Hocus Pocus 2

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) is a movie my wife and I watched on Disney+ last night. The storyline follows the Sanderson Sisters who are accidentally brought back to life by a group of young ladies who may be up and coming witches themselves. As the Sanderson Sisters make plans to stay on Earth forever the young ladies need to find a way to stop them.

This movie is directed by Anne Fletcher (The Proposal) and stars Bette Midler (Beaches), Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City), Kathy Najimy (Sister Act), Sam Richardson (We're the Millers), Doug Jones (Hellboy) and Whitney Peak (Home Before Dark).

It was impressive to see the cast back together and the songs and soundtrack were excellent. Every song and dance routine was really good and I loved Doug Jones as Billy in this. Midler, Davis and Najimy were as entertaining as you hope. Disney really kicked the special effects up a notch and the depiction of Salem was entertaining and fun. There is a healthy dose of cheesy mixed in here but if you remember the age target for the content you can get over it. The ending was a nice opportunity for continuation, likely as a Disney+ television series.

Overall, this was a step down from the first one but still worth a watch. I would score this a 6.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

I was really excited to see this and shouldn't be shocked it's not good but alas, here we are. It's so hard to get through.

Two unlikeable teen narcs bring back the witches who immediately burst into... song and dance?! Whoever made this remake failed to realize they only sang in the first film because they are mistaken for a musical act and use the stage/ band accompaniment to cast a spell on the town. "Dance until you die!" It's dark!

In this, they are singing and dancing happy music in the middle of the woods. We hear a full band but they are alone. For no reason. This is not in their character. Make it make sense.

The product placement is palpable. Sponsored by Walgreens. We're supposed to believe they don't know what teenagers look like? They already came back in the 90s and knew Max was a teenager.

Also- Billy was my favorite character in the original and in this, they give him a weird Irish accent? When no one else has one? What's happening. Why ruin a classic?

I have always said that the first 'Hocus Pocus' is the best Halloween film for kids. It's a lot of fun, exciting, has a good amount of energy, has the right amount of horror to not put the kids off it and just makes you smile. So I was glad to see that the love for it gave birth to a long awaited sequel.

With the excitement comes the caution as sequels from 80's or 90's originals have a low success rate. But like with something like 'Top Gun: Maverick' I knew that in the right hands if they committed to the concept rather than try and make it contemporary to keep the interest of modern audiences, then this could be as fun as the original.

There is a promising start that will certainly engage the fans of the original and while the structure as a whole is very familiar, it still never felt like cash grab. There was enough to keep the story going while paying homage to its predecessor which is fine as that is the reason why this film finally exists.

The action isn't really as physical as before. But as a few of our stars are a bit seasoned now, some of the changes that they made to accommodate that never made the film drag for me.

The finale is certainly the film's high point as there is one moment that will get the fans emotional. It certainly caught me off guard. It left me very satisfied, and I think it will get a strong positive response with other loyal members of the fandom also.

Seeing the trio of Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker was just great. They have not lost their touch or chemistry and Midler in particular can still put on a great show. It never felt they were phoning it in. It felt like they wanted to give something back to the fans which was wholly satisfying. It was also great seeing Doug Jones return. Jones is someone that does not get enough credit from people outside of the industry. You probably don't realise how much work Jones has done and his signature physical acting was put to good use once again.

As for the new cast, they weren't as instantly likable as the ones from the original. But they did a perfectly functional job to help the story move along and were thankfully never annoying.

It was great seeing parts of the original locations used and bringing back John Debney for that memorable score to be put to use once again. Some parts did look a bit too polished, too much like a set and never felt as dirty or authentic as its predecessor. The pacing is solid but could have been a bit more rampant to give it some adrenaline. The slightly longer running time doesn't help.

Other minor negatives to speak of was that the stakes never felt that big or consequential. I'm not totally surprised at this as Disney don't try to make things too scary or risky these days.

But that being said, the fun factor and energy is still there and despite its flaws I had a blast watching this. As a fan, it was great to see the gang bang together. While some of the nods, call backs and gags didn't all work, they largely were well executed. For non-fans, I feel this will remain a pleasurable watch. It does a good job celebrating its legacy and never tarnishing it. The emotional and highly satisfying finale proved that they were basically saying thank you to the fans for celebrating the original for so long.

I really hope I'm not the minority as I try to avoid seeing beloved projects through tinted eyes. But I think as a film it's perfectly fine with some nice moments that anyone can be invested in. But this will clearly satisfy the fans.

I must mention that there is a post credits scene. It's hard to not give a hint without spoiling it. So that's all say about it. It's there for you to discover yourself.

I don't understand how fans of the first film would want to trash this.

The story offers a mix of prequel information, first film nostalgia and a decent revival of our characters. It isn't without flaws but after nearly thirty years, I found the plot interesting and fun to watch. The characters are older but still gave nice performances and the new characters weren't awful.

Most sequels fail to live up to the original film and you know this before sitting down but that doesn't mean they aren't fun to watch. I personally liked seeing the characters brought back and can honestly say that I enjoyed the experience. In my opinion, had the 1993 original not been made, simply cutting the references to it would've made this a fine stand alone film.

To each their own.

Why? Why? Why?

I wanted to like this, I tried desperately to find an ounce of the old magic. Alas, it was.gone.

A contrived, unimaginative senseless film that should've been more.

It wasn't bad, but I hoped for so much better. It felt dull and lacklustre. The music scenes seemed shoehorned in for the sake of it.

Oddly enough, there was some good bits and incidental comedy, hence the 4 stars. Sadly there wasn't enough.

In my opinion, the casting was ok. The script could've so much better though.

It reminded me of the ghost busters film reboot, it added nothing and took so much more away.

On the whole, it was ok.