Hocus Pocus 2 Review

 

Hocus Pocus 2 is a fantasy horror comedy film, and the sequel to the 1993 film. It's produced by Walt Disney Pictures and David Kirschner Productions and distributed by Disney+. Hocus Pocus 2 is written by David Kirschner, Blake Harris, and Jen D'Angelo and directed by Anne Fletcher.

The story is it's been twenty-nine years since the last movie, and Salem has been doing great. Sadly that all changes when a new group of teens accidentally bring back the evil witches, the Sanderson sisters. Now they must work together to stop the sisters before the cause chaos...once again.

Initial Reaction

I think it's pretty obvious why I was going to watch then review this. I really liked the first movie. I thought it was entertaining, and had quite the charm to it. So naturally I would want to see how the sequel would turn out.

Cons

Really the only thing that bothered was how one character was easily forgiven. Which made no sense to me. This guy tricked our main characters into resurrecting the Sanderson sisters, believed they [the Sandersons] were ahead of their time (which makes me think he deliberately ignored the child killing thing, despite basically being an expert in both the Sandersons and the supernatural in general), and because of these events, not only was Salem nearly doomed, but so was the entire world. And the only reason he helped was because his life was in danger. All of these are very unforgivable, but our heroes were like "Yeah we forgive you and your terrible actions. See ya next week."

Middle Ground

There are three decent things about Hocus Pocus 2, and one of them is the special effects. If you read my review of the first movie, then you'd know this something I also wrote about in a section similar to this but, what I said in that is in the first film effects can range from okay to really good. Here, there are still good special effects, but then you have instances where they're bad. I think there were two scenes where you can clearly tell the actors/actresses are in front of a green screen. The other decent aspect was the lighter tone. Now in the first, while it was still a family Halloween movie, there was quite a few times when things were dark. Here, while the lighter tone didn't bother me too much, there were times where I felt like "okay, this could've been a little bit darker. That could've been darker", and so forth. I wasn't begging for a flow blown horror flick, just something where the tone was much closer to the original. Then there's the post-credit scene. While I do like how it's wasn't a set up for a stupid joke like a lot of post-credit scenes seem to be nowadays, I do wonder if it entirely necessary? Because it's a good scene, but considering the ending, it almost makes me think it shouldn't be there.

Pros

There are two really good things about this film, and one was the performances from Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. Once again their chemistry made for an entertaining experience, and that's what also made the best part of the entire film, even though the story isn't exactly the best. Then there's the humor. Much like the first, while some jokes don't work, there were quite a few times where I had a good laugh.

Hocus Pocus 2 isn't as good as the first, but I overall don't think it's horrible. There was somethings that could've been improved on such as the effects, a tone that could've been closer to the first, and the post-credit scene. What was good was the performances from Midler, Parker, and Najimy and the humor. The only thing I couldn't get behind was how one character was forgiven, despite the absolutely horrible things he did.

My final rating is Okay.

While I don't have the movie, you should just stick with the first. So, this wasn't the most horrifying way I wanted to start off my Halloween themed reviews, but luckily that's going to change. Come back on Monday, Oct 3rd for my review of Sam Raimi's 1981 horror flick, The Evil Dead. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day, and I hope you have a fun Halloween season this year.