YMMV / Hocus Pocus 2

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Crosses over into Diagnosed by the Audience, but Mike is assumed by some viewers to be on the autism spectrum, being easily excitable and not at all skeptical that witches exist. Not to mention the scene in which it’s revealed that he’s a genuinely nice guy who was trying to be friendly with Becca and Izzy but didn’t realize he was accidentally insulting them by calling them weird, which plenty of autistic people can relate to.
• Awesome Music: John Debney returns on orchestral duties, bringing back his themes and rich orchestral tone and style from the original film.
• Contested Sequel: While not without its merits, including some genuinely funny moments and some fun new characters such as the Mother Witch and Izzy, as well as good performances from the Sandersons' actresses - the film is generally considered inferior to its predecessor. Criticisms included the messy plot, inferior new protagonist, the complete lack of characters from the first film besides the Sandersons and Billy Butcherson, and the weird attempt at building sympathy for the witches.
• Critical Dissonance: Ironically, the film has this in the opposite direction of its predecessor. The first film had mixed, at best, professional reviews and much higher audience scores on film websites (with a 40% rotten rating and 72% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes). The sequel has decent reviews and poor ratings from audiences (with a 65% fresh rating and 48% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes).
• Designated Hero: Becca comes across as very rude and dislikeable, shunning her former best friend for reasons that are later revealed to be quite petty. In contrast to Max from the first film, who started out an antisocial teenager that quickly tries to make amends for his mistake (and already shows redeeming qualities to his little sister), Becca doesn't appear to grow or learn much from the experience. Izzy would arguably have made a better protagonist.
• Genius Bonus: In real life, the former site of Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts, where the majority of the real-life victims of the 1692 witchcraft panic were hanged is now a Walgreens. Guess where the Sanderson Sisters go immediately after being brought back?
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • All three child actresses - Taylor Paige Henderson, Juju Brener and Nina Kitchen - playing the young Sanderson sisters were praised for both looking just like their adult counterparts as well as nailing their mannerisms. Many fans have called for the proposed third film to be a prequel following them.
  • Hannah Waddingham likewise makes a big impression in her one scene as the Mother Witch - with a memorable costume, hamming it up just as well as the three leads and her delightfully evil persona.
  • Ginger Minj, Kornbread Jeté and Kahmora Hall cameoing as drag queens entering a Sanderson sisters lookalike contest.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Max, Dani and Alison - the three protagonists of the first film - not only don't feature but barely even get name-checked; only 'appearing' as Fake Shemps in a flashback to the previous film. While perfectly plausible that they could have moved away from Salem in the twenty year time span, given the fact that the town embraces its Sanderson sisters past - complete with Halloween cosplayers and lookalike contests - it seems very odd that the three people who fought the sisters in real life don't get featured. According to the actors, they were going to feature in early planning stages, before Disney decided to go in a different direction.
  • The Mother Witch just has one scene and could probably have made an antagonist in her own right if they wanted to show the Sandersons as protagonists this time. But The Stinger indicates she could return for a third film.

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