The Halloween season has its fair share of movies and just like Christmas, many debate over the best movie. To me, the correct answer is “Halloweentown.”

“Halloweentown” was one of Disney’s first original movies and, honestly, it shows. It came out in 1998 but in reality, it feels like it should be older than it is. However, that’s what brings charm to the movie: how bad it looks.

To me, it’s a classic. It’s not Halloween unless I watch this movie. There are many funny moments in the movie which make me laugh and even foreshadowing moments I’ve never noticed before. 

This movie primarily focuses on different family dynamics which causes all of the main characters to develop into better people throughout the movie. It feels so cozy compared to other Halloween movies because it’s not a dark shaded movie like “Hocus Pocus” or even “Nightmare Before Christmas.” The movie is bright and colorful, even in the town of “Halloweentown,” something you wouldn’t expect with its name. 

The score for this movie is one of the best, it’s very iconic even if you haven’t watched the movie. The opening music in the movie gives the audience a warm feeling when it plays because of the bounciness and uniqueness of the score. To me, it’s one of the reasons why this movie is so great. 

It’s easy to get attached to the characters in the movie. When Marnie, our protagonist for the film, does something stupid or overlooks something obvious, it’s easy to call her out as audience members. Or when Dylan, the little brother, denounces magic throughout the entire movie, being on the mom’s side the whole time, the audience can easily hate his character because it’s relatable to many. 

This movie does look extremely bad but it’s relatively old and was given only a $4 million dollar budget to work with. 

The camera movement throughout the movie is horrendous as well. There’s many extreme closeups on the cast when a zoomed out shot would look and flow a lot better. It just makes the movie feel awkward and rushed, which is more than likely true given the fact the filming of this movie only took 24 days.

On top of Kimberly J. Brown playing the main character for the better half (and I do mean better) of the “Halloweentown” franchise, the late Debbie Reynolds played the grandmother, Aggie, throughout the franchise, and they are both terrific. 

All in all, “Halloweentown” has its issues, but it’s still a great film to watch during the Halloween season. It’s one of the true feel-good Halloween movies which is sure to get audiences laughing and in the Halloween spirit. 

Categories: Arts & Entertainment