Halloweentown High (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Halloweentown Trilogy is just as entertaining for adults as it is for children. I began to wonder if Disney would or could tie up the Halloween tales with a third and final installment. I can honestly say that once I got over the fact that the young cast had grown considerbly, I was happy to note that the storyline was just as entertaining as the others. Much praise goes to their writing team!! Disney has truly made modern classics out of these. The special affect of Grandma Aggie's bag turning into a crocodile is quite a computerized jump from the less sophisticated bag in the first movie. But all the movies seemed to have their own area of computerized magic.
It would be hard to choose favorites out of the three. They are all so wonderful, but if I had to: Halloweentown would be my favorite with Halloweentown High second and Kalabar's Revenge coming in a very close third. Nothing beats the excitement and sense of childhood adventure that could be experienced in the premier movie. But, Disney has out done themselves on giving each installment it's own unique storyline to capture the viewer's attention.
This is a nice clean trilogy with no gore or verbal language to worry about. I do not consider it one of those teeny bopper High School movies, since High School is just the setting not the true story line. I do wonder why Sophie's character was cut back more and not involved in the problem solving part of this movie as compared to others. (Maybe her schedule was not as open for her to come back?) The storyline did NOT suffer from this though. It was a joy to see the entire cast back together again. I am very happy to finally get a dvd set of these movies, since the only way I have watched them is taped off Disney. I will watch them a hundred more times!!!! I highly recommend this trilogy to families and school Halloween parties everywhere!

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Back to school's never been so cool or supernatural for Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown), her grandmother Aggie (Debbie Reynolds), and her family of witches in this latest chapter in the ever-popular series of HALLOWEENTOWN movies. When Marnie convinces the Halloweentown Council to send several teenagers to her high school in the mortal world, she even promises to give up her magic if any harm comes to them. But soon, Marnie and her new friends are in trouble and out of luck when the evil Knight Of The Iron Dagger appears. He's determined to destroy all things magical, and it's up to Marnie to save her high school, the human world, and her magic. For a bewitching good time, HALLOWEENTOWN HIGH is the perfect treat.

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Return to Halloweentown (Ultimate Secret Edition) (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)I thought this movie was good although I agree that Kimberly was missed. I too was disappointed.. But the new girl (Sara) did alright--> big shoes to fill don't you think? As far as Debbie goes she could get as much screen time as she wants.. She obviously did not want anymore than what she had. Remember she is really up in age now.. I know I am 50.. I have watched her movies since I was a little girl.. I very much missed her too in this movie.. I was more disappointed that "Sophie" did not a part in this but I was glad "Dillon" did.. All in all I liked it.. I hope to see more of Halloweentown with Young Sophie...??

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Witches, warlocks and haunted hijinks are just routine as Halloweentown nears its 1000th Anniversary.This year Marnie Piper and lil’ bro Dylan return as students at the prestigious Witch University. Marnie's cauldron of trouble immediately starts bubbling over. Not only must she deal with the pranks of three wicked witch classmates - the Sinister sisters- but someone is plootting to use Marnie's magic to take control of Halloweentown forever.

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Alice Upside Down (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a movie about a girl who has to start life over again in a new town just as she enters the most awkward time of life -- middle school. Her mother passed away when she was five and she doesn't have any maternal role models.
The cast has a lot of potential to put together an outstanding movie. I have watched Alyison Stoner grow up on Disney as "Mike's spunky (and smarter) sister" on the quickie "Mike's Supershort Show". She has developed into a fine young actress and obviously has a lot of talent in terms of acting, singing and even dancing. Lucas Grabeel of High School Musical fame is given a better opportunity to be a likable character and show his talent.
In a way, this movie reminds me of a tragic version High School Drama Queen with Lindsey Lohan. You watch as everything goes wrong for Alice and after awhile, you just wish SOMETHING would go right... And if the stuff that went wrong was somewhat funny, it would be easier to take. But very little of it is funny... just sad.
It tries to involve too many themes and does none of them justice. You find yourself feeling like you came in in the middle and missed critical pieces. Like what happened to her mom? Who is the lady they left behind in Chicago and why does the dad want to get away from her when she clearly was a help to Alice? Lucas' character gets caught dating 2 girls at the same time but we didn't even realize that he was dating one of them so that scene just seemed out of place. The dad starts dating an old high school friend but once again, that never gets fully fleshed out and doesn't really seem to be relevant.
Despite the shortcomings, I would still recommend the movie -- particularly if you have a tween-ager. I started watching this movie with my son who just started sixth grade today and his experience was pretty similar to Alice's. Kids won't be bothered by the continuity stuff but they will be able to relate to the awkwardness and the feeling that nothing ever goes their way. And, in the end, Alice does finally find her way so the movie ends on a high-note.

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Still mourning the death of her mother a few years back, Alice McKinley finds her life seriously disrupted when her father Ben buys a store and moves her and her older brother Lester to a new town. In the painful throes of adolescence, Alice has a rough time adjusting to her new school, especially after she gets the stern Mrs. Plotkin as her core teacher. Feeling shy and isolated, Alice frequently escapes into a vivid fantasy life that occasionally gets her into hot water. But with a little unexpected help from Mrs. Plotkin, Alice learns not to judge by appearances or jump to conclusions. More importantly, she confronts her father over his inability to accept their loss and move on into the future.

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