Home Alone is a Christmas season staple movie that should be watched every year. Audiences love to see Kevin use his wits to take down the two burglars who are using his house as their next mark. However, some feel bad that he didn’t get to go on his holiday vacation with his family. His parents were a little hysterical as they were making sure everything was in place as they headed out of town. In the chaos of everything, Kevin is forgotten about. At this point, it is too late for anyone in his family to turn around and simply pick him up.
The holidays are a chaotic time, especially for the McCallister family as they try to make their way to Paris. The commercialization of the holiday definitely adds to the chaos of the season and could make anyone lose their minds. Mr. and Mrs. McCallister are clear examples of this as well as being overworked to try to get everything in by the end of the year. Add siblings who don’t get along, and you have the perfect recipe for a holiday season disaster. This leaves the audience to wonder what events could have contributed to Kevin not getting a Christmas vacation.
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Is It a Vacation If Kevin is Home Alone?
Hughes Entertainment
Home Alone premiered back in 1990 and follows young Kevin McCallister (played by Macaulay Culkin) who is left behind as the rest of his family heads to Paris. Roger Ebert calls the John Hughes flick a splendid film that brings back all sorts of nostalgia. One piece that especially comes back is every kid’s dream and every parent’s worst nightmare: forgetting a kid before a trip. Peter and Kate McCallister (John Heard and Catherine O’Hara) decide to take their family to Paris for the holidays, and not just their immediate family, but their cousins and aunts and uncles, too. This is the first setback the McCallister family faces as they head on their Christmas vacation. Not only that, but the power cuts out the night before they leave, which means the alarms they set to wake them up never go off. To make sure they don’t miss their flight, everyone is running around the house to make sure they are dressed for the airport and bags are packed.
Kevin was also banned to the attic the night before as he picked a fight with his brother Buzz. During the confusion and mad rush to get to the airport on time, Kevin’s mom completely forgets about him. Kevin’s parents mishandling how Buzz was treating Kevin also contributes to their son being home alone on the holidays. If they had punished Buzz and not Kevin, Kevin would have never been forced to sleep in the attic. The Washington Post calls all the parents obstacles they go through to try and get back to Kevin as unfortunate (i.e. the airline employees and being in a foreign country that doesn’t speak English). The parents were noticeably stretched too thin and the craziness of the holidays only makes it worse.
They Did it Again?
20th Century Fox
The McCallister family is heading on a Christmas vacation yet again in the sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. This year Kevin isn’t forgotten about at home, but instead gets lost in the airport and boards the wrong plane. Audience members hoped that the parents would keep better track of their son after last year’s fiasco, but this wouldn’t be a Home Alone movie if Kevin went on vacation. Everyone once again needs to make an emergency plan to fly back to New York City and get Kevin. Fans of the films find it astounding that Kevin’s parents were never reported to DCF or the police after multiple occurrences of them forgetting their kid.
Kevin doesn’t only have to deal with his mom and dad forgetting him, but also has to take down the two burglars who claim to be the Wet Bandits (Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci) and have decided his home is the next mark. He meets the thieves again in the sequel who are bent on revenge to get him back for all his schemes he played in the first film. Kevin is quick-witted enough to outsmart these two again but is completely alone on the holidays again.
Will Kevin Ever Get His Christmas Vacation?
There are a lot of series of unfortunate events that contributed to Kevin’s parents forgetting him. No one would have known that the power was going to go out the night before making everyone over sleep. During the mad dash to get to the airport, the parents could have never planned that their niece Heather would miscount the kids. However, there are several things the parents could have done before that. Kate could have handled Buzz and Kevin’s fight better by punishing Buzz instead of Kevin, or by simply not sending him to the attic at all. Kate and Peter should have checked both vans before leaving the driveway to double-check that everyone was counted for. There were 15 family members going to Paris, and with that many people, the parents should have been more thorough.
Once they found out that Kevin was missing, the parents should have done a better job of following up with the local police officers. Kate shouldn’t have been so focused on finding a flight back to Chicago on Christmas Eve, but instead tried to get someone local to check in on Kevin. Kate should have also called someone Kevin would know that was still in the area as this was Kevin’s first time home alone. This would also ensure Kevin would open the door to a friend versus a stranger. Losing Kevin in the second film is completely on the parents. After the events of the first Home Alone, they should have been keeping a closer watch on Kevin, making the entire second film unnecessary. We want Kevin to have his Christmas vacation, but without his family’s forgetfulness, we wouldn’t have these classic Christmas movies.
