HOCUS POCUS 2 – The peeps gathered for the release of this sequel to Hocus Pocus in honor of Halloween and our tradition of watching the first one every year since 1993. None of us were expecting much, and that’s what we got. The original had its flaws, but it was charming. This one – awful. The biggest problem is Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy are too old to play characters who would not have aged because they died at the end of the original thirty years ago. And they didn’t just die, they completely disintegrated into dust so it’s a ridiculous scenario to bring them back. Sarah Jessica (always one of my favorites) is especially disappointing. Her portrayal of Sarah Sanderson is nothing like the original. She turned a once silly, bouncy, fun, dim witted wild child into a flat, subdued, lackluster character. The dialogue is corny, the situations are stupid and I hated the ending. Mike had the same reaction. Kelly pretty much concurred, but she thought younger kids who weren’t familiar with the first film might like it. The three actors portraying the Sanderson witches in their youth were decent. But even then, we were distracted because we kept wondering “where are their parents?” as the scene played out. Skip it. No toasts, no boyfriends, no girlfriends.