Hocus Pocus 2 – Film Review

It’s been twenty-nine years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17th-century sisters, and they are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high-school students to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before dawn on All Hallow’s Eve.

Imagine a sequel so abysmally bad that it makes you question whether or not you ever even liked the original movie in the first place. It breaks my heart to say it, but Anne Fletcher‘s Hocus Pocus 2 is that exact kind of movie. This was billed as a love-letter to fans of the original, but the only thing this follow-up made me feel was miserable. It’s completely devoid of any magic whatsoever.

The first time I watched Hocus Pocus wasn’t all that long ago – just a few years ago, actually. So I never had that nostalgic childhood connection to the film as many of my friends do, but I do remember watching it and falling in love with it, wishing that I’d seen it sooner. It instantly became a new Halloween classic for me.

Do I think the film is a masterpiece? No. But it certainly is an uproariously entertaining watch for the month of October. I was praying that Hocus Pocus 2 would be added to my list of annual Halloween rewatches, but that’s not the case. As a matter of fact, I never want to watch this complete mess of a film ever again.

The opening scene is extremely deceiving because it actually seems as though the film will be loads of fun. It shows us a crucial moment for the Sanderson sisters when they were children, and seemingly sets the tone for the rest of the journey going forward. But, sadly, after that impressive opening, the film takes a tremendous nosedive into cringe-worthy territory.

Nearly every single attempt at humor here is met with crickets. It almost felt as though screenwriter Jen D’Angelo tried extremely hard to replicate the jokes in the first film but ended up failing miserably. Heck, there are even some sequences in this movie in which the exact same jokes are recycled over from the original.

The only people I can see genuinely laughing at this film are toddlers and people who have never seen a comedy in their lives, because this is one of the most unfunny films in years. For some reason, the film also has a handful of musical numbers that are painfully dull and cringe-inducing, including a parody of Elton John‘s “The Bitch Is Back.”

All of the actresses that portray the Sanderson sisters – Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy – are fantastic once again in their respective roles, however. They feel like they never truly lost any of their magic despite this sequel being released nearly thirty years after the original. The energy they bring is quite electric.

Sadly, the script never manages to find fun or exciting ways to flesh out these sisters. They feel very much like the same characters in the first film without any sort of depth whatsoever. But what’s possibly even worse is the fact that our two leads in the film – Becca (Whitney Peak), and Izzy (Belissa Escobedo) – have no character development.

By the time the film comes to a close, you’ll feel as if you barely got to know these two kids despite the fact that they are supposed to be the protagonists of this story. Peak and Escobedo are fine in their roles, but they really got done dirty. Their characters needed to be fleshed out.

There’s really next to nothing I can recommend about Hocus Pocus 2. This is a heartbreakingly bad follow-up to a beloved Halloween classic that I can assure you will not be remembered come next Halloween season. This film needs to be buried just like Billy Butcherson.

Hocus Pocus 2 conjures up no magic due to an outrageously cringe-worthy script, poor direction, and a severe lack of character development across the board.