When I was seven years old, I saw a movie that changed my life.
I was a scaredy-cat kid who loved Halloween, and it was hard for me to find things relating to that that I could watch, and not have anxiety over later on.
But then came Hocus Pocus.
I saw the movie for the first time during one of those “free preview” weeks that the Disney Channel used to offer, back in the days when certain channels were “premium subscription” and your parents wouldn’t pay the price to keep it permanently. Ironically, I believe Hocus Pocus aired the day we put the Christmas tree up.
To say I fell in love with this movie would be the ultimate understatement. I became obsessed. I dreamt of being best friends with Dani Dennison.I woke up every morning hoping my cats would talk to me, all the while begging for a solid black one. I desperately tried to emulate Winifred Sanderson, to the point of trying to speak like her. (I have a weird memory of asking the family dog something along the lines of “Why dost thou bark so much?”) I talked about the movie to anyone who would listen; once keeping my grandmother on the phone for about an hour as I recounted the entire thing in deep detail.
And, of course, as many people do when they fall in love with a movie, I wished for more. I desperately wanted a sequel. I was constantly theorizing as to what would happen next, or what came before…I probably mentally wrote a hundred sequels to Hocus Pocus over the years. I found myself hoping even more when that late-90s/early 00s direct-to-video sequel era seemed to be happening with Disney, but alas, it never came. As an adult running in Halloween communities, rumors would fly every year and it eventually got to the point where I flat-out refused to believe them anymore. From about 2012 on, it was always “Hocus Pocus 2 is coming this October!”, but October always came without the sequel. One year we were even threatened with a reboot, and that’s when I started to wonder if maybe we were better off without any new Hocus Pocus material at all, though I did read the sequel book out of curiosity, which I found satisfactory but forgettable. I told myself that I should be happy that my lifelong favorite movie finally achieved classic status all these years later and just leave it at that.
But, of course, I couldn’t help but be excited when we finally officially found out that Hocus Pocus 2 was on the way, twenty-nine years after the movie’s initial release. I was a little nervous, sure, but my inner child, that little seven-year-old girl who fell in love with the original Hocus Pocus and just wanted more, was so excited to finally be seeing it happen. That spooky little girl, who everyone thought was odd for having a favorite holiday that wasn’t Christmas, and for loving a movie that was a major flop, idolizing a three-hundred-something-year-old witch over all of the Disney princesses there were to choose from, finally felt seen.
I wouldn’t say I had the highest expectations for the sequel. I went into it knowing it wasn’t going to be the original, and not expecting it to be able to recreate that same type of magic. I told myself, if I didn’t like it, it would be a separate entity and I’d never have to watch it again. I was just so glad it was happening.
And I have to say, I think it was a pretty great continuation of the story.
Hocus Pocus 2 starts off, interestingly, with the Sanderson Sisters as children. The actresses playing these roles are spot on; I’m tempted to say they must have watched the original movie more times than I have! We see the events that lead to Winifred’s banishment from Salem (refusal of an arranged marriage, mostly) and how she runs off into the woods with her sisters and meets a mysterious woman, credited only as “Witch Mother”, who ends up gifting her her most beloved “Booo-oook”. (This is an inconsistency with the original movie as it’s said that the Book was given to Winifred by the Devil himself, but who knows. Maybe that was a rumor.)
We then meet our main protagonists in the modern world, best friends Becca and Izzy. Halloween is apparently also Becca’s birthday, and she’s into witchy stuff. She and Izzy, and their former other BFF Cassie, who apparently dropped them after she got a boyfriend and seemingly discovered popularity, have a special ritual they do every year in the woods on Becca’s birthday, and then a scary movie marathon, and I’m honestly kind of jealous. Becca and Izzy (and I guess Cassie, formerly) also are close with a guy named Gilbert who runs a local magic shop out of...you guessed it, the old Sanderson house.
Gilbert obviously wants to hook Becca up with a birthday gift and he gives her a candle for their ritual in the woods. However, when Becca and Izzy light the candle, it suddenly begins to produce a black flame, and suddenly, the Sanderson Sisters are back in action, and I'm not gonna lie, I cried.
They immediately launch into a musical number which is fun but a bit bizarre...I mean, I always assumed the I Put A Spell On You scene was the result of the witches adapting to their surroundings and not necessarily a love of performing, but hey, this is Disney and they've been making their money off of people randomly bursting into song for years and years, so...
The Sisters don't waste any time getting into hijinks...One thing I was very worried about in regards to this sequel was that it would be a little too much "witches from the 1600s vs. 2022 technology", but it really wasn't. Yes, some of those gags were there, but we weren't beat over the head with the "modern" age. One thing about the original movie is that it really has never seemed dated to me...save for the lack of existence of cell phones. I worried that the sequel would rely too heavily on beating us over the head with how the witches react to technology, as the book did kind of go in that direction, spreading the curse through cell phones, but I was pleasantly surprised. This was definitely a good balance of Hocus Pocus for a more modern age, while still staying true to its roots and being enjoyable for the adults that grew up on the original.
There were some fun plot twists too, such as ****SPOILERS**** Gilbert basically knowing what he was doing the whole time because he was obsessed with the Sanderson Sisters and wanted to meet them/possibly redeem them, as well as Cassie being descended from the reverend that originally banished the Sisters in the first place. Mary's bit with the Roombas was probably my favorite...I have always gotten a kick out of her use of the vacuum cleaner in the original movie! Mary kind of stole the show for me in this one, honestly.
Hocus Pocus 2 also has a heartwarming moral center. The Sandersons get about as close to a redemption arc as they probably can, with Winifred finally realizing that all the power in the world (quite literally) doesn't mean a thing without her sisters by her side. There's also the friendship story of Becca, Izzy, and Cassie, as they realize their importance to each other and that maybe some things aren't as they seem. I've seen a few people complain that these points are a little too "after school special", but I really don't think so. It's a story with heart, and after all, didn't the original movie drive home the importance of appreciating your loved ones and being there for those you care about, after three hundred years of Binx blaming himself for Emily's death, and Max nearly sacrificing himself for Dani?
The ending also leaves open the potential for a third installment, as Gilbert apparently has another attempt at his Black Flame Candle stored away. Will it come to pass? Who knows, but I do hope, if it is to be, that we don't have to wait another twenty-nine years for it.
All in all, I'm very happy and satisfied with the long awaited sequel to my lifelong favorite movie. Hocus Pocus 2 is a great new installment for a new generation, as well as paying enough homage to the original to satiate the OG fans. I do wish some more of the original cast would have been included (the book sequel was all about Max and Alison's daughter) but hey, it's been twenty-nine years. It's completely plausible that all of these people moved on once they grew up, especially after having had such a crazy experience! I mean, if you had been attacked by witches in childhood, wouldn't you maybe want to move out of the literal Witch City once you were of age?
Hocus Pocus 2 was never going to be the original, but it doesn't have to be. I'm just glad that after all these, it finally exists. For all of us that would've rather been a Sanderson than Cinderella, this is our time. This is our thank you. Watch the new movie with an open mind and see what our spooky community has achieved!
Stay spooky, my friends! And if you have any thoughts on the movie you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them!
Comments
Post a Comment