So it seems Disney felt the need to remake/reboot Home Alone. Yes, the classic Christmas movie enjoyed by millions every year during the festive season apparently needs some fresh blood. Check out the trailer below.
"Holiday classics were meant to be broken." That's an interesting tagline!
My first thought upon seeing the trailer for Home Sweet Home Alone was something along the lines of "oh dear". Actually, at first I thought this was a joke. However, once I realised that was not the case I started wondering what the point of this is. We already have this movie, in fact we have two of them, and they're both great (just blink when Trumpy makes his appearance). Why would you watch this when you can watch the original on the very same streaming service?
Once again a child is left behind as a family head off on a Christmas holiday, this time to Japan. At first it's all good fun as the young Max Mercer (Alfie Yates) enjoys a life without rules, boundaries or family - although the Scarface reference seems a bit much. But when some master criminals - ha-ha - come snooping around in search of a family heirloom (at this point it's unclear whose family), Max takes it upon himself to defend the family home. All the while, Max's mother is fighting to get home to her son. It all sounds pretty familiar. But does this story work in the world of smartphones, tablets, video calling, social media and high-speed internet? In 1990 something like this was at least possible, but in 2021 I'm not so sure.
The one thing Home Sweet Home Alone has going for it is the cast, and I'm not talking about a possible cameo by Macaulay Culkin, or the return of Buzz McCallister (Devin Ratray), who is now a police officer (not the career path I imagined for Kevin McCallister's disgusting older brother). Alfie Yates is the hero of this new adventure, or trouble child - depending on your point of view. Yates was fantastic as 'Yorki' in Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit, at times even a scene stealer. He certainly deserves a chance to play the lead role in a movie, and if anyone can save this it's probably him. At the very least, I hope he had fun making it.
Playing Max's overly stressed mother is Aisling Bea, doing what can only be described as a stereotypical English accent. And of course where would a home invasion movie be without a few burglars. Rob Delaney and Ellie Kemper are the McKenzies, and they think they can outsmart a ten year old - obviously they've never seen Home Alone, or Home Alone 2: Lost in New York... and I really hope they haven't seen those terrible sequels. Of all the supporting cast Delaney is the one who comes off best. He's pretty loveable all of the time, and you kind of have to feel sorry for a guy who takes a snooker ball to the forehead.
The majority of the trailer is made up of highlights of Max's antics, and as crazy as they are it always feels like this new movie is competing with Home Alone. It might be that there is something new to Home Sweet Home Alone, but the trailer makes it look like they haven't tried to do anything new. Even the production value of this new incarnation doesn't match up. Both movies were shot using a soundstage for the interior of the house, yet only one of them looks like it was filmed on a soundstage. And the same can be said about the villains. There was a degree of evil to Harry and Marv (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern), they were funny but there was something sinister about them. The point is; I want to see them get their arses kicked by a ten year old. But the McKenzies are a tad pitiful, I'm sure this is all building to some backstory that shows they're not really all that bad, which somehow takes the fun out of it.
I think Chris Columbus said it best; when asked about the new film in an interview with Insider he said:
It's a waste of time as far as I'm concerned. What's the point? I'm a firm believer that you don't remake films that have had the longevity of Home Alone. You're not going to create lightning in a bottle again. It's just not going to happen. It's like doing a paint-by-numbers version of a Disney animated film - a live-action version of that. What's the point? It's been done. Do your own thing. Even if you fail miserably, at least you have come up with something original.
So this Christmas - well, November - we're getting what looks to be a cheap remake of a beloved Christmas classic, that's only available on the very streaming service where you can watch the original. Surely it would be easier, faster and cheaper to promote Home Alone as a reason to subscribe to Disney+.
Home Sweet Home Alone is available on Disney+ from 12th November.
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