Is the new Hocus Pocus as good as the original?

The new Hocus Pocus has almost a whole new cast except the Sanderson sisters played by Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker, Billy Butcherson being played by Doug Jones, the original actor for Billy.

Hocus pocus 2 has a 6.1/10 on IMDb and the original has a 6.9/10 on IMDb. Keep in mind these are movie critics trying to find flaws and mistakes. As someone who loved the first movie, I was sadly let down by the new one.

The new Hocus Pocus does have very good call backs to the original, like playing a clip from the old movie. Also, when the townspeople are looking for the mayor, if you look closely in the crowd you can see call backs from the original movie, such as the Madonna costume Max’s mom wears to the Halloween party in the first film. 

The old movie has so much nostalgic value, the new one just did not use that to its advantage to the full extent. It had little callbacks here and there with the black cat, Cobweb being mistaken by the witches as Zachary Binx, a beloved feline character from the original. 

The newer movie also made it a little more modernized. When the witches need lotions cause the main protagonist, Becca, tricks them that lotion has children’s souls, they go to a Walgreen’s with motion-sensor doors and they freak out when the doors open for them. This scene made me chuckle.

Becca ends up escaping the Walgreen’s, and the witches end up leaving the convenience store with some new rides: from brooms to Roombas. 

The story ends very abruptly and is very unsatisfying, with the climax being very slow and unorganized. I am not going to spoil the ending of the movie, so you will have to watch it for yourself. But in my opinion it was a very poor ending and they could have done more.