Home Alone 3 has the distinct honor (if you can call it that) of being the first entry in the iconic series to completely break away from the McCallister family. There is no re-casting here, no trying to explain that this new kid is his long lost cousin, and not even close to a reboot. No, Home Alone 3 is its own unique - if not familiar – thing, and quite frankly its better for it. I think so many folks are scared off by this threequel simply because there is no Macaulay Culkin. To those people I say YOU’RE WRONG DAMMIT, DEAD WRONG. And I also say, it stars a young Scarlett Johansson so…tradeoffs.

While I could sit here and write a 10,000 word essay about why you should give this movie a shot, I think this excerpt from the Wikipedia page could sell you on the idea better than I ever could:

It [Home Alone 3] stars Alex D. Linz as Alex Pruitt, an 8-year-old child prodigy who defends his home from a dangerous band of criminals who work for a North Korean terrorist organization.

NORTH. KOREAN. TERRORIST. ORGANIZATION.

Jesus Christ, this guy might ACTUALLY shoot a kid!

Talk about upping the stakes from the first two huh? Wet Bandits really pale in comparison to actual fucking terrorists. As bat shit and (possibly) stupid as this plot may sound, I promise you, it works better than it has any right to. Now some may say I have a bias because this was actually the first Home Alone movie that I had ever seen, but I can confirm that after repeat viewings as an adult, this is genuinely a great follow up. No nostalgic, rose-tinted glasses here; I can honestly say that I recommend this film in the most non-ironic, genuine way possible.

That scene has always stuck with me because of how much of a prankster this little genius is. Kevin is a mastermind when it comes to setting traps, but Alex is absolutely brilliant when it comes to fucking with people in a very Bart Simpson sort of way. I could go on forever and ever about my love for this movie, but I think the last thing worth mentioning is Alex’s bedroom. I don’t know about anyone else but this bedroom was what I STRIVED for as a kid. He just has so much random crap and everything is a mish-mash in the most perfect, 90s way possible. That bedroom seems like a place that a kid could have a million adventures and never even consider getting bored.

All in all, if you haven’t given this off the walls sequel a try, what are you waiting for? There’s never been a better time to try out something new and venture a bit out of your comfort zone. After all, if you don’t like it you still have the first two to fall back on!

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