The three young witches, dim Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown), obnoxious and foolish Dylan (Joseph Zimmerman), and the only character in the film that shouldn’t be squashed by Godzilla’s twin, Sophie (Emily Roeske), live with their delusional mother (Judith Hoag) and vacuous Grandmother (Debbie Reynolds). When a “hip” boy (Daniel Kountz) says hello, Marnie calmly gives away family secrets and generally acts in ways only possible in a badly scripted made-for-TV movie. Working out that something isn’t right (I guess the seventy-five clues were just enough), Marnie and Grandma head to the mystical Halloweentown, where they find that all the magical creatures have been turned into dull humans. Can Marnie and Grandma save Halloweentown before the midnight deadline? Can the writers get away with ripping off a considerably better Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode? Should you care? Well, I can answer the last question.
The Cromwell witches are back, to insult the intelligence of children and adults everywhere. I guess I’m not supposed to hate these people. That’s unfortunate, because that’s the one emotion their return successfully conjures. Everyone who thinks that being unimaginative is wonderful, and being either a magical creature in a wondrous land, or simply being someone who has fun, is a terrible fate, will be able to empathize with the nearly insane mother and son. Of course, anyone like that won’t be watching a fantasy movie. To empathize with Marnie, you just have to be an idiot.
Like it’s predecessor, Halloweentown, this is a family film (read: For Kid’s Only). Apparently the good folks at Disney (who should know better) took that to mean that low quality was OK because children can’t tell the difference. Acting, directing, sets, and particularly the script are substandard. Kimberly J. Brown is a slightly better actress than in the first, but minor improvement in one area isn’t going to make watching this tolerable. Since the story places Halloweentown under a spell, your kids won’t even get the thrill of seeing a magical city filled with strange creatures. “Thrill” isn’t a word anyone will be using to discuss Halloweentown II.
Fans of The Highlander television series have an opportunity to see Peter Wingfield (Methos) in a bit part playing a frog who’s enchanted to appear as a human. I can’t imagine that the experience will make watching him play an immortal more fulfilling.