Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Culkin is breezily winning once again as the self-reliant kid alone, while Pesci and Stern deserve combat metals (especially Stern) to the bricks and slings they endure.

It's much more violent than the first film's comparable set of dirty tricks. And Kevin, removed from his embattled home, seems much more cavalier, possibly even meaner than his bullying older brother, Buzz (Devin Ratray).

The pleasures here are entirely cruel, with an unhealthy concentration on the suffering of the victims, on the thudding impact of various objects against their heads, on their howls of agony.

It is going to make a ton of money, but you never feel that's the only reason it was made. It respects itself and it respects us, and there's no reason to begrudge its success.

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.

This is, inevitably perhaps, not as funny as the original -- the law of diminishing returns applying here as with most sequels -- although even the most demanding of viewers should find something to their liking.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York manages to up the stakes while Kevin has to fend for himself in a very different environment.

Sorely lacks the situational specificity and just the vague whiff of 'this could actually happen' from the previous film.

...the movie admittedly boasts (and benefits from) an ongoing emphasis on appealing, engaging elements...

This sequel has lots of color and Christmas warmth to recommend it. Its portrait of urban American is ridiculously romanticized, though, and the climatic fight with two silly-sinister bad guys is as nasty as it is cartoonish.