This Disney tv movie series was originally based on a children’s book. The first film is cute and fun and has some light humor and light action. The acting isn’t the greatest, but it’s all meant as light-hearted fun, and there are definitely some bright spots. Debbie Reynolds was her usual sweet self, and her daughter and granddaughter weren’t half-bad, either. There are a few plotholes, but it’s not really meant to be intelligent fare, just family-friendly Halloween fun. If you can’t stand kids show acting and cheap practical effects, this one isn’t for you, but it does have an interesting plotline.
The first sequel pits our witches against the son of the villain from the first film. There’s a different tone from the original, and the town itself looks different. Most of the characters don’t have much to do, but there is some fun time-travel shenanigans. Basically, it’s more light Halloween fun and a teensy bit of character development. There’s also a change made to the way between-world magic works, and that’s interesting.
The third movie in the series doesn’t have anything to do with the town itself at all. The tone is entirely different, and there’s a whole crop of new characters to keep you busy. It’s still cute and fun, but the environment is more normal, and so are the people. It’s a completely different story from the first one and has less to do with Halloween than either of the first two films, but it does have a nice ending.
There’s one more movie in this franchise, but I haven’t seen it. The main character was recast, and the whole thing looked like a rip-off of Harry Potter, including a completely new tone, environment, and hardly any of the original characters. I skipped it.
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