Tear Jerker / Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

• Any progress that Kevin and his family made got undone in a year. Kevin found out that he didn't make his family disappear: they left him at home and forgot all about him until they were on the plane.
  • But in an awesome moment, while everyone oversleeps, it's revealed he got to the car first, claimed the front seat, and grabbed his ticket and passport.
• Just like in the first movie, Kate has a fight with Kevin and sarcastically says that since he got his wish last year, maybe he'll get it this year. Then the family lands in Miami and realizes he's not there. She laughs hysterically...and faints. In the next shot, she and her husband are engaging in Tension-Cutting Laughter when talking with the cops, who snap them back to a sober tone.
• The Pigeon Lady. She once had a normal life with a home, a job, and a husband until he left her, at which point she fell into a deep depression that she never recovered from. She gets better with Kevin's help.
• Any scene in the sequel that has "Christmas Star" playing in the background.
  • For example, Kevin staring out a window in New York and saying, "Good night, Mom", which transitions to Kate also staring out a window in Florida and saying, "Good night, Kevin".
  • Also, Kevin and a sick boy in the children's hospital waving to each other.
• Kevin considers spending Christmas Eve with the Pigeon Lady in the symphony hall rafters. It's warm and there is room for them both. Then he remembers that Harry and Marv are going to rob the toy store. He braves the cold and their murderous intent to help out the kids.
• Mr. Duncan finds out the toy store was broken into, on Christmas Eve no less, when he was going to donate the day's revenue to a hospital. He's relieved when the cops say that none of the money was taken, thanks to a brick that triggered the alarm. Then Mr. Duncan sees the note attached to the brick, with the person who wrote it apologizing for breaking the window. Kevin didn't do this expecting an award; he did it to make things right. Mr. Duncan gets a look in his eyes as he studies the Plaza stationery, does some detective work, and sends several rooms' worth of presents to the suite where the McCallisters are staying.
• Kevin apologizes to his mother when she finds him at the Rockefeller Center. It hit him that wishing to have a vacation solo was not nice to either of them. She smiles and apologizes in turn.
• Though it is Played for Laughs and was obviously overdone for comedic purposes, you cannot help but feel sorry for Kevin during the Christmas pageant. Imagine singing a solo, which you have worked so hard on for your part, during a special beloved holiday, and falling victim to a prank being pulled on you by your own sibling and not to playfully tease you.
  • Then for the straw that breaks the camel's back, a full audience (mostly of full-grown adults, who should know better, but some older students as well), not to mention other members of your performance, laugh uproariously at you as if you did not even matter. ^note  But it probably wasn't personal, though, and was more about the prank itself. Their actions were downright terrible, but their intentions were most likely not (with the obvious exception of Uncle Frank, but do keep in mind he laughed at the pianist as well after she fell over)—they probably saw it as a harmless prank nothing more nothing less and thought for that reason it was acceptable to laugh. They knew Buzz was openly making fun of Kevin, but they thought it was all in good fun and that he was just goofing around with him. Regardless, it was still a rather rotten thing to do, especially by people old enough to know better and be kinder. They knew what they were doing, let alone to a child, and did not hold back in laughter. To be fair, though, Buzz instigated the laughter, so they probably did not know how else to respond. They could have scolded him during the performance, but that would have been just as inappropriate and still thrown Kevin off his guard. They most likely did not realize that their unacceptable actions would aggravate the situation and cause Kevin to snap, or were hoping it would, considering their extremely shocked expressions of what Kevin did to Buzz. They were probably sad to see it play out that way, but they still should have realized it would boil down to that. They were clearly in the wrong (as well as the family, especially the family) to look down on Kevin in that situation, making him feel like the villain in the situation. Buzz instigated it, but to be fair, Kevin did do his part in ruining the part even more by not just shoving Buzz but hard enough to knock him and the rest of the choir, having the Christmas set collapse and a tree fall on the pianist having her fall over, Buzz deserved it, but to be fair, they did not (not as much though). Do keep in mind that the other choir children did have parents in the audience as well to see them on their special night, and the school did go out of its way to arrange a special occasion for friends and family, but Kevin's stress was entirely understandable.
    • To make matters worse for Kevin, though his parents did expect Buzz to apologize as well as Kevin, Buzz gave Kevin and everyone else an insincere apology, Kevin called him out on it, but due to the favoritism, Kevin was scolded more; his family, especially his parents, should have had some idea that, that experience could have been much more traumatic for him but thankfully was not. Still, in the end, it was heartwarming that Buzz and Kevin in their own way made amends, and Frank became, probably for that part anyway, nicer to Kevin.
  • Though the laughter in itself was unrealistic, it is not that entirely implausible to occur in real-life situations, and not just from children, but even from adults, and even at the worst of times and in the least of places. People can actually be that twisted. As in the case here, though, they clearly did not do well, they sincerely meant well, but not everyone does, and people can turn on you at the flick of a switch, even the people who mean the world to you and who you mean much to, such as your family and friends. What happened to Kevin was not entirely far-fetched family-wise either. Families can actually operate like that, sad enough.
• Kate has a mild panic when she realizes Kevin is missing in the van. She just had a similar argument with him the night before, and he openly hoped for the same scenario as last year which left her in a state of despair. Fortunately, he was there.
• Even if it's Show Within a Show you can't help but feel sorry for Carlotta in "Angels with even Filthier Souls". There's no solid evidence that she cheated on Johnny and even if it was true that doesn't justify his gruesome death. The fact that in that scene she's utterly terrified doesn't help.

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