I have to admire anything that tries to play in the same sandbox as Beetlejuice and Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (the latter of which also came out in 1993), even if Hocus Pocus never hits quite the same notes of comic-macabre imagination. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy play witches trapped in contemporary Salem on Halloween, where their nefarious plans are complicated by three pesky kids and a talking cat. The leads are nothing if not committed; dialing things down just a tad, closer to what Anjelica Huston offered in The Witches, would have gone a long way. Meanwhile, just about every line of dialogue written for a child or teenager is painful (the movie must have been dated a week after release), though I suppose that helps Hocus Pocus work as a time capsule. Far more charm can be found in the largely practical effects and sets. Directed by Kenny Ortega (Newsies, High School Musical 3: Senior Year).
(11/1/2025)
