Hocus Pocus 2 – Review
103 Minutes, Rated PG
Written by Jen D’Angelo
Directed by Anne Fletcher
**NOTE: this post may be updated with audio if we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, enjoy this brief look at Mark’s thoughts. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
It’s been 29 years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17th-century sisters, and they are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high-school students to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before dawn on All Hallow’s Eve.
Full disclosure: I am NOT the target audience for the Hocus Pocus films. I have vague recollections of having seen the original, but it wasn’t really my thing.
But I know a LOT of people who really, REALLY enjoyed that one, so I figured I should be giving this long-awaited (by some) sequel a shot.
First, the good:
The film opens with a flashback to “old” Salem, where we find the Sanderson Sisters as teens, already thought of as strange by their fellow villagers, and the casting is spot on. You really feel like you’re looking at a young Better Midler, Kathy Najimi, and Sarah Jessica Parker, right down to their character quirks and ticks. Kudos to those three young actresses (Taylor Henderson, Nina Kitchen, and Juju Journey Brener), but their appearance is all-too-brief.
Now, the not-good:
Once we move into the present day, though, we are treated to a more light-hearted version of The Craft, with our trio of teen girls trying to survive their evolution into adulthood and accidentally summoning the Sandersons once again, but without all the darkness of that film.
The fact the “black flame candle” needs to be lit by a virgin feels like a subtle argument for kids to have sex younger and younger, btw.
Immediately upon being summoned, the Sandersons launch into a reworked (read: more suited to Disney+’s audience) version of Elton John’s “The Bitch is Back,” but the meta commentary by the girls (“Who are they performing for?”) perfectly articulates my thoughts.
Sure, the witches spend the rest of the film trying to make themselves immortal, but the darker bits of that are glossed over. Doug Jones returns as Billy Butcherson, which will surely please fans. And frankly, the far-too-short appearance of Hannah Waddingham makes me long for a movie just about her character.
But the parallel stories here are the affection between the Sanderson sisters and that between the three girls in the present, whose relationship has been strained of late. These two storylines duel for your attention, but neither is particularly compelling. Though they try to make it a bit more emotionally impactful at the climax, it doesn’t really land.
Fans of the original will almost certainly enjoy this revisitation to Salem, but I’d rather re-watch The Craft.
Hocus Pocus 2 releases exclusively on Disney+ September 30 and stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Sam Richardson, Doug Jones, Hannah Waddingham, Whitney Peak, Belissa Escobedo, Lilia Buckingham, Froyan Gutierrez and Tony Hale.
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