MPAA Rating: PG
USCCB Rating: Not rated at the time of this review
Reel Rating: 1 reel out of 5
When Hocus Pocus premiered in 1993, it was a small, poorly received flick that nonetheless found a second chance on Disney Channel reruns, becoming a Halloween cult classic for the Millennial generation. Now the Mouse coven has decided to bequeath us with a sequel few wanted. Hocus Pocus 2 is a mess from start to finish, clearly an exercise in ramming out a product with little planning and even less faith. Some franchises are best left dead.
Hocus Pocus 2 is so divergent from its source there’s no reason to rehash the original, which was not great, but is Citizen Kane by comparison. The current story focuses on Becca (Whitney Beak), a well played out “loner but cool” type whose sixteenth birthday is this Halloween. She lives in modern-day Salem, which, according to local legend, had almost been destroyed by three witches thirty years prior. This Halloween her thoughts are not on returning necromancers but typical teen drama, as her childhood friend is growing distant. She gets a cursed candle as a present from a magic shop and accidentally summons the Sanderson sisters.
What occurs next is a hodgepodge of subplots, none of which work especially well. At first, the witches seem intent on their old habit of stealing child souls, but that quickly dissolves into revenge on the mayor, which is also put on the back burner to casting a literal “Super” spell to give themselves ultimate power. There’s also a Zombie who loses his head, a living spell book bound in human skin, and a clueless football player, who is boyfriend of the jilted friend. The film ends with a quasi-decent affirmation of friendship and family, but one could honestly get that from over a hundred other better Disney films in the $5 bin at Walmart.
Whenever a film deals with paganism, occult, or witchcraft, one must be cautious, especially if the picture is marketed to a younger audience. This of course does not mean a work is automatically unacceptable. Such imagery could be metaphorical (The Chronicles of Narnia), culturally specific (My Neighbor Totoro), or even used as a warning against such practices (the original Hocus Pocus). This film doesn’t promote paganism as a positive ideology but does the next worse thing: gives mixed and often contradictory messages. Most of the pagan tropes are essentially silly, including force lightning and levitation, but there are also references to blood rituals and child stealing. The villains are witches, but, by the end of the film, so are the protagonists.
Thus, paganism is shown as benign, often silly, and not something to be taken seriously one way or the other.
One of the greatest worries entering Hocus Pocus 2 (or any Disney production post-2020) is the commitment the company has placed on far-left social values. One executive even infamously claimed that, moving forward, half of all Disney characters will be queer. Even if unmanifested, the constant anxiety of encountering an uncomfortable situation hinders enjoyment. There are no obviously “queer” or “gay” characters, but there is plenty of cross-dressing. The Sanderson sisters accidentally crash a look-a-like contest of themselves where every entry is male. If only one of these candidates was male, this could have been a funny joke in classic Monty Python fashion but instead feels like a drag show, which is decisively unfunny. There are also several conversations about “being different” and an awkward quarrel between Becca and her friend’s boyfriend about bullying. Parental figures are completely absent from the lives of these teenagers, and every adult who is a major character is portrayed as a bumbling idiot.
Hocus Pocus 2 is bad, so bad in fact that my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it purely as an exercise in mockery. Yet aside from this niche aspect, it fails in nearly every aspect. Fortunately, these three tired witches disappear at the end, leading to a sigh of relief—until the post credits scene leaves open the possibility of their return. This not only leaves open the possibility of a sequel but simultaneously negates the entire film. Hocus pocus, indeed.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Why drink the poison offered up by the dominant culture at all? The culture is in free-fall. Common sense dictates that it’s best to let go of it lest you fall with it.
The pellet with the poison is in the chalice from the palace … Cinderella’s palace.
My family and I liked Hocus Pocus 1. It has become a family classic for us. I enjoyed Hocus Pocus ll but not as much as the first one.
I liked the small moments Gilbert the magic man says the witches were above their time and maybe understood now in the modern society, and it showed bits and pieces of them being accepted multiple times with little girls to even drags dressing up like them, idolizing them. I wish it had rounded that thought out of maybe being ahead of their time and embracing where they are accepted. The rest was really sad. Didn’t help my partner and I had no problem pausing it to do chores 3 times. (Never had a Disney 1st time viewing make me ok with getting up.)
When I think of Bette Midler I think of the movie ‘Beaches’ and the lovely, sad song ‘Wind Beneath My wings’, and I stop there.
When I think of Disney today I think of what it was 50 years ago when such masterworks as ‘Fantasia’ and ‘101 Dalmatians’ and ‘The Aristocats’ graced the screen, with those beyond funny English spinster geese and Zsa Zsa Gabor as the mother of the kittens and O’Malley the alley cat.
What it has proudly sunk to now is beyond sad.