It’s been 29 years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17th-century sisters, and they are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high-school students to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before dawn on All Hallow’s Eve.

“Hocus Pocus 2” is a haunting sequel to the Halloween classic which brings back the delightfully wicked Sanderson sisters for more comedic mayhem. “Hocus Pocus 2” stars Bette Midler (“The First Wives Club,” “Beaches”), Sarah Jessica Parker (“Sex and the City,” “Divorce”), and Kathy Najimy (“Sister Act,” “Younger”), and is directed by Anne Fletcher (“Dumplin,’” “The Proposal”).

Also stars Whitney Peak (“Gossip Girl”), Belissa Escobedo (“American Horror Stories”), Lilia Buckingham (“Dirt”), Froy Gutierrez (“Teen Wolf”), Tony Hale (“Veep”), Sam Richardson (“The Tomorrow War”), Doug Jones (“The Shape of Water”), and  Hannah Waddingham (“Ted Lasso”).

*Before we get into this review I’d like to issue a spoiler warning, as I will not tell you everything that has happened in this movie but I will highlight key plot points so watch the film before the review. You’ve been warned.

The beginning of this sequel takes us back to Salem in 19–  the origin of the wicked Sanderson sisters after the oldest sister rejects an arranged marriage to (blank) that the towns (Blank) have ordered to take place, a mob of the towns villagers gather at Sanderson’s door and shock that she would speak back to a man. The (Blank) threatens to take away

We see the Sanderson sisters as young girls, living in the Pilgrim community. As Winnie (Taylor Henderson) stomps furiously through the town after refusing the local clergyman, Reverend Traske (Tony Hale) who has decided that since the Sanderson parents are dead, Winnie must marry a young man from the village and the younger girls will be sent to live with another family. The girls run away to the forbidden forest, where they meet a very glamorous witch (Waddingham) who gives them one of the key props from the first movie, the book of spells with a human eyeball on the cover that really opens, and, I guess, sees.

Using Book for the first time to cast a curse on Reverend Traske setting his house ablaze, this was the start of what would be known as the most powerful coven in Salem’s history. In the present day, we follow two Salem teenagers, Becca (Whitney Peak) and Izzy (Belissa Escobedo). Who accidentally brings the witchy Sanderson sisters back to life while performing their yearly Halloween night ritual, it turns out the local magic store owner Gilbert (Richardson) gave them the other key prop from the first movie, a black candle. As he wanted to revive the sister after seeing the sisters flying in the sky back in 1993 and follow them to the graveyard where they met their demise in the original.

(L-R): Belissa Escobedo as Izzy and Whitney Peak as Becca in Disney’s live-action HOCUS POCUS 2, Photo by Matt Kennedy.

In an effort to abscond from the Sanderson’s sister and not become their next meal, Becca and Izzy lie about being adults that just look like kids because of the beauty products that promote give a women youthful look having kids souls already mixed in. This was joke was very funny because its so meta to how adult actors with youthful appearances can perform as high school students. The lie of both the girls and beauty products are brought to light after the sister caught a glance of their reflection in the mirror.

As high jinks contiunues to ensue as the girls race to stop the witches from kidnapping the town’s genial mayor (Tony Hale) and casting an immortality spell that would make them all-powerful, while also making amends with their former friend, the mayor’s daughter, Cassie (Lilia Buckingham), who has not been a part of the group lately because she’s been spending all her time with her boyfriend. We are give nods to the old movie in the form of familar faces and the power the sister have of enchanting people through song.

(L-R): Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson, Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson, and Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson in Disney’s live-action HOCUS POCUS 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc.

In Winifred’s quest to become the most powerful witch to enact her revenage on Salemshe loose her sister’s along the way and in order to be reunited with them she give up her power, so is this the last we’ve seen of the Sandersons or is this a trend for Disney to green light a Hocus Pocus 3 in the next 29 years?

Hocus Pocus is a cultural touchstone, following a moderately successful on its first release, it became a phenomenon on home video and cable and is now an annual tradition for many families, with parents who loved it in the ’90s sharing it with the next generation. Disney hit just the right spot between spooky and silly, with Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as a sort of witchy Three Stooges. Nearly 30 years later, “Hocus Pocus 2” should make fans of all generations happy, paying tribute to the original and adding some gentle updating and some welcome diversity, subtracting some violence. It is also a little bit sweeter.

Hocus Pocus 2 is a Disney+ Original movie, now streaming exclusively on Disney+. Produced by Lynn Harris (“King Richard,” “The Shallows”), with Ralph Winter (“Hocus Pocus,” “X-Men” franchise), David Kirschner (“Hocus Pocus,” “Chucky”), and Adam Shankman (“Disenchanted,” “Hairspray”) serving as executive producers.

Check out the trailer below: