When I went looking for a mild Halloween movie to watch in October, my Netflix browsing led me to Halloweentown / Halloweentown II,
a Disney double feature. Because of the seasonal demand, it didn’t
reach me until well after Halloween, but it made a fun little P.S. on
the holiday for me. While the movie is definitely geared toward the
tween crowd, it is fairly entertaining.
Both movies share the
same primary cast. Kimberly J. Brown stars as Marnie, a girl who, in the
first movie, is in the throes of adolescent angst, brought on by the
fact that her mother Gwen (Judith Hoag) will not allow her to
participate in Halloween activities. It turns out that this is because
her widowed mother comes from a long line of witches and doesn’t want
Marnie or her siblings, nerdy Dylan (Joey Zimmerman) and innocent Sophie
(Emily Roeske), to know about their family heritage.
Debbie
Reynolds is the strongest member of the cast as Gwen’s eccentric mother
Aggie, who is distressed that her grandchildren may miss their
opportunity to immerse themselves in the world that is their birthright.
She comes across as zany but classy and is the only actor who doesn’t
seem really over-the-top. Well, in the first movie, Roeske is so little
that she comes across naturally, but by the second movie her performance
is as exaggerated as Brown’s, who seems to spend most of her time on
screen smirking or grimacing.
In the first movie, Marnie and
her siblings stow away on the magical flying bus that serves as the
transport between their world and the enchanted realm their grandmother
inhabits. Once there, they must undo a curse that is immobilizing
Halloweentown’s residents, most of whom look like exaggerated versions
of Halloween costumes. The town is filled with goblins and pumpkin-head
and skeletons, but none of them look truly threatening, and the town
itself has a very appealing autumnal feel to it.
The second
movie takes place a year later and treads similar territory, with the
son of the first antagonist returning to avenge his thwarted father.
Once again, there is a tug-of-war between Gwen and her mother concerning
the upbringing of the children. The sequel came out three years later,
and Sophie and Dylan seem to have aged much more than a year, but Brown
is old enough that the difference doesn’t seem too dramatic.
Luke (Phillip Van Dyke), a potential love interest for Marnie, returns,
and while I want to like the kid, Van Dyke’s performance is so flat I
half-forget he’s there. Then again, blandness is a curse affecting
Halloweentown in the sequel. The town is turning gray, and its residents
are losing their monstrous qualities and their zest for life. Still,
Luke seems bland even when he isn’t supposed to be.
However, I
love Blu Mankuma in the role of Gort, an ornery pack rat who delights
in collecting as much rubbish as he possibly can and keeping it in as
untidy a manner as possible. In his normal state, he is snarly and
anti-social, while under the curse he is placid and glassy-eyed, with a
vague smile on his face and a pleasure in sock-matching that knows no
bounds. I actually find this boring version of him even funnier, but in
both cases, he entertained me more than any other character in the
movie.
These are short movies, and they are so closely related
to each other that it makes sense for them to be packaged together. As
with most of the TV movies Disney has produced in the past decade or so,
I think core audience is fairly limited; most folks over the age of 14
or so will probably find them a bit too goofy to really get into. Still,
Halloweentown is very visually creative, and the emphasis on family
togetherness is certainly worthwhile, so those looking for a
family-friendly flick for late October could do worse than this double
feature.
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