Halloweentown

December is upon us once again and it’s time for another Disney themed month to close out the year. Seeing how last year I had reviewed every live-action Disney movie that I had seen, I thought that this year I would go along that same theme and review the Disney Channel Original Movies. Granted, I was growing up around the time that these movies were being released, but need I remind everyone, I didn’t get cable until I was 12. That means I had missed out on the earlier stuff and kids in Middle and High School don’t really watch anything on the Disney Channel. Although I did see bits and pieces of a few of the films and I was familiar with certain popular ones, but I just never bothered watching any until I had to prepare for this month.

Unlike previous years where I only had to watch maybe a few or I was already familiar with the films that I had chosen to review, this year was the busiest in order to prepare for this month. I had to select which of the popular films I wanted to review and watch them in order to prepare, which is something I had never done before. Seeing these films, I have to admit that any adult watching them will admit they’re in the wrong age group to watch them. Maybe if I saw these as a kid, I would probably have a different opinion on them and may have ended up liking a lot of them.

Enough stalling, let’s get started with the very first film, “Halloweentown,” released in 1998.

David Parkinson started his review by saying, “In this passable family feature from Disney, the various spooks and ghouls who have plagued humanity for centuries are consigned to the eponymous town - rather in the same way the fairy-tale folk were later banished in Shrek.” At the core of everything is the late Debbie Reynolds, who shows a little old-school magic as the witch Agatha, or “Aggie,” who helps her daughter, Gwen (Judith Hoag) protect her half-mortal children (Kimberly J. Brown, Joey Zimmerman and Emily Roeske) from both mortal and supernatural prejudice. I agree with Parkinson when he said, “It's watchable, though the action is packed with bits and pieces from genre milestones such as Bewitched and Tim Burton's The Nightmare before Christmas, so it feels rather familiar.”

Three kids are understandably surprised when they find out their grandmother is a witch and they have her magical powers in their genes. They soon get into some trouble as they try out their abilities, but the enjoyment is put to the test when an evil spirit, played by Robin Thomas, is out making problems for them to solve.

If you have small children, it probably wouldn’t hurt to show them this film, but for adults, they probably will not find much enjoyment in it. Reason why is because it’s not very enjoyable and Halloweentown is not what you would expect if you heard the name. What would you expect from a movie that is targeted for little children? Sorry to say guys, but after watching this once, I don’t see myself ever picking up this movie again.

Just to let everyone know, unlike last year where I was cramming two reviews in one day for a good majority of the month, this year will be just one review a day. If there will be two reviews, it will only be on a new film that I watched in theaters.

Now that I clarified that, check in tomorrow for what I will review next in “Disney Channel Original Movie Month.”