Hocus Pocus Movie Review Pdf 4c211y

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Mollie Medine Elizabeth Kent English 1020 R Movie Review 27 April 2016 Hocus Pocus The movie Hocus Pocus, directed by Kenny Ortega, was released in 1993 by Walt Disney Pictures. This comic film stars many famous actresses, like Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. These three woman take on the roles as the risen Sanderson sisters who have been deceased for 300 years. They were awoken by the brother-sister duo, Max and Danni, and their friend Allison. While viewing Hocus Pocus, I noticed the inaccurate representation the film made on Wicca. It provided false illustration of appearances and displayed the characters proclaiming false actions. Though this particular movie is great for entertainment, it does not distribute factual information about witches or witchcraft in any time period. The movie starts with a young boy, Thackery, who is frantically looking for his younger sister, Emily. He finds her inside the Sanderson sisters home in the woods, where they are planning to take her life for their own. When Thackery tries to stop them, they viciously turn him into a black cat with eternal life. The town of Salem did not arrive in time to save the two children, so the punishment for the Sanderson’s was to be hanged. But just before they kicked the barrels from under the witches’ feet, Winifred, the head sister witch, cast a spell that would bring them back to life hundreds of years later.



Medine 14 Skipping 300 years to Halloween night in 1993, Max is taking his sister out for trick-o-

treating. When they meet Max’s love interest, Allison, they decide to go check out the old Sanderson’s house. While the three kids were snooping around the dusty, old, abandoned home, Max lights the black flame candle that causes the sisters to return again. Throughout the night, it becomes a game of back and fourth to keep the book and little Danni out of the witches’ hands. In the film, the director portrays the three main characters as powerful, evil witches thirsty for little children’s lives. Mr. Ortega also illustrates each women containing a specific “power.” Winifred can cast electricity from her hands to move and weaken objects, Sarah has a beautiful singing voice that puts children in a trance and leaves them vulnerable to the sisters’ commands, and Mary can smell children from a decent distance away and identify their gender and age. Another part of the movie that displays false information about the Salem witches is the trick-o-treating scene. They believe that a man dressed as the devil is their master. This implicates that witches worship the devil or do the devils work. Lastly, when the three conjure up a potion and cast spells, it shows them tampering with black magic. Black magic is considered as evil or harmful to its victims. Although, each of these elements are great for providing the entertainment factor to the movie, they are not the least bit accurate in the factual category. Witches practice the religion of Wicca which is centered around Mother Nature and the Gods and Goddesses of the universe. Witches also do not harness magic powers; they use the energy from the earth to help those, who do not practice Wicca, with struggles they are facing (Crum). Some like to associate this with black magic, which leads to doing the devils work. Devil worship is a huge rumor surrounding witchcraft. Many people automatically associate those who practice Wicca with the devil (Obringer). This is a very untrue belief. Witches who practice Wicca, believe in many God’s and Goddesses found within nature and the universe to do



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good for the community. They try to treat others the way they would want to be treated, just like any other person would (Crum). We have viewed witches in the wrong light for so many years, and they have paid the price for that. Overall, I believe that this movie is great for entertaining viewers, but the factual information within the film is very minimal. It had a good amount of comic relief and just the right amount of spooks throughout the duration of the film which made it a joy to watch, but it failed to accurately inform its’ viewers on the real lives and beliefs of witches. A suggestion I have for avoiding these types of mistakes is to ensure that directors and writers are doing good research before they start to form a tale into a motion picture. There are still ways to make the facts enjoyable enough for viewers to want to watch the film besides portraying those in incorrect manners.