“Home Sweet Home Alone” is a very odd duck — a movie that basically replicates the three-decades-old “Home Alone” template, but in a way that feels slightly weird and ill-conceived.
Marking the sixth movie spun out of the premise since Macauley Culkin first defended his home from “bad guys” back in 1990, the movie tweaks the concept slightly by casting the invaders as an ordinary couple, played by Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney.
Yet when young Max makes a bathroom-break-inspired visit to their open house, the couple concludes that the boy has stolen the precious item.
So yes, Max is left to fulfill every child’s fantasy by fending off adults with all of his self-generated gadgets and gizmos.
Just because something features kids, in other words, doesn’t necessarily make it ideal Disney fare.