Considering that they have known me for over a combined 60 years (not dollars), my friends Pat Adriance, Kalin Krohe and Jason Hager have probably figured out by now that movies are not my prime form of entertainment. I’m a TV guy, and a radio guy, and yes there are a lot of movies I love. But there are THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of movies I’ve never seen. I’ve probably missed over half of the AFI Top 100. But that’s okay, right? The things we read, watch and listen to in our spare time should not be subject to peer pressure or critique, amirite?
And yet. Kroheim von Snipeheim razzes on me constantly for not seeing movies he likes. He did so on Facebook last night when the topic of “Hocus Pocus” came up and Adriance, always waiting to join a razzpile on Wenty, joined in. Jason Hager offered actual useful information while at the same time adding fuel to the fire.
So I told these chuckleheads fine, I’ll watch the damn movie. And tonight I did. But before that I watched Halloween-themed episodes of “Frasier” and Michael Landon’s “Highway To Heaven.” Then, once I fired up Disney Plus, I threw in the classic Donald Duck cartoon “Trick or Treat”, with June Foray as the witch–using the exact same voice she used for Witch Hazel in all those Bugs Bunny cartoons. Not sure you see a voice characterization used for different characters in different studios too often.
Okay, I have to get to “Hocus Pocus” now, don’t I?
“Hocus Pocus”, for those who like me don’t have warm nostalgic feelings toward live-action Disney movies from the 1990’s, is a story about three witches (Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker) who are brought back to life one spooky Halloween night. A trio of kids, assisted by a sentient cat the witches spelled long ago, try to save the children of the town from certain death. The witches you see need the youngsters to keep them alive and young.
I’ll say this: the witches are pretty hilarious. Bette Midler is over-the-top goofy while Najimy is as believably down-to-Earth as a witch in a live-action Disney film can get. Sarah Jessica Parker is….bosomy? Is that an acceptable word? Well, it’s one of the main things I remember. Two of the main things.
The witches are funny and memorable. The kids are…..ehhhhhhh. If you showed me pictures of the kids from Jumanji, the kids from Hocus Pocus, and a third group of kids from some other movie, I’d be hard-pressed to know which is which. And there’s a lot of witchless scenes here.
But! Also in the “good” file are some neat cameos. Kathleen Freeman, victim of Jerry Lewis’ shenanigans in so many of his films, has a nice little part as a schoolteacher. She’s marvelous. And Garry and Penny Marshall! Garry is a hubby who’s dressed as Satan and Penny is his wife with some weird curlers in her hair. (The witches naturally believe him to be the actual Satan and her to be Medusa.)
“Hocus Pocus” is entertaining and I will admit the ending was very warm and fuzzy. It’s not a bad movie. I enjoyed it.
HAVING SAID THAT!
I believe that a person’s enjoyment of a film, television show, song, etc. can in many cases be purely nostalgic. Nostalgia does not have anything to do with the quality of the thing enjoyed. It rests purely in the warm feelings and memories one attaches to it.
Let me give you an example.
Every Christmas I watch my DVD of “Yogi’s First Christmas.” Objectively speaking, “Yogi’s First Christmas” is terrible. It’s a two-hour animated special in which Yogi Bear and Boo Boo stay awake to spend the holidays with Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Auggie Doggie and his Doggie Daddy.
So if it’s terrible why do I watch it? Because I remember watching it at my Grandma’s house when I was 8 years old. And I remember it being on TV during my childhood at Christmastime. And it makes me remember childhood Christmases…the way our house looked, the way the stockings were hung up, the ornaments on the tree, the way we all looked.
“Nostalgia – its delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek nostalgia literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. .” -Don Draper