The following contains spoilers for Hocus Pocus 2, now streaming on Disney+.
The build-up to Hocus Pocus 2 this Halloween season has been immense. Coming out just shy of 30 years after the first film, Disney released its long-awaited sequel on September 30, 2022 -- and reviews have been mixed. Of course, there will always be an audience for Hocus Pocus. The first film became a cult classic after its release in 1993. Disney would likely not have considered a sequel had a fanbase not been gradually growing over the years. The star witches, the Sanderson Sisters, have become Halloween staples not only among cosplaying fans, but Disney has also utilized the characters during Halloween events in its theme parks and even released a novelized sequel to the first Hocus Pocus film as recent as 2018.
However, Disney made a strange change to its ever-so-popular sisterly trio in Hocus Pocus 2 by redeeming them. Anyone who's been watching every new Disney release in the past ten years or so may have noticed the "villain isn't that bad" trend that Disney has embraced with both arms. Both Maleficent films painted Sleeping Beauty's main villain as an outcast just trying to live her life in her own way. More recently, Cruella tackled the trope but fell short of being a fully cohesive film -- despite the amazing costumes. Cruella's main moment where she embraces her bad girl side is so abrupt it leaves little time for true character development. A similar scene plays out with Winifred Sanderson near the end of Hocus Pocus 2. And the menacing Sanderson Sisters the audience came to know in 1993 are minimized.
The original Hocus Pocus, by no stretch of the imagination, is a much darker film than Hocus Pocus 2. Within the first 30 minutes, the Sanderson Sisters are hanged at the gallows for their crimes of literally sucking the life force out of innocent children. The scene of young Emily Binx being lured to their home and killed by the Sanderson Sisters is truly haunting. There is nothing forgivable about their actions. They're witches, and they're evil, cunning even, making the stakes of the first movie exponentially higher. Hocus Pocus 2 seems to use the three witches more as comedic props than true antagonists. They don't remain actual threats for any great period of time. Becca and Izzy seem to weasel their way out of the witches' traps with relative ease after only minor struggles. But the beginning of the sequel is what really lets the audience know how the story will eventually end.
Hocus Pocus 2 rewinds the clock and shows young Winnie, Mary, and Sarah being ostracized from the community of Salem. Winnie is exiled from the village and her sisters refuse to stay without her. All three are embraced by a witch in the woods as one of her own, and their fate as future practitioners of the craft is sealed. These opening scenes work as a ploy to gain audience sympathy for these misunderstood young girls. That way, when Mary and Sarah are magicked seemingly out of existence per the terms of the Magicae Maxima spell, the idea that Winnie would rather be with her sisters over being an all-powerful witch isn't totally off base. But it is out of character for the Winifred Sanderson viewers knew prior. The one who desired immortality more than anything and lorded over her sisters with an iron first. For a moment, it almost seems like Winnie might have one more trick up her sleeve, but no such turn comes.
Ultimately, the Sanderson Sisters appear to have lost their teeth in this latest iteration. For anyone looking to revisit Hocus Pocus just for the sake of seeing Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy ride their broomsticks again -- it will be a film worth watching. But for the viewer looking for the same dark tone mixed with the zaniness of the first, Hocus Pocus 2 might be a tad too saccharine for their taste. Audiences may start to wonder how much longer Disney will choose to hammer home this tired trope instead of just letting the bad guy be the bad guy.
To see if Hocus Pocus 2 is worth the hype, it's now available on Disney+.