Comic Strips

One thing that critics of the movie got wrong (probably because they didn't watch the movie again in a while) is why didn't they call the police or call Kevin to go to a neighbor's place.

The reason is all there in the movie. A tree fell over and knocked over the phone cables, killing the phone connection. Also they DID call the police, but the police in this movie are highly inept jackasses who don't even realize that a string of burglaries is happening in the neighborhood by the Wet Bandits. They do send a cop over, who just knocks on the door for a bit and then leaves. Kevin does hear the knocking, but he is scared and hides beneath his bed. When the cops doesn't get a response, he doesn't bother further.

But yes, cell phones would change everything.

This meme is so old that iPhone had physical home buttons.

Who tf holds a phone like that?

Why would Kevin be the one contacting his mother? He thought he magically wished them away because he thought they hated him and treated him like scum. He never tries to contact them because he thinks they'd all just disappeared.

That's why his Christmas wish is to see his family again... even Buzz.

In Home Alone, didn't something take out the phone lines?

I'm sure "something" would happen in a modern version of Home Alone.

Most likely, the parents would be arrested when they got home.

This is one case where I don't think the cell phone would drastically change the movie. He'd still be home alone dealing with the thieves as his mom worked her way back. He just wouldn't be in the dark as to why he is alone.

Most movies from prior to 2010 would be drastically different if you included cell phones. It’s like saying Robin Hood would be different if you gave him a gun. Technology changes the ways we resolve conflicts.

Kevin was in trouble at the start of the film. They could have very easily had his mom take his phone away before sending him to his room.

After arriving in Paris, Kevin’s mom frantically calls his phone… only for a suitcase to start ringing. Oops!

Or Kevin is eight years old and his parents reasonably assume he is too young to have a cell phone.

I don't buy it. Kevin wakes up after his parents are already on the plane, after they've been told to put their device in airplane mode, so they still wouldn't know until they touch down in Paris and turn their phones back on, to which everything else can be the same since they were stuck due to the weather.

He could however call the police. Only reason that wasn't possible in the movie was because the phone lines were down (despite showing Kevin ordering a pizza over the phone, ignoring the fact they specifically pointed out the phone line problem at the beginning of the film).