The charm of the Halloweentown series was not singularly cast by its enchanting backdrop, but by the bewitching characters that brought it to life. These attributes whipped up the perfect elixir for nostalgia, a sentiment I indulge in every Halloween. When I started college a few years ago, my friends and I made it a tradition to watch at least one Halloweentown movie together; we thought omitting it from our Halloween movie marathon would be disrespectful to the franchise. However, I made it taboo to mention its fourth installment: Return to Halloweentown. It does not hold a candle to the first three movies, and I feel it’s my moral obligation to explain why it should be written off.
They recast Marnie Piper
In this movie, Disney replaced Kimberly J. Brown with Sarah Paxton, a decision that resulted in severe backlash from the franchise’s devoted fanbase. According to Narcity, Brown disclosed that she was fully available to shoot the movie but was never asked to reprise her role. Now, you can call me obsessed, but I have been raging about this decision since 2006. You cannot expect to replicate the appeal of a series when you switch out its central character; Kimberly Brown’s interpretation of Marnie anchored our emotional attachment to the plot. Without her, the movie was unable to recapture the magic of its predecessors.
They gave Aggie a small role
Disney had the audacity to replace Splendora Agatha Cromwell. Although she was not replaced in the same way Marnie was, her position in the movie was reduced to that of an inconsequential character. To compensate for her absence, Disney introduced a new character that resembled Aggie in manner and dress: Professor Periwinkle. It’s not to say that I don’t enjoy her character, but their overt intentions to use her as a stand-in for Aggie forced her into a pair of shoes she could never fill.
They changed Marnie’s character
I’m not alluding to Marnie’s recasting, but to the sudden skew in the principals that defined her character throughout its previous installments. First of all, Marnie has always been one to promote inclusivity and acceptance across worlds; the premise of Halloweentown High was literally based on full integration between creatures and humans, even when such an ideal could cost her and her family their powers. However, in Return to Halloweentown, Marnie expresses disdain at the prospect of dealing with the consequences of such integration, and even exhibits prejudice towards other creatures. For example, in one of her classes she offended a creature by calling her a “freaky little fairy”.
A shift in her moral code was also expressed through her new unwillingness to break the rules. In the past, Marnie defied authority figures if she considered their orders unjust; there would be no series if she hadn’t disobeyed her mother and followed her grandmother to Halloweentown. For this reason, I found Marnie’s disposition in the last movie to be jarring. Her resolve was suddenly dictated by the codes of conduct of Witch University, regardless of whether she agreed with them (which she didn’t).
All things considered, Return to Halloweentown did not meet the standards of its predecessors. Nevertheless, I am able to recognize a few of its redeeming factors:
“Right Where You Want Me” by Jesse McCartney
This song set the scene for Marnie and Ethan as they soared over the university via broomstick, imbuing a sort of mystical feeling that I can still conjure with a quick YouTube search. I’m certain that even those who don’t remember the movie will recall this song and all of the emotion attached to it.
The budget
The spell-binding grandeur of the medieval castle left me under the impression that a greater budget was conferred for the making of this movie. The fascinating quality of the set was almost enough to counterbalance the errors of the film. Almost.