[MOVIE REVIEW] Hocus Pocus 2 offers nostalgic Halloween fun 29 years later
Hocus Pocus is a Disney film directed by Anne Fletcher and is about three sister witches named Winifred (starring Bette Midler), Mary (Kathy Najimy) and Sarah Sanderson (Sarah Jessica Parker) of Salem who were resurrected centuries later by a teenage boy named Max Dennison, a virgin who lit the candle. When the Sanderson sisters came back to life, they were committed to taking as many children as possible in order to gain their youth and beauty back.
Classic films unify our childhood. They are a key part of our memory and lifestyle that allows us to escape reality. People often watch classic films out of pure enjoyment and entertainment while also feeling nostalgic without analyzing the film itself. Halloween is right around the corner which means it’s time to watch Halloween classics such as Hocus Pocus.
Hocus Pocus is back with a sequel starring once again Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, and Kathy Najimy as the Sanderson sisters and new actresses such as Whitney Peak playing Becca, Lila Buckingham playing Cassie, and Belissa Escobedo playing Izzy.
In the second movie, the Sanderson sisters are brought back to life once again, only this time, they were brought back by a teenage girl named Becca, another virgin who lit the candle, but Becca is also a witch. She doesn’t discover that until towards the end of the movie. Sadly once again, the Sanderson sisters were once again defeated by teenagers.
The first one was rather an excruciating but yet astonishing film to watch due to the lack of plot and development in the characters. Throughout the entire movie was three old women chasing kids around a small town all within one night. I have to say they had drive and motivation, but unfortunately not speed because they could not catch those kids for their life. When the Sanderson sisters came back to life, they never got more powerful, if anything, they got weaker because they never tried to gain more power from the spell book and instead went straight to chasing kids. Instead of focusing on eating children’s souls, I think they should invest their time in developing the ability to fly since they can never catch those kids without their brooms. The Sanderson sisters gave a bad representation of witches because they let some little kids destroy them in the end.
I believe most people will enjoy watching Hocus Pocus 2 because the movie revised some of the mistakes of the first one. It humanized the Sanderson sisters more, giving a deeper dive into the Sanderson sisters’ backstory and how they came to be. The movie focused on sisterhood and getting revenge on Salem as an act of justice for the way they used to be treated. Hocus Pocus adapts to the culture now, especially the modern glorification of witches. We no longer have negative connotations about witches, but rather we see them as misunderstood feminist icons. This would be a great movie for generation Z to watch.
Milkii is the Feature Editor for The Rubicon. An interesting fact about Milkii is that she loves animals and would like to have lots of pets someday. Some...