Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a good weekend so far. I went for a drive with my parents this morning just so I could get out of the house for a little bit. Right now though I'm going to be reviewing the 1997 third film in the Home Alone series, Home Alone 3. I might say some controversial things in this review regarding my opinion on this movie versus my opinion on Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, so just be aware of that as you read it. So with that out of the way let's get into this review.
I didn't grow up with the first two Home Alone movies. I vaguely remember seeing them when I was a little kid and I remember playing the NES game for the first movie, but they weren't movies that I watched regularly. However, Home Alone 3 is a movie I watched pretty regularly when I was 12, 13, 14 and even 15 years old because it came out on VHS in 1998 and I got the tape for either my 12th birthday, or Christmas of that year. I can't remember for sure.
While I watched the movie last night, I kept wondering why people hold the first two movies in such high regard over this one. I mean the entire Home Alone franchise is completely unrealistic in terms of their story, and the third movie is almost a reboot of the series, similar to how Batman Forever was almost a reboot of the Batman Motion Picture Anthology series following Batman Returns. Regardless, the entire series is ridiculous and you have to suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. So why don't people like Home Alone 3?
I don't think it has anything to do with it not being the cast from the previous two movies. I think it's because the Home Alone series is such an early 90s thing, that by 1997, when this movie came out, they didn't care anymore. I mean 1997 was the year that Spawn, Steel, Batman & Robin, and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie came out along with Men in Black, and all of them, except for possibly Men in Black pretty much killed the comic book based movie, because they were pretty ridiculous. Also Titanic came out the week after Home Alone 3, so that meant this movie was done once James Cameron's hugely popular film was theatrically released. It also dominated the home video market in 1998, luckily this movie came out on VHS in June, three months before Titanic did.
Honestly, I really like this movie. I know, it doesn't have Kevin McAllister or Marv and Harry in it, but to be quite honest Kevin was a jerk in those first two movies, and didn't really learn anything in either film. In this movie, Alex was trying to do the right thing when he called the police. It's just it took so long for the cops to get there that the crooks were able to disappear. It's not Alex's fault. The adults, and his siblings, just didn't believe him. Not to mention his brother and sister just made fun of him the whole movie until near the end when they found out from Agent Stuckey that Alex was actually in danger.
I also think that the movie is much more realistic in certain aspects than elements from the first two movies were. I mean it's much more believable that Karen, Alex's mom, would be forced to leave Alex at home because he's sick with the chicken pox to go into work, than it is that an entire family would forget one kid at home when they go away on vacation. I'm not saying I dislike Home Alone or Home Alone 2 because I don't. In fact I like both movies quite a bit. What I'm saying is people hate on Home Alone 3 for some of the same reasons they praise the first two movies, which is really weird to me.
The stakes almost feel higher in this movie too. Harry and Marv are pretty small time compared to the international criminals in this movie. Actually, the entire first ten minutes of the film feels like a spy movie. The crooks get the job from their benefactor, a businessman in Hong Kong, they acquire the missile chip, and everything goes wrong once they get to the airport, because Mrs. Hess was impatient and picked up the first package that came through security, without double checking to make sure it was actually HER package.
I love the cast in this movie though I feel like aside from Scarlett Johansson I haven't seen anyone else in other movies. I know that Alex D. Linz, who plays the main character, Alex Pruitt, voiced young Tarzan in Tarzan in 1999 for Disney, voiced the young version of the main character of Titan A.E. in 2000 and played Max Keeble in Max Keeble's Big Move in 2001, but otherwise he hasn't been in alot of high profile films and hasn't acted in anything since 2007. Though the actress who plays Alice, one of the criminals, has appeared on various shows that I used to watch, but only after I stopped watching them. There's also a brief cameo by Neil Flynn, who played the Janitor on Scrubs and the father on The Middle, as a police officer the first time Alex calls the cops.
I laughed in alot of places because of how funny this movie is. The thing is though, at least for me, the humour doesn't overshadow the serious moments, like when Alex is legitimately in danger from the four bad guys. Instead, it adds a reprieve from what would otherwise be a pretty scary movie. Compared to some other movies from around this time, like Spawn, and even Star Trek: First Contact, which came out the year before, this movie is pretty tame. Maybe because the comedy is there from the beginning of the franchise. Whatever the case is, it's pretty tame even compared to the first two Home Alone movies.
I did roll my eyes at one part of the movie though. Two parts actually. The first is when Alex is messing with Mrs. Hess by using a universal remote control to turn her TV on and off from across the street, as well as change the channel. Is this something that Alex does all the time? If so, how has she not caught him by now? The other part I rolled my eyes at was when Alex was getting the traps ready at the beginning of the final act, he does it in the middle of the night after his mom and siblings were asleep. How did they not get caught in any of the traps? The entire house is booby trapped, including sections of the house where they would be noticeable to the people who live there and nobody trips them. As I said before you have to suspend your disbelief a certain amount to enjoy this movie, so I didn't think too much about these particular scenes, but I still found it funny even if I did roll my eyes each time.
Home Alone 3 was released on VHS on June 2nd 1998. I got it that same year either for my 12th birthday or for Christmas and I watched it all the time. I knew about this movie before that though. They showed commercials for it on TV on channels that I watched like YTV. I don't remember if they were commercials for the theatrical release or the VHS release, I just remember seeing commercials for the movie that had "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba playing over it. I can't find that commercial on YouTube so I can't tell you if it was a TV spot for the film's theatrical release in 1997 or it's home video release in 1998. I think we also had the first two movies on VHS as well, but this one was mine.
One thing I found to be really bizarre about this movie is the technology. There were cell phones, laptop computers, and the internet, but they weren't the same as those things are now. Movies and TV shows from this period that showed technology from the late 90s were funny, because laptops never seemed to have to be plugged in ever. Every time we see a laptop it's always just on a table with an endless battery supply. So that was fun to see.
Overall this movie was still as fun as I remember it being from when I watched it as a kid. Before last night I think the last time I watched Home Alone 3 was probably in 2005 or 2006, when the majority of my movie collection was still on VHS. I had a few DVDs, but they were mainly more recent films like Batman Begins, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, and The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) with the exceptions being Batman: The Movie and Spaceballs. 2007 was the latest, because I think it was about 2007 or 2008 when my parents got rid of the majority of our VHS collection in favour of DVD.
If you haven't seen it in a while, or just missed out on it because it didn't have Macaulay Culkin in it, I recommend watching it, because I personally don't think it's as bad as everyone thinks it is, but that's just me though. I have weird tastes in movies. Lol.
Alright everyone, that's going to be it for me for this week. I'll be back on Tuesday for next week's Disney VHS review. I'm also just starting volume 11 of the Sailor Moon manga and the editions I have has twelve volumes, so I should have my review of that coming out sometime next week as well. I'll also have another movie review for you later in the week as well, most likely on Friday as my sister and I getting back to our watch through of season 2 of The Orville next week, after two weeks off for Raya and the Last Dragon and the first episode of Loki. So until then have a great rest of your weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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