As Halloween approaches, many people prepare their Halloween costumes, buy candy to pass out for trick or treaters, and watch Halloween movies. There are many Halloween movies to watch, and Halloweentown is one of the many. Halloweentown has a total of four movies, and I watched them all to rank them. My personal ranking from best to worst is “Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s revenge,” “Halloweentown,” “Halloweentown High,” and “Return to Halloweentown.”
The first movie in the series, “Halloweentown” is my second favorite. The synopsis of the movie is that a young girl named Marnie follows her grandma home to find out she lives in Halloweentown. There she discovers she comes from a family of witches. She finds out that on her 13th birthday, she too is a witch. She and her family must fight against the evil that is trying to take over the world.
I believe the movie is pretty good, considering that it came out in 1998. You can see the green screen, and the effects are okay, but since the movie is older, it’s understandable. I think the plot is pretty good, but is a little predictable. It has some comedy, and there are some moments of tension. My favorite character from this movie is Marnie’s little sister, Sophie. I think this movie could stand alone, and it isn’t necessary to watch the following movies.
Joseph Sanchez, a junior at ERHS, shared his opinion on “Halloweentown.
“I like the movie because I love Halloween movies,” Sanchez said. “I don’t remember the movie a lot because it’s been awhile since I’ve watched it, but I recommend it if you like less spooky Halloween movies.”
Jordin Lowe, a freshman at ERHS, also shared her opinion on the movie
“The movie has really good plot elements,” Lowe expressed. “I like the whole idea of going to a different town full of supernatural. My favorite character from the movie is the grandma because she teaches her grand kids magic and spells.”
The second movie, “Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s revenge,” is my favorite. The synopsis of the movie is Marnie and her family have to stop Kalabar’s son, Kal from stealing Grandma Aggie’s spellbook. Kal uses the book to cast a spell on Halloweentown, turning it into a gray and lifeless place and the people there into humans. He also will cast a spell on humans, turning them into monsters. The family has to find a way to reverse these spells and restore magic in both places.
I liked this movie better than the first one because of the villain and also how the problem affects both the mortal world and Halloweentown. Although I prefer the villain in the first movie, the rest of the new characters that are introduced make up for it. Overall, I liked the plot more than any of the other movies, and I really like how in this movie, Marnie learns more spells and understands her powers more.
The third movie, “Halloweentown High,” is my third favorite. The synopsis is Marnie organizes an exchange program between the mortal world and Halloweentown. Her and her family must protect the exchange students from the villains, the Knights of the Iron Dagger, who want to stop the mortal world and Halloweentown from coexisting.
By the time you reach the third movie, you start to understand that the plot is in some form that there is a villain and all of the Cromwells have to defeat the villain. It’s repetitive, but I liked seeing new characters that are from both Halloweentown and the mortal world. Also, I really like the villain in this movie and learning about the Knights of the Iron Dagger. I recommend this movie, but like I said previously, the plot has the same form for all the movies.
Lastly, the fourth movie, “Return to Halloweentown” is the worst. The synopsis is Marnie and her brother Dylan start college at Witch University in Halloweentown, and find out there are dark forces called the Dominion and the Sinister Sisters who want to control the town’s magic. Marnie learns she’s the key to the plot and must use her powers to stop it and save the town.
Personally, this movie just wasn’t as good as the rest. I didn’t find the acting, especially from Marnie’s actor, that good. In this movie, Marnie’s actor is different from the previous movies. The movie also just completely brushes off the romance that happened especially in the third movie. Most of the side characters from the previous movies barely, if at all, appear in this movie. What I did like about it is that the effects are better than the other movies, although it’s not a huge improvement. Also, it gives us more information about Halloweentown, and also the Cromwell family. Overall, I don’t recommend the movie, and if I were to re-watch all the Halloweentown movies, I wouldn’t watch this one.
