Infamous Actor Replacements That Made Movies Worse (4 of 5)

6. Macaulay Culkin to Mike Weinberg (Kevin McCallister)

Home Alone and Home Alone 2 are December comfort food, thanks to Macaulay Culkin’s chaotic charm. We don’t talk about Home Alone 3, but Home Alone 4 tried to keep Kevin’s name while recasting the entire family and going straight-to-video. Mike Weinberg does his best, but the spark isn’t there. It doesn’t even feel like the same kid, and more like a parallel-universe, “worst timeline” Kevin who never learned to rig paint cans. Reusing the character name without the magic is like swapping hot cocoa for nasty bathwater.

7. Matthew Lillard to Will Forte (Shaggy Rogers)

Matthew Lillard played Shaggy first in the live-action movies, then as the character’s longtime voice actor. At the moment, he pretty much is Shaggy. He keeps the “zoinks!” spirit alive with real affection. When the gang got recast for a flashy reboot, Will Forte voiced Shaggy. Forte may be great at many things, but channeling Shaggy isn’t one of them. It wasn’t awful, just “Eh.” Especially when you know Lillard was still out there, ready to scarf Scooby Snacks and sprint in midair. Fans did not like the change, but it is what it is. At least Lillard remains the go-to Shaggy everywhere else.