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‘Hocus Pocus 2’ Review: Bette Midler and Sisters Conjure More of the Same in Decades-Later Disney+ Sequel

Aging may have been the witches’ worst enemy in the 1993 cult classic, but here, it doesn't hinder the film's three stars from tapping their inner divas in this straight-to-streaming reunion.

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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What strange sorcery is this that “Hocus Pocus” — a so-so comedy turned campy cult favorite starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as absolutely fabulous Salem witch sisters — should be getting a sequel nearly three decades after its 1993 release? At the time, Variety speculated that, were it not for the film’s three stars, “‘Hocus Pocus’ wouldn’t seem out of place on the Disney Channel, and perhaps belongs there.” (Its director, Kenny Ortega, would go on to helm the “High School Musical” franchise for the cabler.) In a sense, that’s what’s happened with this follow-up, aimed to breathe some life into the graveyard that is Disney+.

The sequel’s existence owes less to popular demand (the original earned a respectable $39.3 million stateside and went on to become a Halloween season staple) than to the realization that the film had tapped into preteens’ fascination with witchcraft before Harry Potter came along. It can be no coincidence that the new feature lifts so much of its look and feel from that franchise — with eye of newt, a dead man’s head and some aspects of “The Craft” tossed in for good measure. In “Hocus Pocus 2,” the three teens called upon to save Salem from the Sanderson sisters’ return are themselves budding witches, which means the movie isn’t about scaring kids away from magic so much as indulging their post-Potter junior wizarding fantasies.

Young’uns needn’t have seen the earlier movie to make sense of things, although it’s just a click away on Disney+ should any of them be curious enough to watch a classic that predates many of their parents. The original did a pretty good job of wrapping up its story (the sisters were blasted into oblivion when the sun rose on All Saints’ Day), but also suggested that the sisters could be brought back easily enough, should a virgin light a black-flame candle on Halloween — and here, Becca (Whitney Peak) is fooled into doing exactly that by Gilbert (Sam Richardson), the owner of the magic shop now operating in the Sandersons’ old home, where much of the earlier film took place.

Before this simple spell happens, however, director Anne Fletcher (“The Proposal”) takes us back to early Salem to offer an origin story for the sisters (playing teenage Winifred in the prologue, Taylor Henderson has fun channeling the Divine Miss M’s more flamboyant mannerisms). The Sandersons were “misunderstood” and “ahead of their time,” the movie explains, demonstrating a kind of have-it-both-ways thinking that’s perfectly consistent with the politics of the moment. On one hand, it implies that charges of witchcraft are one tool the patriarchy has for keeping independent women in check; on the other, it allows the women to be bona fide witches (it’s as if they’re being falsely accused of exactly what they are).

In the woods, they meet the Witch Mother (“Ted Lasso” star Hannah Waddingham), who senses their potential and bequeaths the book that enables all their mischief — and which contains a spell that can make them all-powerful at great personal cost. The book has gotten a CG upgrade here, which is too bad, since the animatronic eye embedded in the cover was such a great old-school trick. This hardcover catalog of spells always seemed to have a mind of its own and in Fletcher’s hands, feels less like a prop than a proper character.

Becca and best friend Izzy (Belissa Escobedo) discover that this Halloween, Cassie (Lilia Buckingham) — the classmate with whom they’d been tight throughout childhood — is throwing a house party without inviting them. (Her dad, played by a daffy Tony Hale, is also in the dark.) The movie misses the opportunity to serve up a useful portrayal of the petty divisions that drive old friends apart, while orienting itself to lecture audiences on the importance of loyalty and the perils of egotism. It’s doubtful that such moral lessons are the reason anyone’s watching “Hocus Pocus 2,” which again blends Midler’s hammy diva persona with details that feel almost too dark for a kids’ movie (but have since been normalized by the likes of Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton).

That mix must be what endeared the original to so many back in the day. Frankly, its success has always been tricky to explain — beyond the basic appeal of watching Midler, Parker and Najimy vamp their way through reams of mock-Victorian dialogue, full of words like “thee“ and “doest.” They’re meant to be menacing, but are cartoonishly broad instead: Winifred (Midler) with her puckered lips and beaver-like overbite, Mary (Najimy) wide-eyed and talking out of the side of her mouth, and Sarah (Parker) cursed to be a dumb blonde cliché. Thinking fast, Becca and Izzy talk the women into raiding the beauty products aisle of the local Walgreens, where they mistake lotions for potions and drink the goop, believing it to contain the children’s souls they crave.

It’s hard to be too intimidated by three women who keep erupting into musical numbers, including a cover of Elton John’s “The Bitch Is Back” (with “witch” swapped in for the b-word) that leaves so many questions — like, “Have they been rehearsing this in hell?” and “How long till this spawns a stage musical?” One senses all involved trying to re-create the earlier film’s sense of camp. “Hocus Pocus 2” is actually the better made film, even if it amounts to little more than a stealth remake, with strategic decisions about the present-day and old-Salem witch trios being engineered to allow for more sequels, whether or not its three stars return.

Bette Midler Says Cast 'All Wanted' 'Hocus Pocus' Sequel : '30 Years Later, They Came to Their Senses'

Carly Breit is the Senior Platforms Editor at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE for four years, writing, editing and producing video content for TikTok. Her work has previously appeared in TIME, Marie Claire and InStyle.

Alexandra Schonfeld is a features writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since April 2022. Her work previously appeared in Newsweek.

The witches of Hocus Pocus are finally returning after nearly 30 years.

While speaking to PEOPLE on Tuesday at the New York City premiere of Hocus Pocus 2, Bette Midler, who stars alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy in the upcoming sequel, said they knew the story had more to give beyond the 1993 film.

"We all wanted to do it," Midler, 76, tells PEOPLE, noting that Parker, 57, was the one of the people who really pushed to make it happen. "What we couldn't understand was after the thing snowballed, we couldn't understand, as we spoke together, we would often speak together, and [think] why don't they ever give us a sequel?"

"It wasn't like a crazy, aggressive push," she continues. "It was just that we felt that it had a life outside of what it had had. And eventually 30 years later, they came to their senses!"

The three are returning as the Sanderson sisters in the upcoming Disney + movie premiering Sept. 30 on the streamer.

Both Parker and Najimy, 65, attended Tuesday's premiere. The Sex and the City actress was accompanied by her husband, Matthew Broderick and their 13-year-old twin daughters, Tabitha Hodge and Marion Loretta Elwell on the purple carpet.

In June 2022, Disney+ shared the first trailer for the film, which sheds light on how exactly the Sanderson sisters return after being defeated by Max, Dani and Allison in the original movie.

The movie will pick up almost 30 years after Max lit the Black Flame Candle in the 1993 film version and accidentally resurrected three witches on the hunt to steal children.

In the sequel, Winifred, Sarah and Mary now seek revenge as they awaken in present-day Salem, according to Entertainment Weekly. Three teenagers — Becca, Cassie, and Izzy — must find a way to stop the witches from gaining retribution.

A second trailer released in September 2022 revealed that the film will also delve into the Sanderson sisters' origin story. In the clip, the sisters appear as teenagers who head to the woods after being banished from Salem, where they encounter a witch who puts them on the path of dark magic.

In July, Hocus Pocus 2 executive producer Adam Shankman told PEOPLE that Midler, Najimy and Parker "just fell right in" with each other on set of the highly anticipated sequel.

"[It was] like a snap back in time, as if time had not [passed]," said Shankman. "They were just laughing, laughing, laughing. . It was easy."

Shankman noted that the original Hocus Pocus "was not a hit when it came out," but eventually became "the juggernaut Halloween movie" due to it airing and streaming on various platforms each fall.

Hocus Pocus 2 will land on Disney+ Sept. 30.

Bette Midler Accidentally Starts a ‘Sailors vs. Salem’ Debate Among ‘Hocus Pocus’ Fans: ‘Don’t Mess With This Witch!’

Bette Midler stirred up quite a bit of confusion over a famous line in Hocus Pocus last week, all thanks to a social media gaffe.

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On Friday (Sept. 23), the actress shared a new glimpse of herself as Winifred Sanderson in a promotional poster for the upcoming Hocus Pocus 2 with the caption, “Hello Sailors! My name’s Winifred, what’s yours? #WinifredSanderson… #HocusPocus2, an Original movie event, streaming September 30 on @DisneyPlus.” The caption referenced her character’s line in the middle of “I Put a Spell On You,” but her followers were hilariously baffled by the greeting.

“Hello SAILORS?! are you telling me it’s not hello SALEM?!” one fan wrote with a mind-blown emoji while another commented, “I always thought you were saying ‘hello, Salem.'”

The controversy brewed over the lyrical mistake kept brewing in the comments section of Midler’s post. But as it turns out, the fans were correct, and she returned returned to the caption days later to issue a hilarious correction.

Changing the caption to “Hello Salem!” she added, “(Autocorrect – don’t mess with this witch!)” to the end of the tag, laughing off the technical malfunction in the process.

Premiering this Friday (Sept. 30) on Disney+, the long-awaited sequel to 1993’s Hocus Pocus reunites Midler with Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker as, respectively, Mary Sanderson and Sarah Sanderson as the witchy trio is accidentally brought back to life by three high school students in modern-day Salem.

While original child stars Omri Katz, Vinessa Shaw and Thora Birch aren’t returning for the sequel, the Sanderson sisters will be joined by newcomers Hannah Waddington, Tony Hale, Whitney Peak, Lilia Buckingham and Belissa Escobedo. Additionally, original Hocus Pocus star Doug Jones will be reprising his role as Billy Butcherson.

Check out Midler’s cheekily edited Hocus Pocus 2 post below.

"Curse of Chucky" is known for its suspenseful atmosphere, gruesome kills, and dark humor. It explores themes of possession, revenge, and the blurred line between fantasy and reality. Despite being a horror film, it also delves into the psychological aspects of fear and the consequences of past actions.

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Reviews for "Curse of Chucky: Understanding the Art of Scares on 123movieshub"

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Curse of Chucky and the Subversion of Tropes on 123movieshub