It is an enjoyable watch and a decent bit of entertainment, although maybe it functions better as a small-screen discovery for its devoted fanbase.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 27, 2023

Yes, it's the old teens-warn-the-townfolk-but-no-one-believes-them trick. This time, it's not quite a treat.

| Sep 29, 2022

It's a veritable bagful of box office treats.

| Jul 16, 2019

Though children may be satisfied (if the witch stuff doesn't scare them) adults will have a harder time with the by-the-numbers confrontations between the witches and the plucky youths.

| Aug 15, 2015

Dreadful.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Aug 15, 2015

Hocus Pocus is harmless, but it's about as much fun as celebrating Mardi Gras under the influence of candy corn.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Aug 15, 2015

Silly but irresistible.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 15, 2015

All things considered, Hocus Pocus is much more entertaining than a pimple-people picture has a right to be.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 15, 2015

Hocus Pocus remains a delightful family comedy, spooky but never scary as it romps its merry way through the graveyard.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 15, 2015

With Bette Midler and her onscreen sisters shamelessly hamming things up, it looks as if those involved in making this inoffensive flight of fantasy had more fun than anyone over 12 will have watching it.

| Apr 1, 2009

[Midler, Najimy and Parker] perform a show-stopping version of 'I Put a Spell on You' at a Halloween party, but otherwise it's slim pickings.

| Feb 9, 2006

Apparently too much eye of newt got into the formula for Hocus Pocus, transforming a potentially wicked Bette Midler vehicle into an unholy mess.

| May 20, 2003

Dismayingly grisly for a movie aimed at kids.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 11, 2002

Hocus Pocus is really two movies -- a sophomoric caper for teenage boys and a dark lark for fans of Disney farce, an abracadabra Sister Act. Both of them are failures.

| Jan 1, 2000

In the not-too-distant future look for Hocus Pocus in the rental-store bins, or as part of a Halloween "Trick or Treat" package (three bags of candies with Hocus Pocus for $5.95).

| Jan 1, 2000

Chock-full of visual tricks and treats, Hocus Pocus is actually just what its title implies -- cinematic chimera without much substance.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Watching the movie is like attending a party you weren't invited to, and where you don't know anybody, and they're all in on a joke but won't explain it to you.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jan 1, 2000

It's acceptable scary-silly kid fodder that adults will find only mildly insulting. Unless they're Bette Midler fans. In which case it's depressing as hell.

| Original Score: C- | Jul 16, 1993