Tuesday, December 19, 2023

My Review of Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)


Written by Mikey Day And Streeter Seidell
Directed by Dan Mazer

Hunter: "Ugh, this is garbage.  I don't why they're always trying to remake the classics. Never as good as the originals."

And my final review for now in this franchise and it got a bit of an upgrade. Instead of straight to television, the sixth installment in the franchise to get the cushy Disney+ release. Does that mean a uptick in quality?

Debatably, not entirely. This does undeniably still feel like a movie not strong enough for theatres but it's actually a bit better than the previous two movies. Not by a huge margin. Oh and the general idea gets a bit of a mix up, so points there.

Anyways the kid in question is a British child named Max Mercer (Archie Yates) who gets left home alone in his very big house with his mostly German speaking Alexa substitute as his family head to Tokyo and leave him behind. They're not very well developed with his mother, Carol (Aisling Bea) somewhat wasted in the role. It's a thankless role tbh.

As for the thieves in question, this was where I think the movie did work. This time around, it was another married couple named Jeff (Rob Delaney) and Pam McKenzie (Ellie Kemper). They're about to lose their home and in order to save it, they need to sell an ugly boy doll to raise the cash. Except the doll's gone missing.

The mix up being that Jeff and Pam falsely assume that Max has stolen the doll and Max falsely assuming that Jeff and Pam want to sell him. From there on in, Max inflicted multiple amounts of damage to both Jeff and Pam before both sides realise their mistake and try to help one another one.

Overall, the strength of this one was trying in vain to mix it up in terms of the usual dynamics between the kid and the burglars. I appreciated that and it felt more like it was part of the original duology than the last three. Even Buzz (Devin Ratray) has a small part as a police officer to add to the connectivity.

- I did laugh at Hunter's comment at the very awful Angels With Filthy Souls remake on the TV during one scene.
- Standout music: (There's No Place Like) Home For The Holidays by Robert Goulet.
- The movie implied that Kevin has gone into Home Security and likes to mess with Buzz during the Holidays.
- Chronology: Christmas 2021, which was when the film was released around on Disney+.

Home Sweet Home Alone was actually pretty decent. Not amazing but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I still think if this franchise is going to regain momentum, a legacy sequel needs to be the next thing it does.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

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