The props
Kevin might have had his own snow sledge in the first film BUT Home Alone 2 introduced us to the Talkboy. Long before Disney’s Frozen favourite Elsa broke children’s hearts everywhere by selling out in shops, the simple voice recorder was the toy that every child wanted to unwrap under the Christmas tree.
And no matter how many pictures we can take on our phones, nothing will ever seem quite as cool as sightseeing around the Big Apple with a Polaroid camera.
The food
How many kids can boast having their own limo driver waiting outside the biggest hotel in New York with a huge pizza, and a personal butler scooping unlimited ice cream while they watched films?
The Sticky Bandits
Harry and Marv stole the show in the first film, almost literally, but they were SO much better in the sequel. The pair were funnier, more ruthless and seriously evil – stealing from sick children is a definite no no.
Plus: Having sticky hands to steal everything – including children’s mittens and loose change – is SO much more efficient than breaking in to houses and flooding them.
THAT Toy store
Forget Hamleys, Duncan’s Toy Chest seemed like the most magical place on Earth – especially since kids got to actually PLAY with everything they wanted. The shop even gave the bandits a place to hide while they plotted their heist.
All extras that were part of the shop scenes even got to take their favourite toy home at the end.
The pigeon lady
The South Bend Shovel Slayer turned out to be pretty nice, but nothing beats the woman Kevin befriends in the park. He’s initially scared, until he gets his leg caught while awkwardly running away from her and she helps him out. They quickly become friends over a hot chocolate, and he later gives her a turtle dove to show that they’ll be connected forever.
The only other friends she has are the central park birds, hence the name ‘pigeon lady’. That is actually how she’s listed in the credits, which makes her story even sadder.
Moral lessons
Let’s be honest, the only things Home Alone taught us was how to beat buglers in your own house, and not to forget members of your family when going on holiday. The second instalment gave us so much more.
Kevin helped the aforementioned pigeon lady see the true value of friendship, trusting people and loving again, with the line “Your heart might be broken but it isn’t gone. If it was gone, you wouldn’t be this nice.” Deep words from a 10-year-old!
Operation Ho Ho Ho
Okay, Marv might have been hit in the face with an iron, and Harry had his hair burnt off in the first film, but that is seriously nothing compared to what Kevin had in store for them the second time around. They were both hit with bricks, set on fire, and Marv was electrocuted to the point that you could see his skeleton. Ouch.
Tim Curry
The inept concierge of the Plaza hotel, aka the “finest idiots in New York” MADE Home Alone 2 what it was, none more so than Tim Curry. He was (quite rightly) suspicious of Kevin from the very start but could never make it stick – and what did he get for his troubles? A slap in the face.
Christmas
Sure, Christmas in the McAllister household in the first film saw the whole family reunite – but something it missed out was the presents – apart from the tic-tacs Santa gave Kevin, obviously.
But when he woke up on Christmas morning a year later, in a huge suite at the Plaza no less, there were hundreds of them, giving us all gift envy.
The setting
The title of the film gives this one away, but seeing Kevin wandering around Central Park, zooming over the Brooklyn Bridge in a yellow taxi and watching the action on stage at Carnegie Hall made us beg our parents for a plane ticket to New York.
Merry Christmas you filthy animals
Purely for this line alone.
