Hocus pocus is a timeless classic. The perfect Halloween movie, a combination of minor scares, great laughs, and some killer costumes. The most iconic three witches in all of Salem. I rewatch this multiple times every Halloween season, and it only gets better. A perfectly quotable masterpiece. Midler, Parker, and Najimy play their roles amazingly as three 17th century witches catapulted into the modern age. Some of the kids acting is marginal, but with so much going on you hardly notice. After all, it's just a bunch of hocus pocus.

I just saw this film on ABC--an American network owned by Disney. Well, after doing this, I DON'T recommend you do this yourself! Instead, rent the movie, as ABC inserted so many commercials that it was driving my poor daughter mad as we watched. They chopped out portions of the movie so they could insert more commercials! Because of this, important parts of the film were missing--such as what happened to the parents who were STILL dancing as well as what happened to the bullies. On the other hand, the film inexplicably has a few obscenities (odd for a kids movie) and ABC sanitized them--a plus for parent concerned about their kids hearing this sort of stuff. As for me, I'd rather hear a few obscenities and actually get the whole film. Curse you Disney!

While I did not love this film, I watched both my daughters (the one who hated the ads plus my other one) and they were absolutely fixated on it. Throughout, they laughed and had a wonderful time. And, given that I did not grow up watching this film (like my kids did),I enjoyed it well enough. Overall, a clever story with enough to interest kids and parents alike. As for me, I loved the scene where the witches met Satan--quite clever.

Hocus Pocus is a decent movie. I agree that it is one of the lesser live-action Disney efforts, but it is a watchable and I think under-appreciated Halloween movie. I honestly thought My Favourite Martian was worse, despite it having the wonderful Christopher Lloyd in it. Back to Hocus Pocus, it does have its flaws, the script has its weak spots, the direction is at times lifeless and Omri Katz never quite convinces in the lead. On a positive note, everything else ranges from decent to very good. Bette Midler steals the show, while having the most screen time, she is evidently relishing her role. Her co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy equally delight, and all three women are suitably scary and hammy. The music is very nice, I loved the catchy Put a Spell on You and I thought the beginning of the movie was superb. The camera work was good, and the special effects were decent. What I loved most though was the original storyline, there are some funny and scary moments. Kids will definitely love it, adults not so much, though my dad did like it. Overall, patchy but enjoyable. 7/10 Bethany Cox