Richard Rust

I want to start off with some of the good. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy once again carry the movie with their amazing performances. I thought the child actors portraying the witches were also pretty good for the short segment they had in the movie. A lot of the jokes were definitely funny. Now the bad. My biggest grievance is with the teenagers. I don't think the actors themselves were bad, but the writing for them was terrible. It's just your typical sterile corporate style character writing with the lame quips that are standard for Disney movies (thinking Marvel in particular here). They're also unrelatable and not charming whatsoever. The best thing about their characters is that the movie wasn't centered around them like the first movie was; it's centered on the Sanderson sisters, and that's what saved it. The constant product placement was annoying. I also don't like the tone of the movie. Sure, a lot of the jokes landed, but it was focused way more on the comedy than the Halloween aspect. They lightened it a lot and did a huge disservice to it. The first movie was good because it struck a great balance between humor and darker themes. It felt like a proper Halloween kid's movie. Once again, by trying to appeal to everyone, they appeal to noone.

I loved the movie. Sure it seemed bad and sappy, but it just reminded me of an early 2000s rom com and I thought it was wonderful. A real blast to the past.