Rating: TVG
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 09/13/2005
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 82 min
Distributor/Studio: Walt Disney Video
Marnie and her friends from
Halloweentown are back in this made-for-cable feature.
Marnie (
Kimberly J. Brown) is a teenage witch living with her family of supernatural beings in the village of Halloweentown.
Marnie and her pals are interested in attending high school in the nearby mortal community, where they'll be able to spend more time with kids their age, and with the help of her grandmother
Aggie (
Debbie Reynolds), she's able to convince the town council to go along with the suggestion. However, there's a catch -- if anything dangerous happens as a result of their presence in the mortal school,
Marnie and her friends will lose their magical talents. Trouble does make its way to the school, but not in a way anyone expected -- the
Knight of the Iron Dagger comes to the mortal world determined to wipe out
Marnie and her magical companions.
Halloweentown High is the third film in the
Disney Channel series that also includes
Halloweentown and
Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Halloweentown High will probably please fans of the first two movies in this series, but even they are likely to be disappointed that the film takes place in the real world, rather than in Halloweentown. Those who are not already fans should probably stay away from
High, as it is noticeably weaker than the earlier movies. The problem, of course, is the script. The basic premise of ghouls coming to our world as exchange students has promise, but it's fudged on almost all accounts. The characterizations are strictly stock, the dialogue is wince-inducing, and the plots is preposterous; is there anyone that could actually think that creating a haunted house for a Halloween carnival in which the monsters are nice, sweet people will in any way change the way people think about monsters? Special effects on the whole are better than before, but many are still cheesy, and the costumes and make-up especially are low-rent. Fortunately,
High has a very good cast, led by the still-excellent
Debbie Reynolds and the appealing
Kimberly J. Brown.
Joey Zimmerman has grown in his role as the brother,
Lucas Grabeel hits all the right notes as one of the exchange students and
Clifton Davis is amusing as the principal.
High will please undiscriminating fans; others look elsewhere.
~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
;)
