Debbie Reynolds is one of those actresses who have grown old gracefully and continue to work because of it. Debbie was 66 when she made the first of the Halloweentown movies for Disney Studios and is now playing what she is in real life, a grandmother.But not every grandmother is a witch. Agnes Moorehead became a grandmother when she was on Bewitched, but Agnes certainly did not have the concern for her community that Debbie has.That community is Halloweentown, a place in another dimension where the witches and goblins and all kinds of other creatures have gone. It was created because humans couldn't live in the same mortal world with them and were forever trying to destroy them. But some get out like Judith Hoag who is Debbie's daughter who marry a mortal like Samantha did and raise some kids who've got the potential for being witches.So Hoag's kids one fine Halloween discover their roots and decide that they'd like to visit grandma where she lives in Halloweentown. But when they get there Halloweentown is in turmoil because a most powerful warlock Robin Thomas wants to bring back all the otherworldly creatures into the human world which he'd like to rule with their help.Debbie's family the Cromwells never figured on a working vacation, but when the Cromwell family stands together, the best warlock in the universe isn't up to the challenge.Halloweentown was out before Harry Potter made witchcraft popular and its proved to be one of the Magic Kingdom's best franchises. Debbie is one vital senior citizen, she actually looks younger here than she did made up as a senior citizen towards the end of How The West Was Won.Halloweentown is nice family entertainment and no need to wait until October to see it.

I saw this when I was much younger, and it was a very satisfying little movie. Even for a boy, it was pretty entertaining to watch, even if some of the story's elements seem similar to that of the Harry Potter books. The acting is nicely done, thanks to fine direction, and a screenplay that can format good sentences for such young actors. The special effects that are used, though not a lot, are the standard low-budget ones you could find in dozens of made-for-TV movies. The story is simple, and the foreshadowing comes off a tad too obvious, though the younger audience will be fooled by who Kalabar is. Overall, it's a film I enjoyed, and your children should too. It's simple, cute, and there's nothing vulgar or horrifying, so it is completely safe. I highly recommend it to children ten and under.

OK. We all know that Halloweentown is just a Disney channel movie but come on, it totally rocked... Kimberly J. Brown was and still is an excellent actress and she ruled the part just like all of the other actors and actresses on the movie set. This movie is a great movie that I can actually watch like three times in a day and every year. I am not sure if it is out in DVD yet but if it does, i am totally telling you to watch it... everybody loves it. I think that this is a true Halloween movie and hey, if i did not know any better, i would actually think that Halloweentown is an actual place and i would so want to go there... Who wouldn't?

... but it must have been more than what I got. I know this is a children's film, but that doesn't mean it has to be bad(certainly not this bad). I don't recall when I last watched such a poorly produced film... if I ever have. The plot is nonsensical babble. The pacing is non-existent. The characters are empty, paper-thin clichés. The acting is incredibly poor and overdone, though I guess the actors had such bad material to work with, they couldn't have done much better. The effects are hideous, with little to no attempt made to hide how they are achieved. The costumes and make-up are just pathetic... no effort is made to hide where the masks end, and most of it is just so see-through that even children, I'm talking small ones, will be able to tell. The writing is quite poor; I could never figure out if Halloweentown is supposed to be the direct opposite of our world(what with the always closed cinema), or everyone who lived there were monsters. The world, fascinating as it may seem to very small children was, as another reviewer also points out much more competently presented in The Nightmare Before Christmas. The humor is painfully unfunny, and jokes are repeated ad nauseum. The tone is childish at best, and half of the actors even look like they're ashamed to be doing the film. The script, oh dear, the script... what the heck is the 'highschool sweetheart' cliché doing in a children's film? How many 7-year-olds even know what that is? I'd guess it was an attempt at drawing in the older crowd as well(give the parents something to enjoy), but when the film is this poor, how many people above the age of 10 will watch? How many below, for that matter? I'm sorry, but this is just so far below average that it astounds me that it spawned two sequels. Avoid at all costs. I recommend this only to kids who are incredibly easy to please. And even they should be allowed to watch something of higher quality. 1/10