“Halloweentown II”
starts on Halloween a few years after the fight with Kalabar where things have
changed but still the same. Grandma Aggie (Debbie Reynolds) and Gwen (Judith
Hoag) are still fighting over living life as a Witch, Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown)
and Sophie (Emily Roeske) are having trouble with their allegiances and Dylan
(Joey Zimmerman) is still worried about being average. During a large Halloween
night party, new neighbors Kal (Daniel Kountz) and his dad (Robin Thomas) show
up trying to be friends with the Cromwell family. Gwen immediately falls in
love with Kal’s dad, as Kal and Marnie find the same bond. One moment of vulnerability
allows the obviously villain Kal to steal the Cromwell spell book, and seeing
her magic bag isn’t working anymore, Aggie goes back to Halloweentown.
Marnie and Aggie see
the town is being drained of its creativity, individuality, and magic. Kal is
Kalabar’s son and is looking to drain the magic out of the town. A lot of the
sequel shows the amazingly fantastic work between Kimberly J. Brown and Debbie
Reynolds, both who are two generations of Cromwell’s fighting with the new
villain Kal. Vasquez said, “Kimberly J. Brown had sheer potential to be a
Disney regular and works wonders here as the older and wiser Marnie seeking a
line between normality and embracing her destiny as the head of the Cromwells. She’s
very soft spoken and a great antidote to the normal overbearing Disney
characters.”
Vasquez continued, “Reynolds
grasps the role of Aggie with as much zeal as possible providing a very
whimsical attitude to an already entertaining heroine holding her own in a
youth oriented fantasy flick. As well I also enjoy the emphasis on the character
of Sophie who goes from a little sister to the key to saving the humans from
Kal’s horrible spell providing a sense of heroism and giving a very
entertaining performance not reliant on cute one-liners.” There’s a lot more
visual style this time around as we see some interesting imagery of the town in
black and white, and the two witches going through alleys and dark mansions
looking for Aggie’s powerful spell book hoping to bring the town back to life
again.
In the real world, Kal
has made a scheme where every party goer in the school Halloween dance is going
to turn into monsters when it becomes midnight. With only four hours left,
Marnie and her friend Luke, played by Phillip Van Dyke, have only a little time
to restore the magic, break the spell, and save grandma Aggie who is also being
drained of her magic as the clock ticks. The ultimate damage by Kal’s master
plan is really tricky and once the party goers turn into vampires and monsters
it’s really scary and actually evil, especially when looking at the special
effects being better this time around. I agree with Vasquez when he said, ““Halloweentown
II” is the better of the entire series, and I had just as much fun with this as
I did its predecessor.” One thing that really seemed just necessary for
creating tension was mother Gwen not able to make up a master plan at work.
She went up against an
evil Warlock, has been to Halloweentown and even uses her magic during the
film, but she still finds it impossible to believe her kids that Kalabar has to
have come back and is planning something on Halloween? Vasquez noted, “It’s out
of character and seems just there to create difficulty for the characters and
little else. It’s pretty far-fetched for a character who seems to have seen it
all in regards to magic and monsters.” Even though the first movie was about
celebrating Halloween, “Halloweentown II” is much darker and focused on story
with fighting good and evil and continuing the storyline. Kimberly J. Brown and
Debbie Reynolds are just as likable, and this is hands down and better sequel
and the best of the “Halloweentown” movies by far.
I think that this movie
will be enjoyed by the whole family, if they all decide to sit down and watch
it. If you didn’t really get into the first movie, this one will satisfy
everything that you had problems with the last one. Like I said, I wouldn’t
want to watch this franchise again, but if I had to make a decision of which
one I wouldn’t mind watching again, this is the one. I liked the ideas, the
visuals, everything about it interesting. This also goes for the people who
liked the first movie; they should see this one because they will love it more.
Tomorrow I will look at
another movie that I am familiar with. Like “The Luck of the Irish,” this is
another one I saw parts of as a kid and loved. Stay tuned tomorrow to see if I
still like it today in “Disney Channel Original Movie Month.”
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