Halloweentown / Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (Double Feature) (1998)

In a place called Halloweentown, good and evil look very different than one might expect. Thanks to a visit from Grandmother Aggie (Debbie Reynolds), Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown) and her family's tradition of ignoring the Halloween holiday are about to change in the extreme. It seems that Marnie's mother Gwen (Judith Hoag) has been hiding a big secret from her three children--all of them possess supernatural powers. Now that it's Marnie's thirteenth birthday, she must begin her training as a witch or lose her powers forever. While Gwen wants nothing more than to see her children grow up as "normal" humans, Grandmother Aggie and Marnie have other ideas. A brewing crisis between good and evil in the alternate world Halloweentown soon pulls the entire family through a portal and into an intense battle against ghouls, goblins and the warlock Kalabar (Robin Thomas). Halloweentown II takes place two years after Halloweentown and finds Kalabar's son bent on revenge. Marnie has matured as a witch, but her powers are pushed to the limit in a desperate effort to triumph over an evil curse in order to save Halloweentown, her family and the human world. This is good Disney Halloween fun with nice costuming and special effects, a wholesome message about the power of family, cooperation and perseverance, and ghouls that, though creepy looking, aren't likely to inspire nightmares in younger family members. (Ages 5 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

Join Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown) and her grandmother Aggie (Debbie Reynolds) as they stir up a cauldron full of comedy and adventure in two Disney Channel classics -- HALLOWEENTOWN and HALLOWEENTOWN II: KALABAR'S REVENGE. On her 13th birthday, Marnie learns she's a witch, discovers a secret portal, and is transported to Halloweentown -- a magical place where ghosts and ghouls, witches and werewolves live apart from the human world. But she soon finds herself battling wicked warlocks, evil curses, and endless surprises. HALLOWEENTOWN DOUBLE FEATURE will charm pixies, trolls, and families everywhere every day of the year.

I love a good family Halloween movie. Something that's not too scary for little ones, but still something absorbing enough for adults. There are actually three of these movies now as the third, "Halloweentown High" came out in 2004 and it's too bad that Disney didn't release all three together.

The basic premise is that there is an alternate world from our own where it is always Halloween called, of course, Halloweentown. Aggie Cromwell (the radiant Debbie Reynolds) is a powerful witch as is her daughter Gwen (Judith Hoag). Aggie wants to train Gwen's daughter Marnie (Kimberly Brown) to use her powers before she loses them when she turns 13. This results in a big argument between Aggy and Gwen. Aggy returns to Halloweentown but Marnie and her two siblings Dylan and Sophie secretly follow her. Once there they learn about a dark force threatening Halloween town and only the combined power of all the Cromwell women, including Mom Gwen can stop it.

In the sequel, virtually the entire Main cast returns as Marnie has now become more proficient with her powers and as we learned at the end of the first film it turns out that the younger siblings also have developing powers of their own. This time their old foe Kalabar is back to wreak havoc and try to turn the people of our normal world into monsters.

The special effects and makeup in these films are above average, especially for made-for-tv films. All of the denizens of Halloween town are monsters of some sort and could be a tad scary for little ones but probably not too much. Kimberly Brown really develops as an actress and holds her own with the veteran Debbie Reynolds. Judith Hoag gets to do a bit more in this sequel as well.

Thank You, Don't be sillen Reader
Hopefully this article useful for us. If you want to quote, please include dofollow links to https://halloween-town-online.blogspot.com/2013/10/Halloweentown-Kalabars-Revenge.html . Thank you for reading this article.