Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: The Cromwell family contends with a new foe bent on turning the people of Halloweentown into humans and humans into monsters.
Review: In a lot of ways this film is significantly better than the first "Halloweentown." The villain is more interesting and his plan is kind of cool, the story is straightforward and concise, and they dialed back on Marnie's bitch level. Unfortunately, they ruin the story with time travel and all manner of plot holes that could have easily been avoided. Furthermore, the characters do a lot of sitting around in order to pad the film out. Come on, this is already a made for TV movie--aren't the commercials enough bullshitting? Also, they were ripping off Harry Potter big time and not hiding it at all!
The premise is that a few years have passed since the events of part one, and the Cromwell family has mostly embraced their magical abilities; still not sure why the brother doesn't like having powers but okay. When having a Halloween party, Marnie is seduced by a guy named Kal who uses this opportunity to steal a spell book from Aggie; and by seduced I mean what Disney would consider seduction. Shortly thereafter, Aggie realizes some force is disrupting her powers, and she and Marnie go to Halloweentown to figure out what's wrong. In Halloweentown, the creatures are turning into, what they consider, a caricature of humans as they're under a powerful spell. It is revealed that the spell was cast by this guy Kal who is actually the son of Kalabar. I do like this addition, because Kal is more of a by the numbers villain than Kalabar was, but his absence from part one doesn't make much sense considering Kalabar was supposedly obsessed with Marnie's mom.
Aggie supposedly has a second spell book, but it is in this moronic place where lost items go. Aggie loses her powers which leaves Marnie stuck with only the help of that dumbass, Luke, from the first movie. This is when they begin the time traveling shit in an effort to get the spell book. Look, I'm not even going to try to explain the numerous paradoxes, plot holes, continuity errors, and contrivances that arise with each subsequent time jump Marnie performs, because I would be here all day. Suffice it to say, the story was written in a way that could never possibly make sense. Blah blah blah, Marnie comes to realize Kal actually has both spell books anyway so the only way to win is to defeat the spell itself. Conveniently enough, repeating the spell backward reverses it, and it is a simple phrase: apart and trapa. So anytime the characters say "apart" it should technically cast this spell, right?
Now that they know how to save the day, Marnie and Aggie become trapped in Halloweentown since the present was still moving forward...somehow. See what I mean about the time travel shenanigans? Kal goes into phase two of his plan which is to turn humans into their costumes which was pretty cool. In order to get back to muggle-world, the Cromwell family once again combines their powers in order to open a permanent rift between muggle-world and Halloweentown. Despite apparent victory, Kal says "fuck winning" and offers Marnie a chance to get back the spell books. Overcoming Kal's magic, Marnie gets back the book, reverses both spells, and Kal runs away to god knows where. At the end, Marnie wins Hufflepuff the House Cup, and they mention Kal will be back...except he never does.
I can't really raise the rating of this film over the first entry, but it is the better experience. The plot is structured in such a way that I don't think you would need to watch part one either; this is good for the kiddies. The Harry Potter parallels are a bit unforgivable, but it's still fun regardless and helps ease the kids into familiar territory. Halloween as a holiday is played up more in this entry, but at the cost of spending less time with the world of Halloweentown; I prefer the former to the latter, but others may prefer the opposite. This film certainly has its flaws, but it's an otherwise enjoyable adventure for the whole family. If you liked part one I think you will enjoy this one as much or more.
Notable Moment: When the mom is turned into her Halloween costume. The makeup effects for her were not bad and actually kind of scary for this kind of movie.
Final Rating: 5.5/10
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