The More Likely Story of Being Home Alone!

One of the things that I found totally unbelievable in the first two Home Alone movies was that the McCallister parents were so incompetant in making sure that all of their children were with them on the trips that they were making across the country/world. In my personal opinion, even though that "fact" was the issue that made Home Alone the success that it was in the box office, as a parent I find that scenario quite unbelievable.

However, Home Alone 3 is the exception to the rule though and of all three of the Home Alone movies, I find Home Alone 3 the most believable of them all.

Who Is Home Alone Now?

Alex Pruitt, the youngest of three children, in a middle class home, find himself covered in chicken pox one evening after playing. His older neighbor, Mrs. Hess, has given him a toy remote controlled car that she accidentally picked up at the airport instead of her own luggage which she presumes is lost.

Alex, unable to go to school now because of his illness, finds time to snoop on the neighbors and so forth. After playing with his toy car, he finds a top secret computer chip that looks like it is very important. Trying to locate the appropriate government agencies to return the component, Alex is given the royal run around and essentially gives up on trying to use that avenue to return the computer component.

However, in the meantime, there are some shady characters now appearing in Alex's neighborhood. It appears that the burglars are breaking into Mrs. Hess home and others trying to find something. But what do they want? Are they after the computer chip? After telling his parents his story, they don't even believe him, so now what will he do?

Things I Like About Home Alone 3

The main thing that I like about Home Alone 3 is that the scenario is much more believable for the instance of being alone. Alex is left at home during periodic times because his mother works and she has to go into her office during part of the time that Alex is left alone. Being a single parent, this seems to be more realistic to me. I know that I have had to go to my office briefly to retrieve my laptop computer to work at home on projects when my children have been ill so the concept of the movie makes more sense and is more appealing to me.

The next thing that I like about Home Alone 3 is the addition of animal characters into the movie as accomplices to Alex's plans to defeat the bad guys -- a mouse and especially a really crazy parrot (voice by Darren T. Knaus). The parrot really makes the movie be much more than it would have been without its presence. Without revealing the main parts of the film that are hysterical, I can't really explain this to you. Suffice to say, that the parrot really does wild and crazy things to confuse the bad guys and this will make you roll on the floor laughing.

Things I Do Not Like About Home Alone 3

The main thing that I do not like about Home Alone 3 is that the individuals who produced this movie advertised it as a Home Alone movie. True, it is the basic plot as the others -- a kid home alone trying to survive against the bad guys, but the movie has different characters and I believe that it would have been better to have called it something else. Having the same theme song beginning at the first part of the film as the others, gives a false impression as to what the movie is going to be alike.

Most people identify the Home Alone theme with the McCallister family, and this is not about them.

Another thing I do not like about Home Alone 3 is the fact that they tried too hard to find another "mom" (Haviland Morris) who looked like Catherine O'Hara who played Kate McCallister in the two other Home Alone movies. Why it was important to have a red headed "mother" in this film, I do not know, but it also gives a false impression as to the intent of the film.

The final thing that I do not like about Home Alone 3 is the fact that there are sexual innuendos and implications in the film. In one scene, Alex has to use a nude poster of a woman to trick the bad guys. While the entire body of the woman is not shown, enough IS shown to imply that she is naked. In addition, in some of the scenes where Alex is battling the bad guys, there is bathroom humor and other sexual innuendos which I find distasteful.

Overall Recommendation

Of all the Home Alone movies, I have to say that this runs close to the first one in gags, laughs and originality. In my personal opinion, if Home Alone 3 would have been the "first" movie, it would have been just as big of a blockbuster as the first one was. However, because it is a "sequel" and judged as a sequel, many people have judged this movie unjustly.

In my personal opinion though, Home Alone 3 is an excellent movie for family viewing of children from ages 9 and above and a great addition to your video library.

Main characters of Home Alone 3 include the following:
Alex D. Linz - Alex Pruitt
Olek Krupa - Petr Beaupre
Rya Kihlstedt - Alice Ribbons
Lenny von Dohlen - Burton Jernigan
David Thornton - Earl Unger
Haviland Morris - Karen Pruitt
Kevin Kilner - Jack Pruitt
Marian Seldes - Mrs. Hess