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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.78:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital Surround
  • French: Dolby Digital Surround
  • Spanish: Dolby Digital Surround
  Subtitles
    English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish
  Extras

    Hocus Pocus (Remastered)

    Buena Vista/Buena Vista . R4 . COLOR . 92 mins . M15+ . PAL

      Feature
    Contract

    The opening credits float past. The introduction begins. I’m bored already.

    After being burnt at the stake 300 years ago, which by the way is a lovely way to start a family Disney film (?!?), three witch sisters are risen from the dead by a very early '90s teenage virgin who lights a cursed candle. However, like the candle the witches are cursed too and will turn to dust at sunrise unless they unlock the curse by placing another spell on the town itself and the innocent rugrats living in it. This Halloween night will be one these three kids will never forget.

    Played by Omri Katz, Vinessa Shaw and Thora Birch, portraying a bitchfully adorable role, showing a smidge of emotion and a glimpse at Birch prior to her darker American Beauty and Ghost World days. Max (Katz) however is determined to beat the witches, after all it was he who lit the candle. However, these three bitches, uh I mean witches, won’t go down without a fight.

    Honestly, the three witches suffer some rather poor casting issues, with a lack of chemistry existing between the sisters making their relationship rather hard to believe. Sarah Jessica Parker plays the sickeningly saucy sister, Kathy Najimy the silly sister, as you would expect, and Bette Midler the domineering control-freak sister. But hideously prostitute-like makeup, a relatively witless script and meandering story made it nearly impossible to like this film. With more lives than the Energizer battery man and the Duracell bunny combined, these three witches do need to take a hint on how to die. The three kids do a pretty good job of working them out, however they just keep coming back again and again. But not the good come-back type of thing, rather a make-a-loud-groan come-back type of thing. OK, kids may get more out of this for some mindless entertainment, but it just seems to be lacking something, especially that Disney ‘pizzazz’ that makes other live-action Disney films so rewarding, touching and entertaining.

      Video
    Contract

    The video is presented in an anamorphically enhanced widescreen aspect of 1.78:1, very close to its theatrical aspect of 1.85:1. Overall, the transfer is nice but nothing to rave about. Colours are bright and overly saturated, exuding the type of vibrant gack that is produced after regurgitating a big bag of M&Ms, at times reaching retching point with some hideous tones such as Dani’s Jaffa-red lipstick and Max’s hypercolour hippie-wear. Blacks are rather nice, offering solid shades with no low-level noise, yet at times can appear a tad washy and bright. Contrastingly, whites are bright and clean, showing great ends of the spectrum, although sadly with that mucky rainbow mess in between. The image is clear throughout, yet at times appears a tad soft around the edges. Luckily film grain is not a problem, yet film artefacts do often skip past, including a lovely large stain at 69:04. Fitting snugly on a single layer, there’s naturally no layer change to deal with, and subtitles appear neatly accurate if at times a little abridged.

      Audio
    Contract

    This remastered DVD has been giving a downgrade in the audio section, resorting to Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded options as opposed to Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks on the initial Region 4 DVD. Admittedly, with the sound mix that we’ve been given, a 5.1 soundstage would have been partly wasted space, as the mix doesn’t get a lot of time to shine. Surround activity is severely limited to the score only, and barely a whisper at that. Sure, it’s not discrete, but who’s to say that a 5.1 track would make it better? Dialogue is cleanly presented, yet at times feels like it is lagging slightly and if you really pay attention, a slight synch problem wavers in and out throughout the film. Sure, it’s nothing hideously painful to see and hear, but it is still noticeable at times.

      Extras
    Contract

    Zip. You can’t trust those witches with anything.

      Overall  
    Contract

    Kids may appreciate this more than adults – it’s definitely a kid’s kiddie film, and not a multi-layered film like Finding Nemo, Freaky Friday or Shrek. Transfer-wise, this remaster takes a step back in the audio department from 5.1 to surround-encoded, and has a video transfer that is reasonable par a few hideous colour-related issues. Extras-wise, the witches have snatched them away. For a rent during the holidays, give this a go for the kids, but it does have a few mature themes with witches, spookiness and supernatural things so parental guidance is recommended.


  • LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=3913
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      And I quote...
    "Hocus Pocus, this must be a joke-us, make this disc-us piss-a off-us..."
    - Martin Friedel
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Sony DVP-NS530
    • TV:
          Sharp SX76NF8 76cm Widescreen
    • Receiver:
          Sony HT-SL5
    • Speakers:
          Sony SS-MSP2
    • Centre Speaker:
          Sony SS-CNP2
    • Surrounds:
          Sony SS-MSP2
    • Subwoofer:
          Sony SA-WMSP3
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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