A lot of people grew up with the original Hocus Pocus as a Halloween staple in their households. Released in 1993, the original Hocus Pocus didn't do so well in theaters, but received a second wind when it was released on video and shown on the Disney Channel over and over again in the following years, so it became a cult classic. I didn't grow up with the movie like most 90s kids did, but I did remember hearing about it and wanting to see it. It became one of those movies that I always wanted to see but never got around to, so years passed, and finally in my early 30s I picked up the movie on DVD and gave it a watch and thought it was really cute. There have been rumors of a Hocus Pocus sequel for years now, but the rumors never came to fruition until finally this year, 29 years after the original movie first premiered, we got our Hocus Pocus 2. I watched it the night it premiered after seeing some less than stellar reviews on Facebook about the movie. I was a tad worried, but I was still hopeful going in that the movie would be a fun romp like the original. So how did it fare?
Set 29 years after the original, this movie follows three young women who accidentally revive the Sanderson Sisters, the three sister witches who wreaked so much havok in the original movie. Set loose in modern-day Salem Massechussettes, the three witches cause trouble once again, and they must be stopped. Hilarity ensues.
Or rather, hilarity TRIES to ensue. It tries very hard. Too hard, methinks. Let me start off by saying that I really really wanted to like this movie. I thought the original was adorable, and people have been making snitty comments about how people didn't really like the original movie, it's just the nostalgia of childhood that makes them THINK they liked it and the movie is actually horrible, but I was an adult when I saw the original Hocus Pocus and I definitely liked it, and I was as excited for the sequel as anyone else who has been waiting 29 years for this movie to materialize. It just didn't do it for me.
The movie starts off strong, with young actresses playing the three Sanderson sisters as tween girls who are fed up with the stuffy rules of ancient Salem. The three girls want to live life their own way, and it's hard not to root for them. When they venture into the woods and meet a witch and learn about their own witchy powers for the first time, I was on their side. It also helps that the three actresses were the best actors in the movie, which made me like them more. When the movie switches to present-day, I found it hard to connect with the three young girls who are supposed to be the main characters. Their acting just seemed really forced and off to me, and I wasn't a fan of their line delivery, or the fact that every plot twist was telegraphed way in advance so I spent the whole movie waiting for the story to catch up with the plot. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. Tony Hale tries his best as the mayor of Salem, and I wanted to like his character, but I just couldn't get there.
Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker reprise their roles as Winifred, Mary, and Sarah Sanderson, respectively, and even their acting seemed really forced and try-hard to me. They just didn't shine in their roles like the three actresses who play the young Sanderson sisters, and I was disappointed. Sam Richardson is busy chewing up the scenery in every scene he's in, and the movie focuses on him way too much for my taste. I didn't care about his character, so I didn't want to see him hogging the spotlight the way he does throughout the whole movie. It just felt like a cheesy made-for-tv flick, which is what it was, but I expecte4d a lot more. They had 29 years to work on it and THIS is the best they could do? Poo. I have friends who really liked this sequel, and I'm glad they enjoyed it, but for my money it was a missed opportunity and a huge disappointment.
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