alone films, many of Alex's traps are nasty enough to kill or induce very serious injuries. But because this is a family film, no-one dies or is even injured, despite being electrocuted and getting hit on the head by a barbell. Still, at least director Raja Gosnell (who edited the first two Home Alone films) handled the material well enough. From time to time, there are a few mildly entertaining moments, and the craftsmanship makes it an easy watch. With that said, though, the snowflakes do not look remotely believable. The production values are so shoddy, in fact, that shining sun can be seen during scenes set amidst a near-blizzard. It's a Wonderful Life featured real-looking snow despite being made in the 1940s, and it's therefore baffling that a '90s production with a larger budget and more advanced technology could look so fake.

Alex D. Linz played the main role here of Alex Pruitt, and the only thing he has going for him is terminal cuteness. He's not half as interesting, engaging, or believable as Macaulay Culkin. Meanwhile, the villains are much less engaging than Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. The group of performers who played the terrorists are serviceable enough, but are nonetheless comparatively subpar. Also in the cast is a youthful Scarlett Johansson as Alex's sister, who would have been about 12 or 13 during filming. Literally, the only cast member here who earns a few laughs is the parrot. That's right - a bird was given the funniest lines in the script, and delivered the most convincing performance.

Home Alone 3 demonstrates the dire consequences of what happens when desperate studio executives endeavour to squeeze a few more drops out of a dying cash-cow. This sequel substitutes the drama of its predecessors with scenes of embarrassing schmaltz, such as the trademark "something funny happens, so everyone in the room laughs in a cute fashion to signal that everything is okay and everyone is closer" moment. I guess one could assume that the kids will enjoy this movie, even if it's heavily flawed. Heck, this reviewer enjoyed it tremendously as a youngster. Kids don't really care if the same thing is done over and over - the Home Alone movies are about kids getting revenge against big mean grown-ups in the context of a wish fulfilment fantasy. Unfortunately, while kids will enjoy it, there's very little here that will appeal to adults.

4.2/10