A Bruxa do Bem

I've seen the movie twice and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. If you live in a small town, you can really appreciate different aspects of this movie. Catherine Bell is wonderful. She really makes you fall in love with Cassandra Nightingale. All of the characters are wonderfully cast. Chris Potter is great as Police Chief, Jake Russell. The children are fun and believable. I couldn't help but smile throughout the whole movie. It is wholesome and fun. A movie for the whole family. The movie has some really cute twists and turns. The first movie I've seen in a while with no sex, violence or foul language. A very typical Hallmark feel-good movie. I LOVED IT and hope to see several sequels.

This is such a lovely family movie. It has everything you need for a warm tale about love kindness and all things magical. It makes you want to be a better person and be more open and accepting towards all others. I know sappy right...but who doesn't love a sappy clichéd movie.

I originally thought this movie would be kind of like Sabrina the Teenage Witch with lots of magical power, potions and spells but instead they have gone down the pathway of inner magic that everybody has the ability to possess. It's nice. Not what I was expecting but it does let your imagine run wild with the possibilities.

If your looking for something to watch that makes you feel good inside then I would definitely recommend this movie. I will certainly continue watching the entire series.

Lovely Catherine Bell is perfectly cast as Cassandra Nightingale, a beautiful and mysterious newcomer who opens a shop in the small town of Middleton and has a knack of solving people's problems with relative ease. She quickly makes a good impression on the widowed police chief (Chris Potter) and his kids. Unfortunately, she makes a bad impression on the mayor's wife, a busybody who leads a campaign to have Cassie's shop closed down because she's a witch. The question of whether she really is a witch is never definitively answered. The movie does a clever and cute job of keeping that mystery intact right up until the final (and somewhat odd) slow-mo shot. The cast backing up Catherine Bell is extremely likable and appealing. The Good Witch has a wholesome quality about it but it's never corny or cloying. I especially appreciated the movie's leisurely pace. The score helps, as well. It's a relaxing movie with a little bit of humor, drama, and romance...and a lot of magic.

I'll admit, I was predisposed to like this movie -- Catherine Bell and Chris Potter, two of TV's most telegenic actors, and two of my favorites, in the same feel-good family movie -- what could be better! (The grandfather and granddaughter are particularly well-cast as well.)

Although the script follows a typical stranger-in-town plot, combining mystery, conflict, and redemption, the whole thing is very well executed with nary a misstep. The explanations regarding the title character's background make total sense when revealed, and can even let viewers who don't analyze by thinking ahead enjoy a surprise or two.

If TV movies were all there were, I'd rate this a 10, but in the larger context -- after all, it's not "great art" -- I gave it an 8.

(Note: When I originally wrote this comment, the running time for this movie was not yet listed, so I noted here that, as shown on the Hallmark Channel, it runs for 89 minutes, plus commercials to fill out the two-hour time slot. The running time has since been added where it belongs.)

Addendum: Rewatching this movie two years later, I find it has lost none of its charm, and indeed is even more endearing upon second viewing.

Let me say at the start that this film is about as far from "normal" as it gets for me. I don't have a family, I don't watch afternoon TV (and this film *definitely* fits both those bills), and I generally avoid Hallmark movies like the plague. But, you know what? I liked this one.

It is VERY low-key - perhaps even overly so at times - but it's the very "ordinaryness" of the characters that makes Cassie stand out, and the languid pace of the story fits well with the small-town atmosphere.

Everyone, the kids included, do their jobs well; and the upshot is a very pleasant hour and a half immersion in a children's story, with just enough to keep the adults amused. It's not J.M. Barrie, but it's not pap either, and it has the good sense not to overstay its welcome.

And for someone who likes Seagal and Willis and Pacino (when he can't find a "Casablanca" or a "Shawshank") that's pretty high praise.