Disney has released “Hocus Pocus 2” on Disney+ almost 30 years after the 1993 release of the Salem-set spookfest “Hocus Pocus,” reuniting the Sanderson sisters in time for the unofficial start of Halloween season.
The live-action comedy follows the delightfully evil Sanderson sisters as they cause mayhem in contemporary Salem: Winifred (Disney Legend Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy). The Black Flame Candle was last lighted 29 years ago, reviving the witches, and now the sisters are returning for more than just retribution.
This time, Winnifred, Mary, and Sarah Sanderson (played by Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker, respectively) are resurrected as two best friends named Becca and Izzy (Whitney Peak and Belissa Escobedo) celebrate Becca’s sixteenth birthday in Salem’s Forbidden Woods. Winnifred wants to exact revenge on the Salem mayor and become everlasting by using sophisticated and sophisticated dark magic.
Early reviews for the movie have been mostly favorable, if not unanimously so. At the time of this article’s publishing, Rotten Tomatoes had given “Hocus Pocus 2” a 64 percent freshness rating.
“Hocus Pocus 2” was praised as an “entertaining, energetic experience that captures the campy charm of the original” in the Boston.com review of the movie. But we’ve also included what critics are saying about “Hocus Pocus 2,” good, awful, and everything in between, so that readers may sample a range of opinions and decide for themselves.
In their review of “Hocus Pocus 2,” Boston.com gave the movie three stars out of four, praising Midler, Najimy, and Parker’s performances.
By waiting less than 30 minutes to bring the trio back from the grave, “Hocus Pocus 2” director Anne Fletcher (“The Proposal”) demonstrates her clear understanding that Midler, Najimy, and Parker are the main attraction. Despite the fact that it has been close to 30 years, the three actors still play with the same vigour, gamely swooning and screeching around the screen and expertly leaning into the comedy of the “Three Stooges” in the movie.
According to Nell Minow of RogerEbert.com, “Hocus Pocus 2” will “please fans of all ages.”
“Hocus Pocus 2” managed to retain “the same corny enchantment of the original while ingeniously updating its humour,” according to Claire Shaffer of The New York Times.
Lindsey Bahr of the AP acknowledged that she didn’t like the 1993 original, so she was shocked to find “Hocus Pocus 2” to be “really pretty amusing.”
“Hocus Pocus 2,” which is directed by Anne Fletcher, is a light-hearted film, but by the time the whole town starts dancing to “One Way or Another,” you might be ready for the story to move forward. Even so, it’s a thrilling enough ride for a fall evening.
The Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips praised “Hocus Pocus 2” as being twice as good as the first film, although he made it clear that he didn’t enjoy the first.
Another critic, Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post, who didn’t like the first “Hocus Pocus” from 1993 also didn’t like the follow-up, calling it “shtick upon shtick.”
The fact that the first “Hocus Pocus” is a terrible movie is more difficult to accept than a witch’s concoction including “a piece of thine own tongue.” Now, give it another gulp. 29 years later, “Hocus Pocus 2,” the new sequel, is a vast improvement.
“Hocus Pocus 2” performed more like “an extended, if joke-free, SNL sketch than a true movie,” according to Benjamin Lee of The Guardian.
Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post, yet another critic who didn’t care for 1993’s “Hocus Pocus,” didn’t care for “Hocus Pocus 2” either, calling the sequel “shtick upon shtick.”
Hocus Pocus 2 is caught in a rut, caught between eras, audiences, and tones, striving to do too much while in this case accomplishing so little. It has a structure more suited to a remake and attempts to please both seasoned fans and beginners, a challenge that is not insurmountable (recent remakes of Chip n Dale and Scream did this reasonably successfully), but one that the film struggles with the entire time, barely lifting its broomstick off the ground.
The performances by Midler, Najimy, and Parker, according to Amanda Whiting of The Independent, were subpar in comparison to their work in the original.
