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!
