{"id":6607,"date":"2024-10-25T10:23:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T14:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6607"},"modified":"2024-10-25T10:23:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T14:23:13","slug":"hocus-pocus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/25\/hocus-pocus\/","title":{"rendered":"Hocus Pocus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Hocus Pocus <\/strong>(1993)\u00a0\u00a0 Disney\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (mild language, some scary scenes, bullying, children in peril)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Kenny Ortega\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Neil Cuthbert and Mick Garris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Debney\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Hiro Narita\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 16, 1993 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker, Omri Katz, Thora Birch, Vinessa Shaw, Doug Jones, Charles Rocket, Stephanie Faracy, Sean Murray, Amanda Shepherd, Larry Bagby III, Tobias Jelinek, Kathleen Freeman.\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $39.5M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0The only mistake Disney made with Hocus Pocus<\/strong> was NOT releasing it around Halloween, instead opening it during the highly competitive summer movie season where it grossed just under $40 million. At the same time, I get it. The slot was already filled by Tim Burton\u2019s stop-motion animated The Nightmare Before Christmas, one of the year\u2019s most highly anticipated films. They didn\u2019t want to go up against one of their own. If not for that, Hocus Pocus<\/strong> would have done well. It\u2019s a whole lot of fun.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The story involves a trio of witches, the Sanderson sisters, resurrected from the dead after being hanged 300 years earlier. Naturally, the action takes place in Salem, home of the infamous Salem Witch Trials of the 17th<\/sup> century. Any and all similarities to The Crucible end here. Bette Midler (Ruthless People) plays eldest sister Winifred. She, along with her sisters Mary (Najimy, Sister Act) and Sarah (Parker, Honeymoon in Vegas), abduct a little girl from a nearby village and cast a spell to absorb her youth. They also turn her older brother Thackery (Murray, NCIS) into a cat when he shows up to rescue his sister. For their crimes, the sisters are hanged, but not before putting a curse on the town. If a virgin lights the Black Flame Candle on All Hallows Eve, they will return from the dead.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Jump ahead to present day- well, 1993 anyway- where new kid in town Max (Katz, Matinee) is having a difficult time adjusting to his new surroundings (he\u2019s from L.A.). He has a crush on Allison (Shaw, Ladybugs), the prettiest girl in his history class. He\u2019s forced to take younger sister Dani (Birch, American Beauty) trick-or-treating while his parents attend a Halloween party. They end up at Allison\u2019s house and decide to go explore the old Sanderson house which is now a museum owned by her parents. Of course, Max lights the Black Flame Candle, bringing the sisters back to life. Their plan is to suck the souls from all the children of Salem, but in order to do that, Winifred needs her spell book which the kids have absconded with on the advice of Thackery, now a talking cat, still alive after three centuries. The spell also caused him to live forever or until somebody breaks it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The sisters pursue Max, Dani and Allison around town. Of course, they\u2019re confused by 20th<\/sup> century things like paved roads and buses. They need to get back the book and cast the spell before the sun comes up. If not, they die again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Okay, here\u2019s the deal. Hocus Pocus<\/strong> isn\u2019t high art. It doesn\u2019t provide an iota of insight into the human condition. It doesn\u2019t redefine cinema. It won\u2019t change the world. It does, however, entertain which is precisely what the makers set out to do. Mission accomplished, guys and gals! I\u2019ve always liked Midler and while I wouldn\u2019t call this one of her top performances, you can see she\u2019s having fun with the role. The ugly makeup and prosthetic teeth are initially off-putting, but you get used to it. Likewise, Najimy and Parker appear to be having a ball playing the somewhat dimwitted younger sisters. I love Sarah\u2019s free-spiritedness. The scene where she dances around singing \u201cAmok, amok, amok!\u201d is a prime example. The three actresses have great chemistry, even taking the stage to sing an enchanting rendition of \u201cI Put a Spell on You\u201d. The kids are also a delight. Birch is cute and precocious, only occasionally slipping into brattiness. The budding romance between the two teens is sweet and innocent. Likable kids make for more pleasing entertainment, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The special effects are pretty good. Director Kenny Ortega (Newsies) throws in some clever touches like the sisters having to improvise after their broomsticks are stolen, one of them flying around on a vacuum cleaner. There\u2019s also a zombie (Jones, Hellboy I & II), a former lover of Winifred\u2019s, with his mouth sewn shut.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Hocus Pocus<\/strong> has just the right mix of horror and comedy, both PG level. It\u2019s an ideal movie to show grade schoolers around Halloween. It\u2019s a little bit scary, but in a comical way. It\u2019s fairly well-written. Most importantly, it\u2019s highly enjoyable. Disney\u2019s release strategy may have been faulty, but they know how to make a decent family flick. There\u2019s a reason why some stations still show Hocus Pocus<\/strong> every year at Halloween.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hocus Pocus (1993)\u00a0\u00a0 Disney\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (mild language, some scary scenes, bullying, children in peril)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Kenny Ortega\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Neil Cuthbert and Mick Garris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Debney\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Hiro Narita\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 16, 1993 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker, Omri Katz, Thora Birch, Vinessa Shaw, Doug Jones, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7074,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-cool-cult-flicks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Hocus-Pocus-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6607"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7076,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607\/revisions\/7076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}