Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: Against the wishes of her mother, Marnie decides to go to college in Halloweentown.
Review: A lot of fans really hate this entry, but I thought it was just more of the same--not bad but nothing to write home about either. However, I will acknowledge that this installment deviates heavily from the rest of the series. The most noticeable change is that the actress playing Marnie has been pointlessly replaced; that's incredibly frustrating from a continuity perspective. The little sister is fully written out this time with only her name mentioned, Aggie is practically written out as well, and the overall tone and importance of Halloween is lost. In exchange for these changes we are given the most Harry Potter-esque entry of them all. I mean, this franchise has always felt like a ripoff, but this movie is the most brazen of them all.
Right out the gate the film annoys me when they say Marnie is still only 18. How is that possible? She was 13 in the first movie. I recall them saying 3 years passed between part 1 and 2 which would make her 16. If we want to believe part 3 was the following Halloween that makes her 17, and part 4 would have to be only one year later. I don't know about you, but that is a huge ass stretch for me to accept the events of each movie being this close to one another. They also wrote out Marnie's last boyfriend which would make even less sense if no time really passed between 3 and 4. Plus, wouldn't people running into real monsters affect things in muggle-world? Ugh. Fucking kids movies.
The plot is that Halloweentown apparently has a college that Marnie and the brother are going to. It happens to be the thousandth anniversary of Halloweentown or something, and wannabe Death Eaters think Marnie will fulfill a prophecy or whatever. Believe me, it feels completely uninspired and similarly to a rejected HP fanfic. The characters do a lot of stupid things, and you get the usual shenanigans this franchise is known for. A couple positives I can say are that they finally give the brother some powers, they bring back a character to be Marnie's love interest this time, and half the fake Death Eaters are Asian (gotta love that aspect!).
Unfortunately, the worst part of the story is the continued use of time travel! If you can time travel freely, how is anything ever a problem in this series? The whole goal of the Death Eaters is they need a magic amulet that no magic user can block or whatever the hell. By the time Halloween rolls around, if they have the amulet, the spells they cast can never be undone...or so they claim. I don't know how that shit is supposed to work. In a fashion typical to this franchise, the bad guys are beaten extremely easily with Marnie, seemingly, destroying the amulet and another witch capturing them all with one attack. Pitiful. Strangely enough, this is the one entry that ends on a cliffhanger. The brother realizes that Marnie actually gave him the amulet, and he hides it in a book from the Death Eaters. I'm not sure where they were planning to go with that idea since this turned out to be the last installment.
I definitely have my problems with this entry, but it's no more annoying than the problems with the other movies; I do think part 2 was the best one though. The actor replacement of Marnie was unnecessary, and the writing out of multiple characters was not the wisest decision either. However, I did somewhat enjoy the Harry Potter-like plot for what it's worth. Next year, it's going to be 10 years since this entry was made so who knows if they will ever make a fifth "Halloweentown" movie. If they were smart, they would make a new entry for the 10th anniversary and perhaps focus on the little sister or a new family altogether. Alternatively, they could simply let this franchise rest in peace.
Notable Moment: That sequel-bait ending. An interesting proposal in theory, considering this entry was successful, but they failed to capitalize on this within a reasonable time frame.
Final Rating: 5.5/10
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