Halloweentown Review: Beautiful Nostalgia
For this month’s final Halloween & Horror film, I chose to review Halloweentown, directed by Duwayne Dunham. This was my favorite Disney Channel original movie growing up, and still is to this day. I remember being in elementary school and watching this film every time I came home from trick or treating while I sorted out my candy. I wanted so badly to be like Marnie; I’d always stay up late hoping I could catch the Halloweentown bus. Although the bus never came for me, the magic in the movie is still very real. Spoiler alert: the film holds up.
The film opens with the Cromwell kids bummed that their strict mother is making them stay in on Halloween again. I could never imagine how awful it would be to be a child and not be allowed to go out on Halloween. In retrospect, now that I’m aware of the mom’s reasoning, I still don’t understand why the kids weren’t allowed to go out on Halloween. They clearly were already exposed to witch paraphernalia in school and media beforehand, having a little fun was not going to suddenly make them realize another realm exists. After some complaining and arguments between family members, everyone finally settles down. That is until Sophie start’s chanting “something’s coming.” Soon enough, Aggie Cromwell, their eccentric grandmother walks through the door with her mysterious never-empty bag and well, the rest is history.
In rewatching Halloweentown, the town itself is just as I remembered from past viewings. For a lower budget ($4 million) film in 1998, the special effects were actually pretty extraordinary. The town is filled with driving skeletons. Goblins, witches, trolls; there’s just about every supernatural creature imaginable in Halloweentown. And then, there’s the mayor Kalabar. The most supernatural thing of all. Rewatching it with previous knowledge of who the mayor is, it’s easy to see the ways in which he acts creepy and suspicious around the Cromwell kids, whereas when I was little he seemed charming. But of course, Sophie knew something was up from the start. Even if she didn’t say anything, her body language and the way she refused gifts from him told the audience everything they needed to know.
Even though the film is for kids, the stakes are high and add to the suspense of the film. The children are left to fend for themselves against a mysterious evil warlock who has the power to take out their mother and their grandmother, both of whom are powerful witches. Luckily, the Cromwell kids were resilient and able to fight off the Warlock on their own as they navigated their own way through the town.
I love how this film didn’t treat kids like they were just kids who can’t do anything. The kids saved themselves, and that takes a lot of bravery. It inspired a whole generation of children and conveyed to kids that they can do anything adults can, without the film talking down to its audience. It also beautifully sets up the Halloweentown franchise, allowing viewers to grow up alongside the Cromwell kids. I still feel personally attached to the actors who played the kids, and in my rewatch I learned how they achieved that attachment with their audience: they’re just great actors. It’s that simple.
Rating: 5/5 stars
Caroline Lannes — November 1st, 2021
