VoxVib

Almost three decades after the cult classic premiered, the follow up to Hocus Pocus, Hocus Pocus 2, has finally arrived and is ready to get us into the Halloween spirit. The new film sees three teenage girls (Belissa Escobedo as Izzy, Whitney Peak as Becca, and Lilia Buckingham as Cassie) inadvertently resurrect the three Sanderson sisters into a modern day Salem.

Delivering to exuberant order as the Sanderson sisters, Bette Midler cackles, Sarah Jessica Parker plays the ditz and Kathy Najimy – in a decent running gag – upgrades the vacuum cleaner she used as a broomstick last time around.

Recognising the Sandersons’ importance to the title’s appeal, Jen D’Angelo’s script opens with a 1653-set origins vignette. The young Winifred (Midler), Sarah (Parker) and Mary (Najimy) were just girls who wanted to have fun after all, especially if goats’ blood-flavoured jelly (“Look, it jiggleth!”) was involved, until the pious Reverend Traske (Tony Hale) banished them from Salem.

A gag involving Winifred’s response to a smart home hub is a nice out-of-time touch, before a fond twist frames the film as a love letter to women misbehaving. Midler, Parker and Najimy don’t waste a chance to rise to their comeback occasion. “I bet you’re looking for the stage?” someone asks them. With a conspiratorial twinkle, Midler has the right answer: “Always.”

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