Does Halloweentown hold up?

Let’s find out:

 So we start off by meeting Gwen Piper (Judith Hoag). Gwen is worried about her kids (Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown), Dylan (Joey Zimmerman)  and Sophie (Emily Roeske) and Halloween. Aggie (Debbie Reynolds) (Gwen’s mom/Marnie, Dylan and Sophie’s grandma) comes and she is more pro-Halloween than Gwen. Gwen is denying her witchy heritage because, unlike Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Gwen wants a normal life.

Gwen and Aggie argue over Halloween. Aggie wants Marnie to be able to embrace her witchy heritage, and…

I feel like the witch/Halloween thing is a metaphor for a number of things. In my experience, most grandparents spoil their grandkids and/or do not interfere.

Anyway, Aggie returns to Halloweentown. Marnie, Dylan and Sophie also go to Halloweentown. We then meet Mayor Kalabar  (sounds like a protein bar) (Robin Thomas). We then meet cabbie and fan favorite character Benny (voiced by Rino Romano and my brain keeps reading his name as Ray Romano). Aggie wants to help Marnie embrace her heritage and Aggie is dealing with a mysterious threat. We also find out that Merlin’s talisman is involved in defeating the threat.

We then meet goblin-turned-human Luke (Phillip Van Dyke) and Luke has a thing for Marnie. We then find out that Gwen and Kalabar (Protein Bar) have a past. Aggie and company wind up at a movie theater.

We then discover that the movie theater has frozen Halloweentown residents (concessions at this place are weird, guys). Aggie and Gwen are deus ex machina’d. Marnie, Dylan and Sophie get werewolf hair, ghost sweat and a vampire fang. We also find out that the talisman needs to be in a jack-o’-lantern to defeat the threat. We then find out that the threat is Protein Bar. Protein Bar was upset because Gwen rejected him, and…

Dude went to the Alex Forrest School of Handling Break-ups.

Anyway, the talisman makes it to the jack-o’-lantern. Aggie, Gwen, Marnie, Dylan, Sophie, the Professor and Mary Ann fight against Protein Bar. We then get a reverse of the ending of Beauty and the Beast with Luke and Marnie is all “I always thought that Prince Adam was bland.”

Aggie decides to be more devoted to her grandchildren and Gwen embraces her witchy roots.

Guys, this is cheesy. I know that some are nostalgic for it. I remembered it fondly. I tried to like it; but, it is too cheesy. Reynolds is good, some elements of the plot work and there are a few funny moments; but, it is too cheesy. They should’ve gone the Coraline route with this and made it darker. Also, on the Gwen/Kalabar storyline, they should’ve gone the Fatal Attraction route or made a kid-friendly Fatal Attraction (I don’t even know how that would’ve worked). Most of the acting makes Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin look subtle.

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