I finally watched Hocus Pocus 2. It was fine. Of course, the first one was better. I feel like the first one was so much more fun- they ran all over town. And the characters were better and more memorable. And there was more characters. For all the things this one lifted from the first film, I wouldn't have minded another "too cool for Halloween" character, or that little sister dynamic, or Thackery Binx. And where the hell is everyone's parents?
I also wonder if more was meant to be done with the witch in the forest at the beginning? She came and went rather quickly with no further discussion. Except her raven form flying behind them at the end. And let's not kid ourselves... this won't get a continuation, so what was the point of that?
Also I miss movies pre-2000s that weren't afraid to be a little dark, both in some tone and also just in the filmmaking. There wasn't many scenes that didn't look like they were on a well lit sound stage. I'm sure that was to benefit everyone's appearance. But it also made it feel very made-for-TV.
This is all rather nitpicky. It was inferior, but it was fun enough I suppose for a sunday evening watch.