Home Alone 3 has a lot of unfair criticism.I mean,how many of you would really have wanted a 16-year-old Mac Culkin doing the same-old same-old to Harry and Marv.Of course it was a better idea to do in a different direction and with John Hughes still producing and writing you know there's going to be a good amount of imagination and creativity.
This time around we have 8-year-old Alex Pruitt defend his house against international criminals.Stuck at home with Chicken Pox with both his parents tied-up in work matters,Alex suspects foul play on his snowy street when he witnesses strangers poking around in his neighbor's house.Of course,no one believes an imaginative 8-year-old so he has to deal with them himself.
It turns out that a toy car Alex got from the old-lady across the street is actually a Trojan horse to smuggle a priceless defence microchip to the North Korean mob.They really ought to hire better criminals as they fall for every one of Alex's sadistic booby-traps.
Yes,that is basically the whole plot but it gets enough mileage out of it and it's still very funny.Set in January,it lacks the Xmas feel of the first two,but I guess that would have just been a distraction.John Williams' theme only gets a brief recital at the start,but from then on it's an adequate (if not exceptional) score from Hans Zimmer pal Nick Glennie-Smith.Despite these key differences of characters and theme,it still feels like it has enough continuity with the others.
It's a totally worthwhile and enjoyable sequel that has a bad rep for no reason.Home Alone 4 on the other hand...now THAT is BAD!