Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (Film Review)

1992 20th Century Fox
Director: Chris Columbus; Writer: John Hughes
Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, Tim Curry, Brenda Fricker, and Catherine O'Hara
MPAA Rating: PG; Running Time: 120 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 7/10

Young Kevin McAllister is again on the rocks with his family. He thinks they're all jerks, and even though he spent the last Christmas at home without them, he wants to ditch the family Christmas trip this year and go somewhere alone. Somehow, Kevin's wish comes true two years in a row. He and his family are split up at the airport, his family lands in rainy Florida, and Kevin ends up in a snowy, magical New York City. At first, Kevin lives it up at the Plaza Hotel, using his father's credit card and giant pile of cash, but he soon finds a lonely emptiness in his youthful bacchanalia. To make matters worse, not only is the hotel on to him, but his old nemesis, The Wet Bandits--a pair of bumbling, yet violent thieves--have shown up to New York. The bandits are not only looking for revenge, but to knock off a toy store whose proceeds were supposed to go to charity. Now, Kevin must not only fight his old foes on a grander, more terrifying stage, but learn that being a beneficial member of society brings more fulfillment than simply satisfying one's desires. Also, this is a movie where Kevin sets a man's head on fire, and then that man tries to put that fire out in a toilet Kevin has filled with gasoline. 
I will never hide my pro-Home Alone 2 bias. I saw Home Alone 2: Lost in New York three times in the theater, became dismayed and disillusioned at the way the film essentially just hits all the beats of its predecessor: kid is isolated from his family, kid befriends outwardly threatening older loner, kid is threatened by bad guys, kid sets a series of Rube Goldberg traps to defeat said bad guys. However, a recent rewatch with my own child showed a surprising depth I couldn't fathom as a kid the same age as 11-year-old Kevin in 1992.
Yes, this a film featuring a Looney Tunes climax where Kevin enacts fatal act upon fatal act toward his criminal foes, incredible violence which barely leaves a scratch. Still, Home Alone 2 is an incredibly well-made film, featuring some deep and sometimes subtle moral messages. The film also features another star-making performance from Macaulay Culkin as Kevin, incredibly nostalgic Christmas imagery from director, Chris Columbus, sharp writing and funny dialogue from the legendary John Hughes, and yet another musical magnum opus from composer, John Williams.
Yes, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York IS just an escalation of the first film, with a bigger, more epic setting, an angrier duo of villains, and a Kevin who faces a bleaker emotional future...but it's awesome! I don't care about the retread aspect. This is the perfect example of a retread that stands apart. The first Home Alone is a delightful, possibly perfect Christmas comedy the entire family can enjoy, where a precocious, intrepid boy defends his home from intruders. I won't even pretend like Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a better film than the original, but it's a darker, more visually and thematically ambitious sequel, and I love it!
Merry Christmas, you filthy animals!