As we near Halloween, many are always looking for that good horror movie to watch, but if you are not the biggest fan of the horror movies, there are movies out there that are Halloween themed that anyone can enjoy like the new Hocus Pocus 2 movie. The review of this movie will be spoiler-free and provide insights into the movie from the content to the plot to my own thoughts and opinions on the movie. To kick off this review, I will give this movie 4 out of 10 spooks.

Content Warning:

The rating for this movie is PG, meaning the movie can be enjoyed by all ages. The movie does have a few inappropriate jokes every now and then that are intended for the older viewers of the movie. The movie does not have any blood or gore or even outright scary elements. The only element of the movie that might be questionable to the viewer is, if you are more religious, the scenes depicting elements of witchcraft.

The Plot:

In the year 1653, in Salem, a young Winifred Sanderson is forced to marry by the local reverend but she refuses, and then the reverend tries to take Winifred’s sisters, Mary and Sarah. The three sisters eventually escape into the woods and run into a witch who gives them the power of magic. Skip to the present day, in 2022 Salem, two teenagers named Becca and Izzy plan on celebrating Halloween and Becca’s sixteenth birthday, but reject a party invite from a now distant friend Cassie. Both Becca and Izzy visit the Sanderson sisters’ former cottage, now a magic shop run by Gilbert, who gives them a candle to perform their annual birthday ritual. The girls take the candle to the woods and light the candle, but see that the candle is no ordinary candle, but is a Black Flame Candle, which summons the Sanderson sisters back leading to a night full of chaos, adventures and trying to send the Sanderson sisters back.

The Review:

When I first started watching the movie from the very beginning, I thought to myself that it would not be that bad, but after that first scene of the movie, it went downhill from there.

The opening scene referring to the Sanderson sisters’ past was great for background context and had good background music and great dialogue between the characters and was a bit humorous.

After that scene was finished leading to the present, the movie had no direction and not a real strong plot line.

When the witches came back on the scene, they busted right out into song and dance, which I thought was weird because that should have been a powerful scene welcoming the Sanderson sisters back into the picture. The movie also did not do a good job of cohesively tying this movie to the original Hocus Pocus movie.

Throughout the movie, it made a reference to Binx and Winifred’s lover did come back into the picture, but there was no reference to the original set of main characters besides the Sanderson sisters. The movie also featured a comedic character, who is the boyfriend of Cassie. The character, I could tell from watching, was meant for the purpose of comedic relief, but the character turned out to be more dumb than funny.

The director of the movie was Anne Fletcher, who has directed some pretty big names like 27 Dresses and The Proposal, and is well-known for her choreography work on other movies, such as Hairspray.

This definitely explains a little bit of the reason as to why the movie featured more musical numbers than the previous movie, but this movie was definitely one of the worst ones she has directed because of not tailoring the movie enough with the previous film and seeming to not have any direction with the movie.

In conclusion….

I do not recommend seeing this movie because I do not think it does justice for all of the Hocus Pocus fans out there, but instead chooses to disappoint. The movie definitely did not live up to the hype that most were anticipating.

If you are interested in watching the movie, it is currently available on Disney+.