Parental neglect is no laughing matter. But John Hughes and director Chris Columbus could convince you otherwise. That is how good the first two Home Alone films are, but maybe it’s just a testament to the talents of the people involved that they can make us laugh at something that is so woefully unfunny in reality.

The first volume follows the travails of young Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin, in his best-known role) when he is left behind at home by his parents during the Christmas holiday. You see, the problem is that the entire family is going to Paris and between Kevin, his siblings, and his older cousins, Mr. and Mrs. McCallister (John Heard and the great Catherine O’Hara) just have too many darned kids to keep track of. So of course it’s understandable that they could accidentally leave one child behind, right? Well, no, not really! And to add insult to injury, it happens a second year in a row! Except this time, it might even be more fun.

It's Hard to Return to Home Alone

Culkin in Home Alone
20th Century Studios

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, which turned 30 years old Nov. 15th, faced an uphill battle from the jump. How on earth could Kevin be left behind again? How could it be made bigger and more interesting for the purposes of a sequel? A lot of hare-brained plot mechanics have to fall into place in order for this to work, and they just barely do with credit to Hughes’ snappy writing and Columbus’ heist movie-styled direction. This time, Kevin isn’t left at home per se; rather, he gets lost in the airport and boards the wrong plane – to New York, no less. (The fact that the ticket agents let him through on his word is an uninspired deus ex machina, and one of a dozen reminders that the film takes place pre-9/11.)

It also just so happens that the thieves who burgled his house in the previous film (a never-better Daniel Stern and a Joe Pesci who mutters in gibberish instead of swearing) are escaping from prison on a fish truck at the same time and using NYC as a way station on their path to bigger and brighter things. A chance encounter is what sets things in motion between these three — the Wet Bandits’ (or Sticky Bandits’) desire for revenge and a desperation from Kevin to save his own hide.

Home Alone 2 is a Good New York Movie

Donald Trump in Home Alone 2
20th Century Fox

If the first Home Alone film is a masterpiece of pure invention and Christmas magic, then Home Alone 2 is bigger and better, if slightly more disingenuous. More notably, it is a love-hate letter to the most magical of hellholes: New York City. The place is not just a character in the film, but also Culkin’s scene partner, embodied in genius turns from Dana Ivey, Rob Schneider, and Tim Curry, among others.

Related: Best Films Set in New York, Ranked

Lost In New York is the family film’s answer to The Godfather Part II, with Culkin as a young Vito Corleone, setting up schemes and learning to survive in the big city. Kevin McCallister is an effortless New Yorker, a testament both to the character’s independence and to the idea that you don’t need to be from New York in order to thrive there. Of course, like anybody who lives in a city, McCallister is regularly beaten down by mishap and misfortune; but in equal measure, he is also blessed with inordinate good luck. This is the life of the everyday city-dweller, and Kevin McCallister is a true “everyboy.”

Chris Columbus' Home Alone Led to Harry Potter

Home Alone movie with Macauley Culkin
20th Century Studios

You can draw a straight line between Home Alone, Home Alone 2, and much of director Chris Columbus’ other work. The man loves to explore complex relationships between kids and adults, having brought his writing, producing, and directing expertise to such films as Adventures in Babysitting, The Goonies, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Jingle All The Way.

His 2001 adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which set off one of the most successful film franchises of all time, is almost a retelling of the Home Alone story: a young boy, neglected and misunderstood by the people who are supposed to be his family, ventures out in search of new meaning and purpose. Add in the fact that both Home Alone and Harry Potter feature scores from iconic composer John Williams, and it’s basically as though the films take place in the same universe.

Home Alone 2 Did Not Do Well With Critics

Home Alone 2
20th Century Fox

Where Home Alone 2 falters is in its attempts at mawkish sentimentality and a recapturing of the original’s Christmas spirit. McCallister’s friendship with Brenda Fricker’s creepy yet misunderstood pigeon lady, is nice, but feels weirdly dated and out of sync with the rest of the movie’s ironic, madcap tone. There is also a subplot about a children’s hospital which tries to pull on the heartstrings, but ultimately feels insincere and pandering. And while the movie doesn’t necessarily shy away from honesty in its depiction of Heard and O’Hara’s neglectful parenting, Kevin is frequently saddled with the burden of protecting his parents’ feelings, never once being told that what happened isn’t his fault. Near the end of the film, there is a mutual apology between him and his mother, even though one feels very strongly that Kevin shouldn’t have had to apologize at all.

Related: Home Alone: Should Kevin's Parents Have Been Reported to the Police or DCF?

The most shocking thing about Home Alone 2 is how critically reviled it was when it came out; readers who hold this film dear might be surprised to learn that it has a 35% score on Rotten Tomatoes. And in the 30 years since it was released, the movie has not been re-evaluated in any significant way, while similarly hated films like Pink Flamingos, The Shining, and Blue Velvet have been heralded as masterpieces. Now, is Home Alone 2 a timeless classic of American cinema? Perhaps not. But the bottom line is that it has not gotten the love that it sorely deserves.

Home Alone Movies Continue With Diminishing Returns

Buzz actor Devin Ratray in Home Sweet Home Alone
Disney+

It seems like everything that could be done with the Home Alone concept was accomplished with movie number two. Very famously, Culkin and the rest of the cast have not returned since 1992, except for older brother Buzz, played by Devin Ratray (Better Call Saul), who was recently accused of committing sexual assault. On a more lighthearted note, Home Alone 3 features Lennie Von Dohlen from the original Twin Peaks series, as well as a 13-year-old Scarlett Johansson; and for what it’s worth, the late Roger Ebert preferred that one over the first two.

And guess what? The franchise is still going. Just last year, the sixth entry in the series, entitled Home Sweet Home Alone, was released to Disney+. The script was penned by SNL writers Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell, but needless to say, it did not generate a lot of positive buzz.

One must indeed ask: on a conceptual level, what more stories are there to tell beyond Lost In New York? Kevin was already left at home once, and then he was left to fend for himself on the streets of Manhattan. Should we abandon him in the rainforest next, set him shipwrecked out to sea, or strand him on a distant planet? Clearly, creators have found ways to mine more material out of this concept. But nothing quite approximates the chemistry, fairy-tale quality, and utterly bonkers violence of those first two films.