Hocus Pocus 2 was released on September 30, 2022, just in time for the spooky season. Twenty-nine years after the first person lit the Black Flame Candle, which led to the resurrection of the Sanderson Sisters who were hanged in the 17th century, these witches are back and looking for revenge. The nostalgia associated with such a cult classic can make it hard to add to the incredible story without upsetting those who grew up with these magical characters. The sequel did not disappoint when it came to mischievous fun.

Like so many sequels made years after the original, Hocus Pocus 2 is trapped between generations and strives to be relevant to both. The movie aims to satisfy the original lovers of the story as well as the new generation of viewers but struggles to do so throughout.

Diversity was not exactly a strong part of the original movie, but Disney is clearly trying to show inclusivity in this sequel. Two of the main characters in Hocus Pocus 2 are people of color, but since four of the six main characters are still white, it appears Disney is not doing all that they can.

I would have also liked to see more LGBTQ+ representation in this movie. In the beginning, I thought that there may have been the start of a Lesbian relationship, but my hopes were brought down moments later when it was revealed one of the girls had a boyfriend.

Much of the movie radiates girl power energy. With all the main characters being women and a flashback that shows the negatives of our male domineering history, female independence is a common theme throughout the movie. This is remarkably like the original Hocus Pocus movie because even though the main character was a man, the women made it noticeably clear that they could handle problems without his help and saved him most of the time.

In the original movie, the Sanderson sisters are very demonized and clearly the villains. Adding the flashback scene to their childhood at the beginning of the movie was helpful in showing that people are not necessarily born bad. The Sanderson Sisters were made bad by a society that was unaccepting and intolerable.

With the true history of Salem’s patriarchal society that led to lethal actions, the movie expresses the dangers of this historical event well. The problem I have with comparing the movie to the historical events is that the women who were murdered in the Salem Witch Trials were truly innocent and the movie suggesting otherwise is insensitive to the women who died.

While Hocus Pocus 2 was entertaining, it lacks the representation I think it should have. As our society is growing and changing, I would have preferred to be represented in this sequel. There were revamps using cellphones and vacuums in the movie, but social issues, such as gender and racial representation, have also changed, and this change was not represented well throughout the movie.