Sabrina the Teenage Witch

I am a huge fan of the TV show, but this movie was not exactly like it. I thought that the movie would be like the beginning of the TV series, and have the same cast and set as before. It didn't.

There is no humor in this one, and the aunts seem almost spooky. They're funny in the real show, but in this movie how they shut their eyes and mumble is almost creepy. They seem pretty cool in the show, but in this, they seem hopelessly old-fashioned and eccentric. I also think that this should have had something more to do with the Other Realm and being a witch than popularity and crushes. Also, Salem's voice in this is British, and he doesn't even make one funny remark.

Even though this was far from the quality of the TV series, I am very glad that it aired. If it weren't for this, the show might not have existed! Overall, I'm glad that this movie exists, but I wish it had been like the TV show.

Released to TV in spring 1996, "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" was the pilot movie for the series that ran for seven years from 1996-2003. The plot revolves around Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) having to move from Massachusetts to live with her two eccentric aunts in Rockland County, New York, where she starts attending Riverdale High, becomes besties with Marnie (Michelle Beaudoin) and contends with requisite mean girl, Katy Lemore (Lalainia Lindbjerg). After her 16th birthday, Sabrina learns she's a witch and grapples with the morality of having powers other mortals don't.

The tone of the production is decidedly pedestrian in a mid-90's TV manner, but the cast brightens things up with their energy and a decent script. (It was amusing to learn why Salem can talk and other cats can't). I've probably watched a dozen episodes of the subsequent series and the main draw was always Melissa's winsomeness. She was 19 years-old when this pilot was shot and just got more beautiful over the course of the series. For those interested, Ryan Reynolds has a significant role; he was 18-19 during filming.

The movie runs 1 hour, 31 minutes and was shot in British Columbia with some establishing shots done in Brookline, Massachusetts (or so IMDb says).

GRADE: B-

I do think the the TV series based on this TV flick is better, but this movie did set the course for laugh-out-loud comedy series. Most of the casting is messed up, except for Michelle Beaudoin as Marny, Sabrina's best friend. Michelle went on to play Sabrina's best friend Jenny for a season, which was good. However, the voice of Salem in this one was all wrong! The voice in the show is much better.

I don't know why everyone's being so hard on this movie. No it's not like the TV series, but come on, this was made BEFORE the TV series as a movie all on its own, of course it's different. Instead of endlessly comparing it to the TV show and complaining, why not try letting it stand on it's own?

I actually really like this movie, so much so that I recently bought it on DVD. I thought it was really cute. It doesn't try to be anything it's not. It's simple, but for me that worked. For me the cast meshed very well together. Back when this movie was made Melissa Joan Hart was young enough to be able to pull off playing a TEENAGE witch and she did a really good job. Melissa Joan Hart was so sweet in this film, she was cute but not too much, and her acting was just fine. I really enjoyed Michelle Beaudoin as Marnie, Sabrina's best friend. Beaudoin had great chemsitry with Hart and it was very easy to believe their friendship, which felt very natural. I also thought Lalainia Lindbjerg was super as the malicious Queen Bee character Katie and Ryan Reynolds was great as hunky Seth, while Tobias Mehler was perfect as Harvey. My only complaint is that I found Sherry Miller and Charlene Fernetz really bland and uninteresting as the aunts. They weren't so bad but I'm not that keen on them either.

The storyline was good enough...Sabrina Saywer is relatively new in River Dale. She has a crush on Seth, a senior and the hottest guy in school. But Seth is invovled with Queen Bee Katie, however when Katie breaks up with him Seth begins noticing Sabrina. When Sabrina uses her newly discovered magical powers to win a track competition, Seth asks her to the Spring Fling dance at school but by this time Sabrina's unsure if Seth really is the guy for her. All the while poor Harvey, who's liked Sabrina all along, has to wait to see if Sabrina will have a change of heart.

Sabrina, The Teenage Witch plays very much like a chick flick aimed at young teens. It clearly was made on a low budget but it still (in my opinion) looked good and it's just a cute movie that's fun if you have some time on your hands. Try and watch it with an open mind, forget about the TV show while you do, and don#t judge this little bit of fluff too harshly. You might just enjoy it.

This may have not been the greatest show ever on television, but it wasn't the worst either. The funniest character was probably the cat, but everyone played a good part. So, although it was lame at times, it was OK if nothing else was on.