Home Alone | Home Alone 2: Lost in New York | Home Alone 3 | Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House | Home Alone: The Holiday Heist | Home Sweet Home Alone
- Accidental Aesop:
- If you suspect a minor of committing credit card fraud, maybe try to call their parents first if you can rather than threaten them with the police. Or, even better, check the surname on their backpack which they share with either their father or mother.
- If you work in a position where you handle credit cards, especially with transactions as large as the ones conducted at five-star hotels, you are the front line of defense against credit card fraud; in real life, fraudulent charges can mean chargebacks, which will cost the business more than just the money that was taken back by the bank, and that's one of the less-harmful consequences to the business for being complicit to credit card fraud. Don't accept a credit card from someone to whom it clearly does not belong, and don't buy any stories of "Oh, the person who has this card is away, and they're letting me use it."
- It's one thing to say you'll treat someone better after a harrowing experience, but it's another thing to actually follow up on that. Old patterns can easily repeat, so it's no wonder Kevin's family is still treating him the same way they did the previous Christmas. Which only makes it easier for Kevin to want to be away from them again.
- Be careful what you say around people, you never know how much that can come back to bite you later on in a variety of ways.
- Don't butt into conversations you are not apart of, even if you are trying to give sincere advice. Doubly don't do it when one or more of the people involved are already mad at you and warned you once to stay out of the conversation.
- Alternative Character Interpretation: Is the Bird Lady's reason for being homeless meant to be taken at face value by more than kids, or is she meant to be telling Kevin an age-appropriate version of her story?
- Catharsis Factor:
- Kevin telling off Uncle Frank by calling him a cheapskate. In addition to this being the only time Frank is called out on his penny-pinching, it's also satisfying to see Frank finally get his comeuppance on being a Karma Houdini in the first movie.
- The hotel concierge has a reason to suspect that Kevin is using a fraudulent credit card, but he acts in a complete inappropriate fashion. He breaks into the hotel suite where Kevin is staying and sneaks into the bathroom when he hears running water. Even if Peter had really been there, that was out of line. Then he intimidates Kevin when learning the card was reported as "stolen" and taunts him about having called the police. Unsurprisingly, he's forced to eat Humble Pie when Kevin's parents show up, in full You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! mode. They point out angrily that the concierge chased a minor into the streets on Christmas Eve. All he can do is offer his best suite for the whole family at no extra charge, and Kate smacks him for condescendingly saying there's no way she can find Kevin alone. Kate was the one who pointed out that the concierge could have reassured Kevin he wasn't in trouble and kept him there until his parents arrived. Even Peter is in Papa Wolf mode, berating the concierge.
- Kevin defending himself as being publicly humiliated at the Christmas pageant. Sure, he was out of line for shoving Buzz that hard that Buzz and the rest of the choir all fell down, causing the Christmas set to collapse as well and the pianist to fall back in her chair, thus ruining the performance for not just the conductor and the school but the other choir children who also had parents in the audience to see them on their special night, as well as everyone else. Honestly though who could blame him after going through an ordeal like that.
- Kevin's entire family arrives to a rundown motel in the middle of an awful storm. We're given an extended shot of each and every one of them looking completely depressed and miserable as they see their Florida trip's going to be a total bust, and it is completely satisfying for those who can't stand what assholes they are towards Kevin in this movie and the previous one.
- Contested Sequel: Some consider the movie an Even Better Sequel that's more action-packed and dramatic while giving the Wet Bandits and the booby traps more focus, while others view it as an inferior follow-up that follows the beats of the original too much, only changing the setting.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Tim Curry steals the show as the smarmy Mr. Hector. It helps that he isn't a Expy from the first film and many of the funniest scenes center around him, especially the shower prank.
- Glurge: The Bird Lady's reason for being homeless can come off as, at best, unintentionally funny and at worst manipulative.
- In addition, it was one thing for Kevin to tell Old Man Marley to call his son even though he was afraid, as he could draw from rather ageless lessons about bravery even if he possibly wouldn't understand the full complexity of the situation. Kevin giving Bird Lady actual relationship advice kind of comes off as Know-Nothing Know-It-All in a way the first film didn't.
- Ham and Cheese: Tim Curry, per usual, hams it up playing his role in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
- It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: A major criticism of the second movie is that it's too much like the first film, apart from the setting switching to New York City rather than being secluded to a house.
- Jerkass Woobie: Mr. Hector is a little overeager to bust Kevin for "credit card fraud" and is an all-around smarmy jerk; but watching him get outsmarted and humiliated by Kevin, and later slapped in the face by Kevin's mother, makes him pitiable.
- Just Here for Godzilla:
- A number of people only watch the film to see Tim Curry hamming it up as Mr. Hector.
- Similarly, since his 2016 presidential bid and surprise victory, many people watch it just for Donald Trump's cameo.
- As in the first film, the traps sequence overshadows the rest of the film.
- Narm Charm: Frank singing an off-key rendition of Cool Jerk in the shower can have charm of its own. Kevin also records it and it becomes a Chekhov's Gun to temporarily fool Mr. Hector into buying that Kevin is traveling with his "dad" when he walks into the hotel room to investigate Kevin's claims.
- Paranoia Fuel: When Kevin walks around New York City at night, he comes across a Laughing Mad homeless man and some hookers who flirt with him. What caps it is this exchange when he calls a taxi.Kevin: It's scary out there!
Taxi driver: Ain't much better in here, kid. - Retroactive Recognition: An uncredited Eden Riegel was a member of the choir.
- Rooting for the Empire: Admit it. Some of you wouldn't have minded so much if Marv had conked Kevin with that brick.
- Shocking Moments: Harry tells Kevin that he has a gun and that knocking off a youngster won't mean much to him. Then when Harry and Marv bring Kevin into Central Park, we learn that Harry wasn't bluffing: he did have a gun and fully intended to shoot Kevin with it! Thankfully, the Pigeon Lady saves Kevin and it turns out the gun was jammed after he and Marv were covered by a thick coat of varnish.
- Signature Scene: Kevin's stay at the Plaza Hotel. Mainly because it's the main chunk of the film that doesn't suffer from "It's the Same, Now It Sucks!" when compared to the first movie.
- Strawman Has a Point: Mr. Hector disadvising Kate for looking for Kevin by herself. While he's just as sleazy as he was towards Kevin, he's right in that it wouldn't be a good idea for a wealthy woman unfamiliar with the city to wander the streets of New York alone at night. The film doesn't treat it as such and he gets slapped by her.
- Unintentional Period Piece:
- Similar to the original film, the McCallister family is once again late for the airport, and once again just barely makes it. While the fact they are taking airport shuttles allows them some leeway in not needing to find parking, it still comes with all of the same problems of the original film when comparing it to today's airport security. Also, the reason Kevin accidentally boards the wrong flight is that he is insistent on reloading the batteries in his tape recorder, and mixes up his dad for someone else. These days, Kevin would probably just use a similar feature included with most smartphones, and not need a separate device.
- Oh, and that Talkboy uses a cassette tape. How often are those seen anymore?
- However, cassette tapes have made a niche comeback since 2015-ish, akin to the vinyl resurgence.
- The reason the McCallisters are late in the first place, Kevin's dad accidently unplugging his bedside clock and therefore resetting it and turning off the alarm that was supposed to wake them up on time. Nowadays, he, along with every other member of the family, would have the alarm set on their smartphones.
- No way in today's world would anyone even consider just letting a kid under age 10 without a parent/guardian around board a fully booked flight to New York. Though this was pushing it even by 1992 standards, as airport security was notably tightened in the early 1990s in response to the Lockerbie bombing.
- There is no way that the Plaza Hotel would just buy Kevin's story about his dad being on a business trip, and then let him check into their hotel with a credit card that Kevin openly admitted wasn't his. While the card really did belong to Kevin's father, he was still illegally using it; in today's world, the police would've been notified almost immediately.
- The famous shot of the Twin Towers during the New York montage is a powerful reminder that it was filmed before 2001. In the decade following, that scene was either edited out or kept the movie off airwaves entirely.
- New York City is portrayed as being dirty and crime ridden, dating it to before Rudy Giuliani's term as mayor.
- One of the big settings in New York is a dedicated toy store, which has become something more of a novelty in The New '10s.
- Donald Trump's cameo. At the time, Trump was always seen as an eccentric billionaire, whereas today, his highly controversial political career has massively overshadowed this, clearly setting the film in a time before his reputation shift. In fact, Chris Columbus was originally going to cut this cameo from the film since it was only shot as part of the contract for filming in the Plaza Hotel, but he left it in because test audiences applauded it.
- Unintentionally Sympathetic: As is often in the case of the slapstick Butt-Monkey, even if Harry and Marv are bad guys, its hard not to feel bad for how rough they get it here, with Kevin's traps being much more brutal this time around. Special mention goes to Marv getting hit in the head by a brick four times in a row.
- Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Peter dealing with the Shockingly Expensive Bill at the end. Yes, Kevin did abuse his credit card, but Peter has lost his son on vacation a second time, so it feels more Laser-Guided Karma for his irresponsibility.
- Values Dissonance:
- Kevin is able to get onto a flight that wasn't his — a feat that was already difficult in The '90s, but nigh impossible by the end of the decade.
- The scene where Kevin escapes from the Plaza plays the "You’ve been smooching with everybody!" quote for laughs, but the Gay Panic makes it very hard to imagine any film trying that these days. The employees are also forced out of the room when they mistake Johnny shooting a tommy gun for being real. Hector's precautions and warnings for the guests to remain in their rooms would be taken much more seriously today.
- Similarly, the scene of the Plaza Hotel staff being seemingly confronted and scared off by a crazed gunman holed up in Kevin's room would not be done today, since it too closely mirrors the actions of the perpetrator of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
- Values Resonance: Kevin showing kindness and empathy towards the homeless pigeon lady, after initially being scared of her. Especially since homelessness is an issue that a lot of people face in this day and age, and there are now a few businesses that are encouraging the public to be a lot more understanding towards said population.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: TV airings of Home Alone 2 tended to cut out Trump's cameo, which, after his 2016 presidential campaign and subsequent presidency, has caused both him and his supporters to accuse Hollywood of censoring and trying to erase his previous, positive media depictions. However, this scene (and others) had been regularly cut before his political career, and has nothing to do with his controversial reputation shift, but rather the same reason most films get cut down in TV airings. They only have a limited TV slot, and Trump's cameo is a non-essential thing that added nothing to the plot, was only thrown in to appease Trump's contractual requests for use of his hotel and, as noted above, was only kept in the film because test audiences reacted positively towards it.
- The Woobie: In-Universe. Carlotta in "Angel with Even Filthier Souls" is this. Unlike Snakes in the previous movie she's a totally innocent woman who gets brutally machine-gunned by Johnny for having supposedly cheat on him with his brother. Even if it was true she definetly didn't deserve that gruesome fate.
