In 1990, classic Christmas comedy, Home Alone, became a blockbuster hit, warming the hearts of viewers everywhere. To this day, Home Alone is an annually watched movie in my household, alongside other top-tier Christmas entertainment, such as Elf, Christmas Vacation, And How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The original Home Alone provoked two additional sequels, and the trilogy officially came to a close in 1997, or so everyone thought. 

2021, thirty-one years later, Disney+ decided to squeeze the last ounce of money they could from the Home Alone franchise, creating movie number four, Home Sweet Home Alone. This movie is the definition of, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” 

A disgrace to the original, Home Sweet Home Alone features an entirely different cast, starring Archie Yates, who played Max Mercer. As you might predict, he plays a young boy who has been tragically left behind as the rest of his family goes on Christmas vacation. 

Aside from the fact that this is a poorly constructed knock-off version of Home Alone, my main issue with the plot is the lack of a “bad guy.” 

In the original, the spiteful and comedic robbers were the perfect mix of dumb, vengeful, and threatening in order to make rooting against them an easy task. However, in this version, the “bad guy” equivalent was actually just a married couple attempting to recover a stolen item that would make them the necessary amount of money needed to save their house. 

This change of pace made it awkward when Max Mercer—the little boy—inevitably set an astronomical amount of booby traps, of which could only hurt the couple. 

I found myself feeling pity for both them and Max because their individual situations were more depressing than funny. This epiphany led me further down the list of reasons why Home Sweet Home Alone was not worth my time. 

All respect was on the brink of being lost when a reference to the original Home Alone brought back enough nostalgia to make the concept of the movie tolerable. 

The reference strategically connected Home Sweet Home Alone to the 1990’s movie by bringing back a familiar character: Kevin’s older brother, Buzz. When Buzz makes his appearance, he has grown up and is now the cop that was sent to investigate Max’s situation.

Buzz then proceeds to talk about Kevin in a way that hypothetically brings the evolution of both movies full circle.

However, although this minuscule aspect of the film was pleasing, it was not nearly enough to combat the suffering plot of the actual movie. 

In situations like these—when companies re-make already amazing films—I will always choose to watch the much preferred original movie over the new version. Unless, the newer rendition has something extra to offer, which was not the case here.

There was nothing exciting or compelling about Home Sweet Home Alone that made it a particular stand-out movie, especially not when compared to Home Alone. Go watch the original.