My grand children loved it; I fell asleep several times.

Rating: 5/10 (19 November 2001)

Two hours and twenty minutes of not being in the know with a full house of unruly kids who all seemed to know all the inside stuff, ....it makes one go to sleep at worst and squirm around in the seat a lot at best.
I confess I was anxious to go see this 125 million dollar "kid's" movie and it had some interesting parts, but it was a dead dog drag in a lot of places too.
I feel rather like the kid who said the king's new cloak was his bare behind! People say..."Oh wasn't it fabulous?" and I say...In a word NO! I can see lots of promising things in the movie but nothing at all as good as "E.T" which is to be re-released in the spring and I found myself delighted by seeing the previews again.
My neighbor said; "If you haven't read the books you wasted your money to go!"
I think she had a point. The plot is old, tired, and just plain trite. The acting save one, the big guy...I don't even know his name, is all ordinary. The special effects are good but not the best I've seen and movies that are carried solely by their special effects bore me anyway.
I heard two women talking about it yesterday and their comments may make me go see it again. One said; "...it was a secret plot to undermine Christian values with pagan witch craft!"
I asked my seven year old grandson if he thought the movie was about witches and he said; "....Naw Poppie....it's about people who act like witches." Enough said perhaps?
All you right wing crusaders out there lighten up. This is plain vanilla kid fun and trying to make it anything else only sends fools like me back to see what I might have slept through the first time.
Go see it ...take the kids but keep the expectations in check and it will pass easier.