: (John Debney) It took nearly three
decades for the magical cult status of 1993's Halloween favorite,
, to realize a sequel, and the 2022 extension of the
concept quickly became one of Disney's most popular all-time streaming
properties. To nobody's surprise, a new trio of Salem youths resurrects
the three witches from the prior film for another round of chasing,
spells, and self-discovery. The purpose of
is to
hand the torch to the younger girls, destined to inevitably become a
similar group of mischievous witches themselves, and send the aging
originals to the afterlife, joined by the lead's undead boyfriend from
the old Salem witch trial days as well. The actors for these four
characters return, and that reunion was alone enough to hit all the
right nostalgia buttons for audiences. The quality of the plot is
suspect, however, some of the charm and comedy missing from the sequel.
The production considered crew continuity to be a top priority
, and among those returning is composer John Debney. The
veteran composer was still a rising commodity at the time of the
original movie, on which he had replaced James Horner and utilized a few
minutes of that composer's material. For
, Debney had
only two weeks to write the entire score himself and record it
simultaneously at night sessions, pushing his two orchestrators to the
max. This time around, the composer had a much larger crew of his own
and a fuller ensemble to work with. Also factoring are a pair of song
covers performed by returning witches Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica
Parker, and Kathy Najimy, with piano performances and lyric mutilations
courtesy renown songwriter Marc Shaiman. All the humor that Shaiman
could muster along with the vocalists for "The Witches Are Back" and
"One Way or Another" won't salvage the songs' tolerability for some
listeners, though Midler at least proves that she can still sing fairly
well. Several other mostly putrid songs were licensed for the film and
occupy the first third of the combined song and score soundtrack album,
the music joined by some cackling by the three lead actresses.
For film score collectors, the return of Debney for
Hocus Pocus 2 is a welcome turn of events, as the prior score has
long been held with enough esteem to make it a rare album find. The
sequel score immeasurably improves upon the ambient recording qualities
of
Hocus Pocus, which has always sounded flat and restrained in
its soundscape. Boasting a much fuller orchestral sound,
Hocus Pocus
2 also benefits from a more varied choral approach. Female voices
are still emphasized until a balanced adult ensemble returns with the
witches, and all of these tones have a touch of James Newton Howard's
techniques. On the other hand, there are not as many specialty
instrumental colors to suggest old witchcraft in this work, chimes and
other metallic percussion referenced but some of the charm of the prior
medieval elements reduced or completely eliminated. Much of the
character of the first score is lost here, including the enthusiasm
factor. So much of
Hocus Pocus 2 sounds perfunctory instead, a
shell of the prior score's personality. After the witches are
resurrected, Debney moves into a more anonymous action and suspense mode
for some reason, mid-section cues like "Let's Steal Their Souls!," "Salt
Bags," "Cobweb the Cat/Hourglass," "Lift the Curse and Let Us Out," and
"I Need Your Head/Meeting the Mayor" accomplishing very little for the
narrative. Some of this failure to connect is owed to the composer's
inferior handling of themes in the sequel. The main identity for the
witches in
Hocus Pocus remains the dominant theme, and the
brother/sister theme is refocused nicely as a more general sibling idea
late in this score. Otherwise, though, the thematic situation in
Hocus Pocus 2 is a mess, with the main new identity barely
discernable and others not developed well enough to matter. Gone from
the equation are the two best themes from the prior score, the love
theme that would serve no purpose in this narrative and the lullaby for
Sarah the witch, which also makes sense given that it was a Horner
composition. Debney fails to provide adequate replacements for these
melodies, though, leaving the main concept theme to carry the weight of
the narrative in ways it simply cannot achieve.
One lingering complaint about the
Hocus Pocus
score is that its main theme for the witches, while devious and
appropriate to the topic, did not experience enough clear, full-ensemble
performances to make it readily memorable. That issue persists in
Hocus Pocus 2, the theme definitely utilized in some of the right
places but not stated with the needed emphasis to really impress. Its
many interpolations are not necessarily satisfying, and they are
certainly not as devious as before. It emerges at 0:32 into "Salem 1653"
in mystery, the "Main Title" from the previous film exploding at 0:46
and theme proper provided in full at 0:55. From there, the theme is
often supplied in allusion or pieces, as at 0:28 into "Lighting the
Black Flame" on slight, whining strings and fragmented in panic during
the middle of "Sanderson's Storm." It factors at 0:11 into "The Power
Spell" on light choir and very slightly in the middle of "Cobweb the
Cat/Hourglass," lowered to deep choir in the latter cue. The witches'
theme is tense on strings early and late in "Digging Up Billy," reduced
to two-note fragmented accents in "Lift the Curse and Let Us Out,"
brightens to brief playfulness early in "I Need Your Head/Meeting the
Mayor," and is sinewy and malicious in the first half of "Forbidden
Wood," after which it develops into new, longer-lined melodic offshoot
of similar character. The theme is twisted into more melodramatic,
almost unrecognizable variants in "Is Becca a Witch?" before reforming
on angry brass at 3:53. Suspenseful on choir in the first half of
"Finishing the Spell" and yielding to a single burst at 1:58 on brass,
it closes out "Making Amends With Gilbert" with a comedic burst, builds
to another concluding crescendo of optimism in "Cobweb Canole," and is
supplied a different mix of last half of "Salem 1653" during all of
"Hocus Pocus Main Theme," a rather lazy and disappointing way to
conclude the score on album. The returning sibling theme applies this
time to the witches for a poignant switch demanded by the plot, reprised
at 1:46 into "Sarah and Mary Disappear" on nostalgic cellos before
shifting to tender strings and woodwinds at 2:17 and piano later, a full
ensemble performance of redemption at 5:05 a touching moment. The idea
continues to waft in and out of "Making Amends With Gilbert" with
additional light drama, including some very nice choral
accompaniment.
The application of the sibling theme from the first
score to the witches themselves in
Hocus Pocus 2 is the emotional
highlight of the sequel score, and that alone may salvage the work as a
whole for some listeners. Where Debney really struggles, however, is in
the handling of the other themes in this entry. He devises a Magicae
Maxima theme to represent the pursuit of the all-powerful spell, but it
is so generic and haphazardly applied that few listeners will notice its
existence. Its three-note phrases use the same underlying chords of the
main theme and debut at 0:04 into "Banished Thee" on horns, its presence
heightened at 0:41 under muted trumpets. The theme is further explored
at 1:11 into "The Power Spell" in similar form, on deep woodwinds early
in "Forbidden Wood," at 0:18 and later into "Is Becca a Witch?" with
quiet defiance, and with heightened force in the middle of "Finishing
the Spell." The idea never achieves the power it deserves at this
climax, however; nor does the witches' own theme, which renders these
cues surprisingly inert. Instead, the idea turns lightly tragic as
expected in the first minute of "Sarah and Mary Disappear" but
transitions into a rhythmic figure that had been foreshadowed in "Is
Becca a Witch?" and espouses the phrasing and repetitive feel of the
spindle/curse theme from Howard's
Maleficent. Debney does not
provide the three young girls of this plot with a replacement for the
prior score's equivalents despite teasing with some possible options. A
melody at 1:18 into "I Don't Have a Temper" is very pretty on woodwinds
and much like the love theme from Howard's
Jungle Cruise in
melody and tone, but this idea is abandoned after that cue. Likewise,
other more dramatic melodies serve the same purpose at 3:12 into
"Forbidden Wood" and 0:36 into "Making Amends With Gilbert" for soft
closure. Ultimately, Debney is unable to consolidate these potential
secondary motifs into a meaningful new narrative in
Hocus Pocus
2. The whole of the melodic development in the score is a remarkable
disappointment compared to the prior entry (which itself had some issues
in this area) and the composer's own
Luck from earlier in the
same year. For some listeners, the continuation of the prior score's two
most major themes and some basic instrumental mannerisms will be enough
to suffice. But it is difficult not to walk away from this score with
the feeling that it represents a substantially missed opportunity.
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- Music as Written for the Film: ***
- Music as Heard on Album: **
- Overall: ***
| Bias Check: |
For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.33
(in 56 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.1
(in 49,960 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
