Home Alone 3 is massively underrated, and when given the freedom to stand on its own, it still holds up as a fantastic film today.
The oft-forgotten third installation of Home Alone is typically considered the series’ first misstep. The choice to make another Home Alone sequel without Macaulay Culkin was certainly a strange one. Culkin’s iconic portrayal of Kevin McCallister had become synonymous with the franchise: his bratty yet lovable approach to the character made Kevin relatable as an annoying and ungrateful child while still leaving the audience rooting for him anyway.
1990’s Home Alone and its 1992 sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York had become modern-day holiday classics, and 20th Century Fox was raring to make another. But Culkin’s acting career was on hiatus, and he had grown tired of playing child roles.
But the production team decided to make a sequel anyway, and to do so, they would scrap everything that made the original two films iconic. The third film in the series would feature an entirely new cast of characters and actors, would have completely different theming and wouldn’t even take place at Christmastime. On paper – and in the eyes of many viewers who hated the film – this was a recipe for disaster.
And when it’s compared to the original two movies, sure, it’s not great. But for the viewer who chooses to watch Home Alone 3 as an experience independent from the first two movies in the series, there’s great fun to be had. The strange truth is that Home Alone 3 isn’t trying to be the Home Alone that people love so dearly; it’s more interested in redefining what perspective the franchise takes. This movie might have been better received if it hadn’t been branded as a Home Alone film and instead given the chance to be its own thing.
Home Alone 3 ditches the two bumbling burglars of its predecessors, with the new antagonists being four international criminals hoping to deliver a missile-concealing microchip to a North Korean terrorist organization.
Talk about a change of pace.
Unfortunately for the criminals, the chip is intercepted by an airport mix-up before it eventually finds its way into the hands of Alex Pruitt, portrayed by former actor Alex D. Linz, who is this movie’s Kevin equivalent.
Obviously, with such a different approach, the film’s overall feeling is vastly different from its predecessors. Kevin’s quirky, light-hearted misadventures are nowhere to be found; instead, we’re left with a kind-hearted young boy (who’s much too intelligent for this movie to make any sort of logical sense) discovering he’s in possession of a microchip capable of launching a global war if it gets into the wrong hands.
While there are jokes throughout, the film’s overall feeling is serious. Unlike the two movies before it, Home Alone 3 feels like it was made with adults in mind. But this feeling – as disappointing as it might be to people who were simply hoping for more McCallister adventures – works in the context of the film and builds suspense as we watch the film’s adult cast continually deny Alex’s claims, before he eventually decides to take matters into his own hands.
Then comes the film’s climax, which is probably the only thing it has in common with its predecessors: the classic booby trap segment. Like Kevin before him, Alex deploys a series of probably lethal booby traps intended to injure home invaders. Alex must think more carefully, however: Kevin had two bumbling fools attack his home, but Alex has four criminal masterminds prepared for infiltration. With this added urgency and his brilliant mind, Alex concocts a series of booby traps to annihilate his intruders.
This setup pays off, because – and I do not say this lightly – Home Alone 3 has the best series of traps out of any film in this series.
Not only are his traps brilliant, but they’re consistently satisfying in their cleverness and lethality. Each trap clearly has much thought behind it, and there’s no filler here: each trap is designed to exhibit its maximum potential and deal the most damage. Remember, these aren’t two silly burglars, these are four international criminals who are part of a terrorist plot: there’s no room for sympathy.
Simply put: this section is fantastic and is unrivalled by any other trap segment in the series.
In all regards except its name, Home Alone 3 isn’t trying to be something it’s not. It’s unapologetic in its disregard for its predecessors, boldly paving a path toward a new concept for the franchise. There’s certainly value in the old and familiar, but Home Alone 3 proves that there’s just as much value in trying something new and fresh.
While the film is followed by three subpar sequels, Home Alone 3 does not deserve to be shoved into cultural obsolescence with them. It may not be a fantastic Home Alone movie, but it’s a great movie when given a chance to stand on its own.
Home Alone 3 has certainly earned its place as the best of the worst Home Alone movies.