“Home Sweet Home Alone” is the remake of the movie “Home Alone” which was released in 1990, and it’s sequel was released in 1992. “Home Sweet Home Alone” was released on Nov. 12, 2021.

The movie follows Jeff and Pam Mckenzie as they attempt to steal back a strange looking doll that’s worth 200,000 dollars to try and save their home. They can’t break the news to their children, forcing them to work in secret. To add even more pressure, Jeff’s successful brother Hunter, his wife Mei, and their son Ollie, decided to stay with them for Christmas.

During an open house, Jeff assumes Max Mercer, a child with a sassy attitude, stole the doll. When Max and Carol return home, it’s shown that the entire family is preparing to leave for Tokyo, Japan for the holidays; Carol leaving earlier than the others. Max gets annoyed at the ruckus the family is making, upset at how he seems invisible to them, and decides to hide out in the car in the garage, falling asleep to cartoons.

The next day, Jeff finds out where the two live and makes his way there, only to find the family rushing to leave. During the family’s rush, he is able to catch the security code and sees where the house key is. He tells Pam about it, and they both agree to steal back the doll at night. 

Similar to its predecessor, Max discovers his family all gone and decides to have some fun, however, he quickly gets bored and begins to miss his family. Soon after, Jeff and Pam arrive and are able to get inside the house. 

Max overhears them talking about selling an ‘ugly little boy’ and assumes they were talking about him, in which he calls the police. Pam is able to divert officer Buzz McCallister and Max realizes that if the police knew he was home alone, his parents would get arrested.

Carol finds out Max had been left behind and buys a ticket back while the Mckenzies head to church the next day. The two talk about what to do, and their realtor, Gavin Washington, tells them they have a buyer and only have until the end of the year to decide, placing more pressure on them. Max arrives and talks unknowingly with Jeff and Pam’s son, Chris, who sympathetically gives him a water gun.

Jeff and Pam decide to break back in while their family is still in church, seeing Max speak with an elderly woman, assuming her to be his grandmother. They arrive and plan to sneak in through the back of Max’s home, only to end up in the neighbor’s backyard. Max overhears them yet again about the two’s new plan for Jeff to dress up as Santa to fool him.

Max responds by setting multiple traps for the two in his home as Jeff and Pam wait until their family is asleep on Christmas Eve. When the two arrive, they’re subjected to Max’s traps, Pam having her feet lit on fire and Jeff being hit in the head with pool balls. 

During this, Pam finds out Max didn’t steal the doll, only a can of soda and attempts to explain the misunderstanding to Max, but learns that Max is home alone and suggests for Max to stay with them for the time being.

While explaining the situation to their family, it’s discovered that Ollie stole the doll, ensuring that the Mckenzie family will stay. Carol arrives and hugs Max, finding friends in the Mckenzies, only having moved into their own home two months ago.

A year later and the Mercer and Mckenzies are having Christmas dinner, Jeff having gotten a new job and willingly giving Max the can of soda Max had wanted the year before.

This movie can be considered as its own independent movie. The storyline and the way it’s played out deviates from the original source material, going so far as to change the ‘antagonists’ to have more screen time than the main character, Max.

Its bland humor and self-aware jokes just don’t land, leaving the movie with a slightly awkward tone whenever they attempt to strike a joke.

The show has multiple different issues, but the major disappointment it displays is the scene where Carol comes home and reunites with Max, bringing him into a loving hug. It’s the most impactful scene in Home Alone, the 1990 and 1992 versions. The movie builds up to this single moment, for when Kevin reunites with his mom.

In “Home Sweet Home Alone”, we get this shabby remake of her walking in and just bringing him into a hug, Carol speaks with the Mckenzies for a few minutes and it fades to black.

“Home Sweet Home Alone” fails to see the reason why “Home Alone” was such a success. It paid attention to the ‘antagonists’ so much that during the iconic trap scene of each movie, I felt genuinely bad for the parents, getting more annoyed at Max for causing them so much pain.

The mother, Carol, barely gets any screen time, only being shown an awkward slapstick that isn’t even funny. She is only shown on the screen five to six times, the first being when we meet her up to the point where she’s said to be gone before the others, the second being when she finds out Max is not there, the third and fourth being her moments on the plane, and the last being when she hugs Max and the one year timeskip. 

This is where “Home Alone” shines, showing the struggle and fight of Kevin’s mom, Kate McCallister. Her desperation, even going as far as to try and bribe an elderly couple for a ticket, all to come home to her son. She screams and faints when she finds out he’s missing, goes through several struggles from police to plane.

In the “Home Alone” remake, Carol doesn’t faint. She argues with the family a bit and walks out alone, that’s it. It’s so anticlimactic that you don’t care about the mother’s side, she’s just another character that’s there.

Compared to “Home Alone”, “Home Sweet Home Alone” is nowhere near as good a remake as its predecessor. When talking about recommendations, it wouldn’t be a good thing to recommend to people, or even watch more than once. It’s better to stick to the classics with the classics this year.