With a portal now permanently open between Halloweentown and Earth, Marnie “Cromwell” Piper (Kimberly J. Brown), with the help of her mother (Judith Hoag) and grandmother (Debbie Reynolds), hosts a group of monster exchange students to a human high school. However, the students are put in danger by unknown individuals who want to steal the Cromwell’s magic and seal the portal.
The third visit to the universe of Halloweentown (following Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge) is less irritating than its predecessors, but also less like a movie. What you’ve got here is an episode of a TV series. It’s written like it, acted like it, and shot like it. And I’m not talking about a high concept TV series, nor a complicated one. This isn’t CSI with weird though compelling camera tricks. No, we’re talking a run-of-the-mill sitcom made for the lowest common denominator. Since a majority of sitcoms have been a little touch of Hell here on Earth (and not in a cool, goth way), you know the level of this production.
The same actors are back portraying the same characters (though younger sister Sophie is hard to find). If you liked them in the previous films (then what’s wrong with you?), it’s more of the same. If you didn’t like them…well, as I said, it’s more of the same. And if you didn’t watch the first two films, what are you doing starting with this one? None of the actors are memorable, with the exception of Debbie Reynolds, and this is not her finest hour.
No one put much effort into this outing, so any grand statements I might feel compelled to make about it ripping off Harry Potter are too strong. Theft takes some work. This flick just is, sitting there on the screen, passing by. After an hour and a half, its over, and I can’t imagine that anyone in your household will care that it was ever on.
After watching three Halloweentown movies in three days, I just feel tired. Children deserve better than this, and God knows, so do film critics.