Halloweentown

Release Date: October 17, 1998

Watch Date: October 4 – October 5, 2023

“This comedy-adventure follows Marnie and her younger siblings as they follow their estranged grandmother – a good witch (Debbie Reynolds) – to her home in Halloweentown, where witches, goblins, vampires and the like lead very normal lives. On her 13th birthday, Marnie learns that she comes from a witch family and that she, too, is a witch. When she discovers that an evil force is plotting to take over Halloweentown, she must help her mother and grandmother save the day.”

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    “This movie is charming.”

    He’s not wrong.

    This movie was my childhood. It was the event my brother and I looked forward to every Halloween, the Family Channel’s weekly October airing of all four Halloweentown movies. It was silly, and it was cheesy, but it was our little sibling tradition, and we loved it.

    So while Bob watched this film for the first time and saw some kids poorly acting their way through an extremely contrived, and extremely predictable, plot while surrounded by people wearing terrible masks, I saw the adventure I waited twelve months to experience, and still do, every, single, year.

    I can’t talk bad about this movie. I really can’t. The other ones, sure. And, I completely acknowledge that this film has it’s faults, but to me it’s October, it’s pumpkins, it’s leaves changing color and falling, it’s sneaking candy from the box that’s not meant to be opened until the 31st, it’s planning my costume, it’s all the anticipation of one day of the year that, because of where we lived, never seemed to live up to the television special hype. (That’s Canada for you, it’s rare we have a Halloween that’s not just a little bit damp, and your well thought out costume isn’t hidden by a giant rain jacket.)

    Bob probably could though, so I’ll try to channel him.

    Hi, I’m Bob. I like planes and birds and most flying things. I think Doc has strange taste in books and I am very into both Star Wars and football which feels like it should be an oxymoron but might just be the definition of manliness.

    This movie is cute, and it’s full of Halloween charm. But the plot is predictable, the costumes terrible, the music sounds like it was made on one singular keyboard, and the acting is…well it’s a cast made up of primarily child actors and they’re notoriously not the best, especially on limited budget projects. It’s something sweet you could put on for the holiday, but like the candy you collect itself, it could rot your teeth if consumed in too high a quantity. It’s a good film to watch once a year to placate your wife, but any more than that and you’re probably going to rot a little on the inside.

    As Bob, this is not my ideal of a Halloween movie, since it has no jump scares, no axe wielding murderers, and no Michael. But, as something to cuddle up with your wife and a mug of hot chocolate while she giggles and squeals and turns into a child again at the opening sequence of the film…well that’s kind of it’s own kind of magic, now isn’t?

    But if you don’t have that memory, or someone who does to experience it with, you’re probably not going to like it.

    Oof, that was harder than I thought. I won’t be doing that again anytime soon. But my inner Bob is probably right, so take our experiences, split the difference, and decide for your self if you want to watch this classic Disney Original.