Home Alone 4 - Taking Back the House (2002)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
Kevin McCallister must defend a mansion and a visiting royal family from a pair of bumbling criminals.
The story
Peter McCallister, who is finalizing a divorce, invites his children to spend Christmas at the mansion of his wealthy new girlfriend, Natalie Kalban. The children, including Kevin, agree to the arrangement and settle into the luxurious estate. However, Kevin soon discovers that his old enemies, Marv and Vera, are lurking nearby. When they attempt to infiltrate the mansion, Kevin must take action to protect the property and the royal family who are scheduled to visit. As the tension rises, Kevin finds himself in a battle of wits against the intruders while trying to keep the situation from being discovered by his parents.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After moving into Natalie's mansion for Christmas, Kevin discovers Marv and Vera are planning to kidnap a visiting prince. He initially thwarts them by flooding the house, but later discovers that the butler, Mr. Prescott, is involved. When the royal family's flight is canceled, Peter and Natalie announce their engagement. Marv and Vera reappear, and Kevin traps them using various booby traps. During the chaos, Kevin is briefly separated from the others and eventually manages to defeat the duo using a remote-controlled plane and a secret wall switch. Meanwhile, Peter's family—Kate, Buzz, and Megan—arrive after receiving suspicious calls. They join Kevin to stop a final escape attempt by the criminals. The plot to kidnap the prince is revealed, and Peter realizes his relationship with Natalie was based on infatuation. He breaks up with Natalie and reconciles with Kate and the children, while the royal family spends Christmas with the reunited McCallister family.
- Original title
- Home Alone: Taking Back the House
- First release year
- 2002
- Runtime (minutes)
- 84
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Rod Daniel
- Writers
- Debra Frank · writer; Steve L. Hayes · writer
- Cast and characters
- French Stewart · Kevin McCallister; Erick Avari; Barbara Babcock; Jason Beghe; Clare Carey; Joanna Going; Missi Pyle; Mike Weinberg
- Genres
- Christmas; Family; Comedy
- Themes
- Family; Loyalty
- Tone and mood
- Comedy
- Premise and plot tags
- Christmas; Home Alone; Kidnapping
- Franchise connections
- Home Alone
- Reception
- Home Alone 4 received generally negative reviews.
- Production trivia
- It is the first film in the Home Alone franchise to not receive a theatrical release.; It is the first film without any contributions from John Hughes.; It was the last film that Rod Daniel directed before his subsequent retirement.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…