[HORROR MOVIE CORNER] Hocus Pocus (1993)

Hello horror movie fans! Welcome to the all-new "Horror Movie Corner," where I talk about the horror movies that I have seen over the years!  So, this week's horror movie that I will be reviewing is Disney's cult Halloween classic "Hocus Pocus!"

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Title: Hocus Pocus

Starring:  Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Thora Birch, Omri Katz

Genre:  Comedy / Horror / Adventure

Company:   Disney

Directed by: Kenny Ortega

Year: 1993

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: Rated PG - For Some Scary Sequences, and for Language.

Buy on:   Blu-Ray.com  //  Amazon  //  Best Buy

This movie has some scary sequences that involves children being put into danger and some light language.  

The movie starts off with a young boy named Thackery Binx who finds out that his little sister Emily is missing and he goes out to search for her.  It was then that he finds out that the Sanderson Sisters, three sisters who are witches, had kidnapped her and Thackery tries to save Emily.  But unfortunately, the Sanderson Sisters ended up sucking out Emily's soul in order to make themselves younger and Thackery is too late to save her.  The Sanderson Sisters than put a curse on Thackery that turns him into a black cat for all eternity.  But then, the villagers caught up with the Sanderson Sisters and ended up hanging them.  But not before Winifred, the head witch, places a curse that they will be resurrected once a "virgin" lights the candle on Halloween.  The movie then fast forwards to the year 1993 and we are introduced to Max and his little sister Dani.  Max is having a horrible time in his new home in Salem, while Dani is adjusting to Salem just fine.  Then on Halloween night, Max decided to light the candle that would resurrect the Sanderson Sisters, despite both Dani and Allison telling him not to.  The Sanderson Sisters are then resurrected and they decided to continue their plan of sucking out the souls out of the children of Salem to make themselves younger.  Now, Dani, Max, Allison and now Binx, who is a black cat at this point, have to try to stop the Sandereson Sisters before it's too late!

Wow!  I'm actually surprised that I enjoyed this movie as much as I did!  When I first heard about this movie, I was a bit intrigued about what this movie was all about.  So, when I finally watched this movie, I was completely hooked!  I liked the fact that the movie tackled the subject of sibling relationships and how important it is to care about your siblings, no matter how annoying they can be.  This was best shown between the Sanderson Sisters, Thackery and his little sister Emily and Max and his little sister Dani.  The Sanderson Sisters are like the negative side of the sibling relationship as Winifred abuses her younger sisters Mary and Sarah and wouldn't think of protecting them.  Thackery and Emily are on the more positive side of the sibling relationship as Thackery truly cares about his sister Emily, although he failed to save her.  And then we have Max and Dani who are in the middle as they argue with each other a lot, but they would do anything to protect each other.  I also loved the way that the movie had a nice balance between horror and comedy as I laughed out loud during the Sanderson Sisters' crazy antics and yet, I was a bit scared for the children being threatened with death throughout this film.  Especially during the scene where Emily, a little girl , ends up dying at the beginning of the movie.  I especially loved the actors' performances in this film, with the Sanderson Sisters being the best part of the film.  Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy did a fantastic job at portraying the Sanderson Sisters as they were so hilarious and entertaining to watch! I also enjoyed Thora Birch's performance as Dani as she made Dani quite snarky yet energetic at the same time.

The only issues that I had with this film was that I felt that the protagonists were a bit too flat and I wished that they had explained the backstories of some of the characters.  Even though Max and Allison were interesting characters, they weren't as entertaining as the Sanderson Sisters and the only protagonists that were pretty entertaining were Dani and Binx the Cat.  Also, I would like to know how the Sanderson Sisters became witches in the first place (although it was implied that the Devil gave them their powers).

Overall, "Hocus Pocus" is a fantastic film that both children and adults will enjoy!  It balances horror and humor very well and it has some of the best performances from Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy!

[MOVIE REVIEW] The Thief and the Cobbler (Miramax Version) (1993)

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Title: The Thief and the Cobbler

Starring:  Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Beals, Jonathan Winters, Vincent Price

Genre: Fantasy / Family / Romance / Adventure

Company:   Miramax

Directed by: Richard Williams

Year: 1993

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: Rated G

Buy on:  Amazon

The movie starts off with a young and poor cobbler named Tack, who was living a peaceful life until he met up with a thief and it was then that his life changed forever.  When Tack accidentally interrupts a parade in honor of Zigzag the Vizier, Zigzag then puts Tack into jail and all would have been lost for Tack if Princess Yum Yum had not fallen in love with the cobbler.  To make matters worse, the thief ends up stealing the three golden balls that were protecting the kingdom from One-Eye's army and Tack and the Princess ended up going on a journey to retrieve the balls before it's too late!

I will admit that when I first heard about this movie, I wasn't that interested in it because I was a little freaked out by the character designs.  But, after watching this movie, I ended up enjoying it a lot more because of the creativity being put into this film!  Now, I know a lot of people had complained about this movie being too similar to Disney's Aladdin, but in all honesty, the idea of this movie actually surfaced WAY before Disney's Aladdin came along (it was established in the 1960s actually)!  The sad story behind it though was that the film didn't get released until the 1990s and by then, there were a lot of changes to the movie that differed heavily from the original vision (luckily, there's a recobbled version of this film out there, that I will hopefully see soon)!  The voice acting was very well done in this version of the original script, especially with Jonathan Winters providing inner quips for the thief himself and I also loved the character designs, as they were quite bizarre yet creative to look at!  Probably, one of my most favorite scenes in the movie was the famous chase scene between the thief and Tack as it shows just how bizarre this film can get at times!

My biggest issue with this version of the movie was that there seems to be too much narration and inner monologues with the characters in places that they don't really need to talk and that distracted me from the movie at certain points.

Overall, "The Thief and the Cobbler (Miramax Version)" is a treat to check out if you are looking for a more fun loving version of Richard Williams' original classic!

[MOVIE REVIEW] Return to Oz (1985)

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Title: Return to Oz

Starring:  Fairuza Balk , Nicol Williamson and Jean Marsh

Genre: Fantasy / Horror / Alternate World / Friendship

Company:  Walt Disney Company

Directedby: Walter Murch

Year: 1985

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: Rated PG

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Best Buy  //  Blu-Ray.com

 Dorothy Gale had just come back from the Land of Oz, but when she tried to tell her aunt and uncle about her adventures in Oz, they thought that Dorothy had gone crazy, so they decided to take her to a doctor that will give her treatment for her insanity.  The treatment turns out to be shock therapy and Dorothy, with a little help from a mysterious girl, escapes from the mental hospital and ended up in the land of Oz once again.  But, once Dorothy arrives in Oz, she discovers that the Land of Oz has been taken over by the Nome King and that the Scarecrow, who was the King of Oz, has been kidnapped by the Nome King.  So, Dorothy along with some help from a pumpkin man named Jack Pumpkinhead, a mechanical robot named Tik-Tok, her hen Billina and a half moose half sofa creature named the Gump try to journey to the Nome King's kingdom to rescue the Scarecrow, while encountering nightmarish creatures such as Princess Mombi and the Wheelers along the way.

Now I have a confession to make.  Whenever I talked to people who have seen "Return to Oz" when they were little, many people were terrified of this movie when they were kids.  Me however, I wasn't that scared of the movie when I was little and I actually found it to be pretty interesting and I still find it pretty interesting to this very day!  This movie has actually turned my expectations on its head as it is a much darker sequel to "The Wizard of Oz" that has caused some controversy among "Oz" fans and yet, it was pulled off extremely well to make it stand out from "The Wizard of Oz." The surprising thing about all this is that this was the most faithful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's "Oz" books in terms of tone, even though "The Wizard of Oz" is hailed as one of the greatest movies of all time.  What I really loved about this movie was the fact that it was darker and edgier than "The Wizard of Oz" and the villains in this movie seem genuinely threatening and are actually out to harm Dorothy and her friends.  Probably my favorite scenes in this movie were any scenes with the Nome King as he seems to be friendly towards Dorothy and her friends, but you can tell that he has some evil intentions up his sleeves and he actually means to trick Dorothy into a sense of security in order to manipulate her throughout her adventures.  I loved the new friends that Dorothy makes along the way, especially Tik-Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead as they were truly original and fun to see on screen.

Parents should know that this movie can be pretty terrifying for small children.  There are many scenes where Dorothy and her friends are in constant peril and are in danger of being killed by the vllains.  Also, there are some genuinely scary scenes such as the scene where Dorothy accidentally wakes up a headless Princess Mombi, who tries to capture Dorothy and the scenes with the Wheelers.  Parents might want to screen this movie first before showing it to their children.  Also, the reason why I took off half a point from the rating was because the movie can get pretty confusing at times and it was hard for me to follow what exactly happened in the plot at times.

Overall, "Return to Oz" is a truly enjoyable film that "Oz" fans would enjoy extremely well!  However, this movie can get pretty scary at times, so watch this film with extreme caution.

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