How it builds on the original | Pretty Reel

Hocus Pocus became a cult classic after being a box office bomb in 1993. The original story found Max, Dani and Allison on the ride of their lives after Max mockingly lit the Black Flame candle, not believing not to the legends surrounding the Sanderson Sisters and witches in Salem to be true. Twenty-nine years after the trio successfully tricked and defeated the Sanderson Sisters, Winifred, Sarah and Mary Sanderson are back and ready to wreak havoc on Salem once again. This time, however, it’s thanks to magic shop owner Gilbert that Becca and Izzy accidentally revive the Sanderson sisters.

Hocus Pocus 2 harkens back to its past, referencing tricked-out witches and the events of 1993 without the film relying entirely on its predecessor. The film has a lot of nostalgia, but the story never gets stuck in the original film. Instead, when Hocus Pocus 2 discusses its past, it’s mostly Winifred, Sarah, and Mary’s story as children that is referenced and how it connects to their reverend’s descendant being the current mayor of Salem. Otherwise, Hocus Pocus 2 is filled with the same charm that the original movie delivered while modernizing the story and its new central characters.

A new generation of witches

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In Hocus Pocus, the trio of young heroes are deadly. One way to highlight the dangers of the film is that the Sanderson sisters are the only witches, and as villains there are no heroes to match them. Although Max, Dani, and Allison want to fight Winifred, Sarah, and Mary, they are completely unprepared to do so, and their successes rely on wits and cunning rather than magic. In Hocus Pocus 2, Becca is an aspiring witch, who just turned sixteen. Her powers are new, and it takes almost the entire movie for Becca to realize she has them.

But, Becca having magic gives her, Izzy and Cassie more chances to fight against the Sanderson sisters. It also helps that Becca and Izzy have been interested in witchcraft for years, have supplies, and know ways to potentially stop using dark magic, like salt. Becca being a witch and later sharing her powers with Izzy and Cassie shows that a new Coven has been born with the trio taking Book with them.

References to the past

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There are numerous references to the resurrection of the Sanderson Sisters in 1993, from clips from the original Hocus Pocus film to explain their backstory to the revelation that Gilbert had witnessed Max, Dani and Allison’s confrontation with the trio in the graveyard. . The Sanderson sisters even briefly believe that Gilbert’s pet cat, Cobweb, is Thackery Binx. The Sanderson Sisters origin story even gives a backstory to Billy Butcherson, the dead man awakened in the graveyard in 1993. At one point, Winifred flies out to a window observing a couple watching a scene from the previous film. Max, Dani, and Allison aren’t relevant in Hocus Pocus 2, but their effect on the Sanderson Sisters has endured.

Modernize the story

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The world has changed since 1993, which can be seen in the way the city looks and the way people dress and talk. At the start of the film, Becca casually discusses the fear of patriarchy in the face of aging women and how that played a part in the legend that a witch’s powers manifest on her sixteenth birthday. The Sanderson sisters are shocked by the automatic doors at Walgreens. Rather than being seen as evil, the citizens of Salem are intrigued and excited by witchcraft, with people even dressing up as Winifred, Sarah, and Mary in Halloween costumes.

Rather than having a love interest as its primary focus, Hocus Pocus 2 takes a sibling approach to the story. Becca and Izzy’s friendship, and their struggles to reunite with their old friend Cassie, hinges on conflict and is part of the film’s core rather than how defeating the Sanderson sisters helps bring out Max and Allison’s romantic potential. .

Development for the Sanderson sisters

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Whichever iteration it happens in, the Sanderson sisters are power-hungry, evil witches. But, whereas Hocus Pocus treated them as fun, song-loving villains who wanted to kill children, Hocus Pocus 2 keeps that story alive but adds an extra layer of depth. Rather than just being evil for the sake of evil, Hocus Pocus 2 explores the sibling dynamic between Winifred, Sarah, and Mary by stepping back in time and showing glimpses of their past to a time before they encountered magic. . In doing so, he humanizes them more than they had been. There was a time when the Sanderson sisters were just children and almost separated forever.

As an adult, Hocus Pocus 2 recalls the trauma of this story, which leads to the trio’s central goal of using Mayor Traske as an enemy, given that he is a direct descendant of the Reverend who once attempted to banish Winifred. But, it takes a gruesome plot twist for Winifred to admit how much her sisters mean to her. Sarah and Mary’s disappearance makes Winifred realize that Ultimate Power means nothing without them. Such awareness gives the Sanderson Sisters more character development and a sense of emotional closure.