On September 30th, 2022, the movie Hocus Pocus 2 made its debut on Disney plus. The first movie came out in 1993 and immediately became a fan favorite during Halloween time.  To recap the first movie: a teenage boy moves to Salem, Massachusetts and with the help of a girl named Alison and his sister Dani, decides to explore a well-known witches’ house. Max, who doesn’t believe that witches are real, accidentally sets free the Sanderson sisters, who are three evil witch sisters who were hanged during the witch trials. Their names are Winnifred, (Bette Midler), Sarah, (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy). With the help of Binx, a magical, 300- year-old cat, the kids must steal the witches’ book of spells to stop them from completing their main goal- becoming immortal.

In the newer movie, two best friends, Becca and Izzy, are getting ready to celebrate Becca’s sixteenth birthday.  They are very into magic. The two girls have a tradition, to go into the woods and light a candle. This year, however, a man named Gilbert, who owns a local magic store, gives them a black candle. It is a well-known fact that if you light a black candle on a full moon, the sisters may return.  Even though they are both well aware of the legend of the Sanderson sisters, Becca and Izzy light the candle, which brings the sisters back to life.  Winnifred, one of the sisters, has two goals:  get revenge on Salem’s mayor, and achieve immortality through ancient and hard-to-use dark magic, the ladder being her goal in the original movie.  

Just like every movie and TV show ever, Hocus Pocus 2 got mixed opinions from critics.  Some loved it, others thought it was okay, and others hated it.  Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 64% while Google users gave it a 75%.  Common Sense Media gave it a 4 out of 5, and IMDb gave the movie a 6.1 out of 10.  Boston.com called the film an “entertaining, lively experience that captures the campy fun of the original.”

Personally, I didn’t like the movie. Disney has obviously run out of ideas, and its movies and shows have taken a turn for the worse. I also feel like in all the reboots Disney keeps making, the characters involved are attempting to be nostalgic, and that trend has been overused to the point where it just is not working anymore. Reboots almost always ruin the show or movie that is being rebooted.