IT'S WITCHCRAFT

Disney's Hocus Pocus is a cult favourite. How does the sequel stack up?

The only thing millennials have been waiting longer for than affordable housing is a Hocus Pocus sequel. The 1993 Halloween-themed Disney movie rankled critics and charmed audiences, resulting in its elevation to cult-movie status in the three decades since its debut. Now its followup, Hocus Pocus 2, has finally arrived with a straight-to-VHS — er, pardon — exclusive Disney+ streaming première.

The original film follows a trio of kids who work together to defeat the wickedly funny Sanderson sisters (played by Kathy Najimy, Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker), after accidentally bringing them back from the dead. The witches are on a time-sensitive quest for immortality, an adventure that entails a virgin, the souls of children and a few musical numbers, of course.

The comedy was lambasted by critics, but that did nothing to stop the intense love that children developed for the slightly scary movie. Though it didn't do particularly well in theatres or with home sales, it found a second life on television: When Disney started to air the film on its own channel, and later on ABC Family, “a generation of millennials ... suddenly began associating Hocus Pocus with Halloween, viewing it with the same reverence '70s and '80s kids had for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and the Thriller video,” according to Vulture's Josef Adalian.

Midler, Najimy and Parker reprise their roles as Winifred, Mary and Sarah Sanderson in Hocus Pocus 2, alongside Doug Jones (who you may remember as the fish person from The Shape of Water or the fish person from Hellboy), who returns as friendly zombie Billy Butcherson.

So how does the new outing stack up to the original? Here's how the two do — and do not — compare.

The youths: Hocus Pocus centres on new kid Max (Omri Katz), his much cooler younger sister Dani (Thora Birch), his crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw) and a cursed boy-turned-cat named Thackery Binx (Sean Murray). While the audience fell in love with them nearly 30 years ago — in part because of Max's very floppy hair — none of those characters are in the sequel.

Director Anne Fletcher told Entertainment Weekly that she tried to fit in the original cast, but their appearances didn't work with the story. “People would say, `They could be in the background!' and I'm like, really? You're going to put the leads of the first movie in the background and be satisfied? You're not going to be satisfied, you're going to be angry,” she explained.

The new generation of Salem youths are a group of teen girls: Becca (Whitney Peak), Cassie (Lilia Buckingham) and Izzy (Belissa Escobedo). These childhood friends don't need much convincing that their hometown is haunted, and are also without the constant guidance of a talking cat. And though they have less floppy hair than Max, they also have significantly better witch-foiling plans.

The witches: Bad witches are out; good witches are in. Whether it be because of the more universal acceptance that the historic concept of evil women was based in sexism, or because a bunch of Disney's target audience is on #WitchTok, the “wicked” are given a new image in Hocus Pocus 2. As naive Gilbert (played by Veep's Sam Richardson) says about the Sanderson sisters in this go-round: “They were ahead of their time, they were misunderstood.” And while it's fair to say that good witchery may still not be in the cards for that particular family clan, it is found in a new generation.

Becca, Cassie and Izzy have been trying their hands at magic for years. The group is fractured at the start of the film because of a bad high school boyfriend, but their mini-coven provides the necessary positive rebrand to avoid a witch PR crisis.

The music: The original film has the iconic cover of Jay Hawkins's I Put a Spell on You, as performed by Midler, Najimy and Parker. The sequel changes tunes, going with an upbeat performance by the trio of Blondie's One Way Or Another, complete with an entranced flash mob. While I Put a Spell on You is a fan favourite, the super-creepy Come Little Children, sung by Parker's Sarah to bewitch children for eating, is also a memorable performance.

The sisterhood: Did Winifred like her sisters in Hocus Pocus? It would be fair to assume no: Her focus is only on revenge, her youth and snappy quips. At one point she even asks, “Why was I cursed with such idiot sisters?”

But Hocus Pocus 2 provides more sisterly affection and less mockery. Audiences are given a glimpse into the Sandersons' childhood and how Winifred worked to keep them together.

The virgins: Will you still have to explain to your child what a virgin is after watching the new movie? Yes, sorry.

To achieve their immortality in the original Hocus Pocus, the Sanderson sisters require a virgin to light a candle. Consequently, the film puts an aggressive emphasis on ribbing Max for his ability to do so. While the sequel sweeps the issue a little more under the rug, the birds and the bees conversation still haunts Salem, and even pokes fun at the uncomfortable “what's a virgin?” conversation many families were forced into after the first movie.