It’s October 1st, and therefore officially the first of Halloween. This autumn, two things are rising from the grave: the Blueprint, and the infamous Sanderson sisters.
First things first, quick Blueprint life update! One of the reasons we’ve been gone for so long was that we were arranging something very exciting: we now have our own Blueprint HQ. A.K.A…we live together now! So basically…expect ten times the amount of chaos we usually bring to these posts now that our individual silly energies have combined in a shared space.
It feels fitting that our first review on The Blueprint is of Hocus Pocus 2, the much-anticipated sequel to, quite frankly, one of the greatest films of all time. The original Hocus Pocus is probably Maddy’s second most watched film of all time (second only to Night at the Museum – obviously), so a lot was riding on this.
Well. We’ve seen it.
And we have some thoughts.
Hocus Pocus 2 is directed by Anne Fletcher and written by Jen D’Angelo. The film sees yet another Black Flame candle being lit to reinvoke the Sanderson sisters, this time by two teenage best friends as part of a yearly birthday tradition in the woods. It’s up to them to stop the Sanderson sisters from doing what they love to do the most: eat children and be camp.
The film begins in 1653 and takes the time to explore a Prologue involving the banishment of Winifred Sanderson from Salem and her (DUMB) acquisition of Book. It then cuts to 2022 and the journey begins, setting the scene for the resurrection of the three sisters and…yeah, you know the formula by now. The Good Guys™ have to team up and fend off the Sanderson sisters before they can devour all of the children they can get their hands on and return for more than just one singular night.
The through line from beginning to end is a brisk journey that contains far too few actual plot points, settling for an over-reliance on audiences just enjoying the Sandersons being back on their screens. Which would’ve been fine if the film didn’t try and act like it had just presented us with an emotional piece of storytelling by the conclusion. Which…spoiler alert…it didn’t. But not for lack of trying.
When you’re going into a Hocus Pocus movie, you’re guaranteed to be met with a trio of fun, silly performances from Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. Despite the rest of the film, this is exactly what is granted. The three actresses definitely still have a lot of fun on screen together and their sibling chemistry is just as energetic as it was twenty-nine years ago. Obviously.
Whitney Peak does nothing wrong in her leading role as Becca, just suffers from being given absolutely nothing to characterise her outside of being a quirky sixteen-year-old…oh yeah, who just happens to be a witch????? I don’t know, you guys, I’m barely even here right now. The same holds true for Belissa Escobedo as Izzy, the best friend/sidekick character. Escobedo is fine in her role, but the only thing about her character that we really know is that her mother is called Susan and sends her blurry photos of cookies? Sure? Why not? Cassie Traske arguably would have had the most fleshed-out role of the new characters…that is, if the script knew what to do with her. Instead of using her status as a descendant of the banisher Reverend Traske, the film relegates her to a “former best friend who joins in at the last minute and becomes a core party member when the film’s almost done”. Lilia Buckingham has decidedly nothing to do.
You kinda can’t help but feel bad for these young actors, being given prominent roles in the sequel to a beloved cult classic movie, and then realising that they don’t actually have that much to do with no real character arcs. Sure, there’s a little moment just before the third act where they confront the reasons for their failed friendships and it’s a nice moment but everything is resolved far too quickly and they just band together in the third act…no, give me some character depth why don’t you?
Besides the Sandersons, the only original cast member to reprise their role is Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, the ‘good zombie’ supposed ex-lover of both Winifred and Sarah Sanderson. The elaboration of his character’s backstory is actually one of the better ideas of the film, and Jones’ physical embodiment of the role really is unmatched – a recasting would have been catastrophic. But, the character feels shoehorned in for nostalgia, lacking any agency of his own, and Jones also doesn’t maintain one accent in his performance, blending between the original, recognisable timbre of the character and a newer, weirder almost Cockey twang that felt very much out of place. It hurts us to say this because Doug Jones has well and truly never done anything wrong in his entire life but… #NotOurBilly
The newer cast members aside from the core trio (if you can even call them that considering they push them together to be a pathetic mirror to the Sanderson sisters and a new “coven” which NO THANK YOU) do well with what they’re given. Props to Tony Hale for showing up in every project with the same energy and just making it work. I (Jamie) really believed in his quest to eat his apple and was gutted when it didn’t come to fruition. Sam Richardson also does what he needs to do as Gilbert, but the film’s insistence on making his character a walking contradiction (as we’ll touch on later) makes it hard for him to do anything worthwhile.
Hannah Waddingham shows up for a spell during the film’s prologue as Mother Witch and, once again, does exactly what she needs to do and not much more. Her natural screen presence and charisma help a lot and it’s a fun appearance for her. We were kind of expecting her to come back later in the film but that does not happen.
I (Jamie) would be remiss not to briefly mention Froy Gutierrez showing up for a few scenes to be a delightfully dozy himbo. Once again, it felt like he was going to show up more regularly, so much so that it felt like maybe some scenes and moments were cut.
Omri Katz and Vinessa Shaw, the original protagonists Max and Allison, both confirmed they weren’t approached in regards to the sequel; and Thora Birch, who played the iconic Dani was unable to reprise her role due to ‘scheduling conflicts’. There’s a part of us that’s glad they didn’t try and shoehorn in the original characters because there’s a large chance it would’ve ended up as a disappointing piece of fan service (very unlike Disney), but to justify stepping away from the original cast to usher in new protagonists, it’s usually a good idea to make those protagonists… good?
Salem itself doesn’t even return in the sequel, with the film’s shooting taking place largely in Rhode Island, with reshoots shot in New York. It isn’t strictly a bad thing, but as one element that made the first film feel so authentic, and then paired with the loss of the magic of the first film in general, is yet another sad element to make the film feel all the more hollow. While we’re on the topic of locations: the Sanderson House is quite obviously an important location in the first film, and to redesign its exterior and relocate it is bold. And by bold, I (Maddy) mean stupid.
There’s a whole discussion to be had about sequels of this ilk in general, but the very real question of whether Hocus Pocus 2 actually works as a sequel to the beloved original has a simple, short, and sweet answer.
Absolutely not.
First up: bold of this sequel to break established canon before the fucking title card has even hit. And that just about sets precedent for the rest of the film.
To see something that we were both really excited about being so incredibly lacklustre isn’t an easy thing to come to terms with. We watched the original right before the sequel and the differences are clear and numerous. While following basically the same formula, the sequel is such an obvious cause of putting all the ingredients that made the first one great into a big cauldron, stirring it up, and pouring the potion directly into the viewers’ eyes and hoping we’d love it. But it’s hard to love something that just feels like a product. It feels made just for the sake of it and there was no sense of genuine creative interest from the team, besides the obvious love the core trio of actresses have for their characters.
The past few years have seen such an increase in sequels, reboots and revivals that the market for nostalgia now feels totally oversaturated. It’s not nearly enough for a studio to rely only on the novelty of a sequel anymore, and it’s therefore deeply frustrating when it doesn’t follow through with a focused purpose to justify a continuation of something so beloved.
When thinking about things that we genuinely liked about this film, the river doesn’t run very deep. While the general experience of watching a new Hocus Pocus movie together as best friends in our shared apartment was fun and whimsical, the film itself…yeah.
Mary Sanderson using Roombas to fly on and then referring to them as “the girls” might just be the greatest cinematic contribution of all time, and Sarah Sanderson responding to Winnie’s instruction to “spread out” by doing the splits was almost a religious experience. But in terms of specific moments that we liked, this is…kind of all there is? Well, it’s always fun to see Bette Midler body a musical number as Winnie Sanderson, so are points given there? It’s also an incredibly easy thing to get right so…point taken away? We don’t know anymore.
The
The references to the first film are so obvious that it feels cheap, and borderline offensive to big fans, which is bold when they surely are the main demographic for this sequel. Having some extras watch the original film on their tv isn’t a ‘sneaky’ reference that feels fun: I’m here watching the sequel, I’ve clearly seen the first film! And the Sanderson sisters seeing another set of bright car lights and confusing them for the Sun (funny in the first film, tiresome in the second)
Here are some specific points that have caused me (Maddy) great distress:
- What happened to the Jacob Bailey High School? Do you think I wouldn’t notice that? Samuel Skelton however was funny so I will let this one slide: JUST.
- Why the fuck does Book emote? Why give it a moral compass? It is a book made of HUMAN SKIN and GIFTED BY SATAN. WHY does it choose to side with a ‘good’ witch over Winifred?
- Gilbert said he had to make the new black flame candle himself, but any fan of the original will know that the black flame candle was made from the fat of a hanged man. Therefore, Gilbert then continuing to be portrayed as the fun, quirky fanboy is deeply unsettling when the film tells us he fashioned this in his arts and crafts room. Where did he even acquire a hanged man in this day and age? Did he hang the man himself? Is anyone going to elaborate on this??
The humanisation of villains in recent sequels is really starting to grate on us because it’s so clear that Disney’s (in particular) target audience is decreasing in its age range. It’s understandable to want to present good “role models” to kids in media these days, but also…maybe don’t do that using a really well-known evil character who eats children??? Trying to make Winnie Sanderson a “well-rounded, fleshed-out character” is a mistake right from the outset when the real beauty of the character (and all of the Sanderson sisters) is in the camp chaos and madness they bring to their villainy. The idea of watching Midler, SJP, and Najimy bounce around town singing songs and eating insects (looking at you, Sarah) is really excellent, there’s literally no need to try and give them character arcs. They should’ve used that time to give more to the teenagers who were literally just character descriptions coming to life.
When it comes to a sequel made so long after its predecessor, it begs the question: why now?
Sadly, it seems the answer to that boils down to the studio recognising a market for it, with Hocus Pocus 2 being spearheaded largely by Bette Midler, who began making calls upon realising the popularity and cult following the film was gathering in the age of social media. Trivial point here too, but it also irritates us that it was released twenty-nine years after the original: why not wait one year to make it a nice round thirty?
Also, why not make it good? This seems to be a trend for Disney of late, capitalising on the nostalgia of an entire generation to garner clicks, views, and engagement on their properties when it seems like they’re just churning out projects with no real sense of care involved. Especially when this year has seen a legacy sequel get the formula pretty much exactly right with how Top Gun: Maverick handles the admittedly tricky tightrope of honouring the original while also providing a new story.
Whenever one of these new legacy sequels is announced, there is usually a general discussion about whether or not it’s necessary. Most aren’t, but there seems to be so much goodwill for the original movie that we all just let it go by without a word. After seeing it, there is no way to justify how THAT script was not only greenlit but made into an actual motion picture with people working on it. The mind truly, truly boggles at the lack of thought that went into this film. It can’t even be considered an easy cash grab considered it was just magically dumped right onto Disney Plus without so much as a second thought.
There is a novelty to seeing the beloved Sanderson characters back on the screen all these years later, and Midler, Parker and Najimy clearly have a ball reprising their roles they’ve retained a clear grasp of. But novelty can only do so much when nearly every other element of the film drops the ball. And with everything from the writing to the CGI falling more than a little flat, consider the ball well and truly dropped.
Hocus Pocus 2 lacks everything that makes the original so exceptional. There are no real stakes, not enough to ground it, no concise, satisfying story, and worst of all, no genuine heart. It’s Max and Dani, as well as Thackery and Emily Binx, that are the beating heart of the original, their relationship being the real, grounded and heartfelt foundation. It was always about the siblings, with the perilous adventures that make their bond shine through and the pure goodness of character that counteracts the frantic villainy of the Sanderson sisters. Without the core that the first film brought, you’re left with nothing but a hollow shell of first-draft plot points and a reliance on famous spooky iconography to carry a film that…let’s be honest, had no real reason to exist in its current form. There was an attempt to translate that ‘special sibling bond’ concept over to the Sandersons themselves, and even choosing to bookend the film with it, but it just doesn’t work in an impactful way on the villains’ side and adds further points to the already discussed bad guy humanisation trend that we here at the Blueprint have established we are not fans of.
The obvious disconnect from the first film we think comes in the form of confusion of brand identity. The filmmakers clearly had no quibbles about making changes to story continuity, geography and the internal logic the original film brought to the table, which is somewhat disrespectful to the loyal fans in itself. But the real head-scratcher is how precious they were about hammering home the tinier details: the forced references of individual lines of dialogue we all remember, or a small notice of the obviously purloined costumes from the original. Instead of feeling like a fun, cheeky nod to its classic origins, it feels like overcompensation to the fans for doing a disservice to a film we love. Why play fast and loose with the more important aspects of making a sequel and then concentrate on trying to include as many dumb, pandering references as you can? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE DISNEY!!
Hocus Pocus 2 is a deep and genuine disappointment in comparison to the so revered original of 1993. The bar was admittedly, higher than even a broomstick could fly, but it doesn’t feel like anyone attempted to make a sequel of the same candour and honour that true spark of the original.
The only positive is that the original is now somehow even more clearly a real stroke of genius.
Special thanks to Jamie for carrying this post while Maddy worked herself into a grander state of fury with every minute and descending into full-on yelling in the aforementioned shared flat. This is what makes us a good team.
Hocus Pocus 2 is on Disney+ now
the blueprint. 