Producer: Lynn Harris   Director: Anne Fletcher   Screenplay: Jen D’Angelo   Cast: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Sam Richardson, Doug Jones, Hannah Waddingham, Whitney Peak, Belissa Escobedo, Lilia Buckingham, Froy Gutierrez, Tony Hale, Taylor Henderson, Nina Kitchen, Juju Brener, Thomas Fitzgerald and Austin J. Ryan   Distributor: Disney+

Grade: C-

Recycled magic proves pretty tepid in “Hocus Pocus 2,” the long-gestating sequel to the 1993 Kenny Ortega comic fantasy that bombed in its original theatrical release but has had an enduring shelf-life in ancillary formats.  Maybe “Hocus Pocus 2,” being shown on Disney+, will enjoy similar longevity, but it’s even less engaging than its predecessor.

For the record, the 1993 movie was about the Sanderson sisters—Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mary (Kathy Najimy)—seventeenth-century witches in Salem, Massachusetts, who were accidentally resurrected by a boy named Max (Omri Katz) and attempted to drain the life from his young sister Dani (Thora Birch) in order to restore their youth.  To save Dani and the town, Max joined forces with his crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw) and a black cat—actually a boy transformed into a feline three centuries earlier—to defeat the witches.

In this sequel, a prologue shows the three troublesome Sanderson girls—Winifred (Taylor Henderson), Sarah (Juju Brener) and Mary (Nina Kitchen)—expelled from Salem by Reverend Traske (Tony Hale) for causing general mayhem and Winifred’s refusal to marry the minister’s chosen groom (Austin J. Ryan), preferring instead the fellow she thinks her soul mate, Billy Butcherson (Thomas Fitzgerald).  Escaping into the so-called forbidden woods, they encounter a witch (Hannah Waddingham), who gives them their spell book.  Insert here the events of the initial movie.

Now, two high school girls who love Halloween, Becca (Whitney Peak) and Izzy (Belissa Escobedo), accidentally conjure up the Sanderson sisters again with stuff provided by local magic shop owner Gilbert (Sam Richardson).  They become the witches’ prey, and to defeat them have to enlist their former comrade Cassie (Lilia Buckingham), who’s now estranged from them because she’s spending so much time with her boyfriend, dumb jock Mike (Froy Gutierrez).  The situation’s complicated by the fact that Cassie’s father, also played by Hale, is a descendent of Reverend Traske as well as mayor of Salem, and so a special target of Winifred—and by the resurrection of Butcherson as a farcical zombie (Doug Jones) who keeps on ticking even if decapitated, as well as by the revelation that one of the townspeople is playing a double game. 

So “Hocus Pocus 2” combines the resurrection of the Sanderson sisters with a tale of contemporary teen sisterhood, which perhaps explains why all the male characters—particularly Mike, who at one point has to be instructed by Becca that “pointing out peoples’ differences and saying that they’re weird is making fun of them,” to which he obtusely responds “Whoa!”—are portrayed as buffoons (though that’s becoming an increasingly common phenomenon on screen).  All this is played for laughs, of course, though scripter Jen D’Angelo, director Anne Fletcher and their collaborators—production designer Nelson Coates, cinematographer Elliot Davis, editor Julia Wong and composer John Debney, as well as the large effects team—also try to invest the movie with some light, juvenile spookiness.  They also add some elaborate ensemble musical numbers to the mix for Midler to strut her stuff, as well as an extended plug for Walgreen’s drug stores, where a major sequence is set.  And one has to note the flamboyance of Salvador Pérez Jr.’s costumes, not only for the witches but all the Halloween revelers, including the contestants in a Sandersons lookalike contest.

Midler, Parker and Najimy do their eye-rollingly over-the-top shtick again, though to be honest Najimy in particular does not wear the thirty intervening years lightly.  The youngsters in the cast offer performances of the sort that characterize most kids’ cable shows, while Hale and Richardson mugs it up fiercely.  So does Jones, though encased in zombie makeup he has some justification. 

The availability of “Hocus Pocus 2” on the Disney streaming service ensures that it will draw plenty of eyes, and especially those who still watch its predecessor every year on cable will probably enjoy the reunion.  On its own, though, it’s a tiresome, forgettable affair—though that’s something you might have said about the original back in 1993.