Hocus Pocus

I imagine most of the love for Hocus Pocus comes from people who re-watch it with nostalgia goggles. Even as a child of the 90's I had never seen Hocus Pocus and knew little of it, so I had no prior attachments to this film. If you have seen any of the Disney Channels terrible made for TV movies, Hocus Pocus is like a particularly bad one with some questionable language and sexual innuendo. The acting is really bad from the entire cast, which is a little surprising considering the witches (who I had always assumed you the heroes of the story, but are clearly not) are two D-List actresses (Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy) and a C-lister (Sarah Jessica Parker) who aren't exactly known for their acting abilities, but are actual professional actr...

Good.

'Hocus Pocus' is a fairly amusing film about witches from the Salem trials era, not that it hasn't any real connection to those events. It's very much a fun fantasy film, which looks pretty neat by the way.

Bette Midler (Winifred), Kathy Najimy (Mary) and Sarah Jessica Parker (Sarah) play three witch sisters. They are main reason why the film is as enjoyable as it is, all are entertaining but Midler is definitely the pick of the bunch. The trio of younger actors in Omri Katz (Max), Thora Birch (Dani) and Vinessa Shaw (Allison) are OK, nothing special but passable.

I didn't fully connect or like the plot itself, but it's one that suits everything else on screen well so it kinda works to be honest. All in all, for me, this is a solid, mid-range production from Disney.

Bad watch, probably won't watch again, and can't recommend.

Sometimes it is fun to get in the way back machine to visit "classic" movies, but they don't always hold up. And in some cases, like this, it is a wonder they EVER worked at all. Especially that it is a 1993 Disney movie and focuses on sex, plus a lot of witch lore being based on women being sexual in a time where it was so inappropriate they would be burnt at the stake. I digress.

While the Sanderson sisters are a compelling premise, if sloppy, and an interesting metaphor for the desires of power, hunger, and sex, it goes to an almost cartoonish levels of ridiculous for next to no reasoning.

All the non witch cast do a fine job, and I especially liked Thora Birch's per...

This is an odd family movie, as I saw it called. There seemed to be a few incidents around death that might be to mature for younger kids, but a lot of the story and action seemed too simplistic for older kids.

There is a lot of shrieking in lieu of acting, no real character development, and how many times to we need to hear the same lines and actions from the three witches?

We decided to watch this as a preview to watching the 2022s sequel, but alas we arent motivated to do so after swing the original.

What ever happened to Omri Katz? Here he is the young "Max" who moves with his sister "Dani" (Thora Birch) to the small, history-laden, town of Salem where he soon gets the hots for "Allison" (Vinessa Shaw). Out on a Halloween trick 'r treat session with his sister, they arrive at the her rather posh home where they discuss the famous "Sanderson" witches who were famously hanged there three hundred years earlier. It seems that their house was converted into a museum, so all three head to this dilapidated home where "Max" does the unthinkable - he light the wrong candle and whoosh - back come these three wicked harridans. Led by "Winifred" (Bette Midler) these women must use a secret potion to rob all the children of their youth so they can ...

The colors, right? Was the the draw in for you too, because this movie popped. Outside of Dick Tracy I don't think I've seen color used to well in a film, both for entertainment and for pure wow.

It popped... and, yeah, there was a story here too.

This was the 90s, it was that time where they could make a children's movie that was still a little dark, a children's movie that was still entertaining for adults to watch. In other words, they made a FAMILY movie, and that hasn't been done lately has it?

You can watch it as an adult and love it because it has a real plot, it has jokes that are above the low brow children's fair, and jokes that cater to them as well. It takes an effort to be appealing to ALL age groups.

And, as I said...

One of my favorite movies of all time again. Love this movie! I love movies that have a storyline that's not common in a lot of movies. Thus is also really hilarious.