Was it worth the wait

No good can come from opening the book, or a sequel...?

*Warning spoliers

Halloween is a special time of year and with that comes classic films such as 1993's Nightmare before Christmas. Also released that same year was Hocus Pocus, a film about 3 witches who wreak havoc on the village of Salem, known for its witchcraft.

The original Hocus Pocus released a few months before Halloween in 1993, to avoid clashing with Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas and ensure a solid box office run. Despite not quite meeting expectations by Disney, over the years Hocus Pocus has become a Halloween cult classic and one that regularly appears on our screens around October. 

So did we really need a sequel and after almost 30 years? In terms of performance, Bette Middler, Kathy Njamy and Sarah Jessica Parker returned as the Sanderson sisters and it's like they never left. Their screen time together is great and they really embody their characters so well. 

The narrative is very similar to the first Hocus Pocus, in that the sisters have to find children to remain young or they turn to dust by sunrise. Disney really toned down what made the original such a classic. The dialogue is very mixed throughout, as I found the witches to be very cheerful with them seemingly breaking into a song without notice one minute, and then it will turn to a slightly darker tone with the witches conjuring a plan, to then be full on Disney with brain-dead witches, which you would assume would have learned from what happened in the first film.

Oh and they make sure we don't forget the original, as there are so many nods to the first film you almost forget about this on. Bringing a character like Billy Butcherson (the zombie from the first film) is a great idea, it's a shame then that he was pretty pointless overall and only really served as a nostalgic nod, once again, to the first film. 

There is even a scene where the witches walk past a house and look inside, only to see someone watching the first Hocus Pocus on the TV. So in what universe is this sequel set, and how does that even work. 

Another downgrade is definitely the music in the film, although there are a lot more songs overall. The original had an identity crisis where it wasn't sure if it was a musical or not, with elements of both but not enough to actually be classed as a musical. The sequel follows a similar pattern, providing a few sing a long tracks but again not enough to identify as a musical, it's just elements of a musical.

So overall Hocus Pocus 2 is a very poor film that tries its hardest to capitalise on the success of the original, but unfortunately no spell can save this one..

4/10