Halloweentown High Retro Review
Marnie bets the Piper family magic in the 2004 Disney Channel Original Movie, “Halloweentown High.” The third film in the “Halloweentown” series focuses on Marnie’s and her grandmother’s efforts to blend the mortal world with the Halloweentown world as students from Halloweentown start attending Marnie’s high school. But, an extremist group known as the Knights of the Iron Dagger, is doing everything it can to stop the blending and some members of the Halloweentown High Council are doing all they can to stop it as well.
This is the my least favorite of the three “Halloweentown” films I’ve reviewed so far. The first one is a fun kids movie that draws the attention and has a nice nostalgic feel to it when re-watched as an adult. The second continues the storyline from the first in an intriguing, if not predictable way. It’s a solid sequel, but not as good as the first. The third one really feels like they are trying to draw as much from this franchise as possible. It’s a new story, but not necessarily a good one. If they had stopped at two, it would’ve been better. I’m already dreading the fourth film.
The one thing this film series has done is give me a new appreciation for the late, great Debbie Reynolds. For a long time, I only knew her as Princess Leia’s mother. I’ve seen her in other films and she always does an amazing job. But this series of films has made me greatly appreciate what she gave to my generation. She presented a loving grandmotherly character for fans of this Disney Channel Original Movie series. I hope the generations after me get a character to love like Aggie Cromwell and actress to adore like Debbie Reynolds.
I won’t be revisiting this “Halloweentown” film like I do the first or second one. Everyone involved puts in great effort to continue the franchise, but it just falls flat for me. If you enjoyed this one, I hope you continue to enjoy it. This wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t for me.
Ranking: 2 stars
What did you think of “Halloweentown High?”