Sixteen year old Sabrina Sawyer (Melissa Joan Hart) moves in with her aunts Hilda (Sherry Miller) and Zelda (Charlene Fernetz) in Riverdale. After three months, her inner witch abilities are starting to show. Marnie Littlefield (Michelle Beaudoin) is her best friend at school. They have a crush on hot jock Seth (Ryan Reynolds). Harvey has a secret crash on Sabrina. Katy Lemore spices up her love life by breaking up with Seth. On her birthday, Sabrina is given her spell book and then their cat Salem starts talking. She tries to win Seth with witchcraft but it requires love with a pure heart from Seth or else she'll be turned into a witch's familiar.It's fine as a teen romance. Harvey could be played by an actor with a bit more charm. The rest of the cast is fine. This is for the TV show's fans and also anybody who wants to see Ryan Reynolds in his 80s fluffy golden blonde hair. It's a low level family-friendly fun time and not anything more.

I think the previous comments can be explained by some clarification. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch the movie came first. Given the popularity of the movie, a TV show spawned off of it (much the same as what happened with Buffy, the movie was first) and the cast changes and other changes were made. I liked the series, but it's important to note that since Sabrina was already popular by that point because of the movie, the series had the opportunity to be much more polished and complete. Taken with that in mind, it's much easier to enjoy the movie as the delightful first romp through the Sabrina world that it is, rather than comparing to the much-improved later works.

I must provide one of the dissenting voices here as an individual who actually enjoyed this movie as relaxing and light entertainment even though the character development had a few flaws, the script could have been improved at times and the plot was essentially one that had been explored in many different contexts. It is infinitely better than the subsequent `Sabrina' movie that was produced and I actually came away quite impressed with the quality of the actingIndeed I think it was the quality of the acting that turned this movie from what could have been an exceedingly weak teenage movie into one that was entertaining and enjoyable. While usually not a fan of Melissa Joan Hart, she actually provided some high quality acting here and gave her character a real personality and a dimension that was very enjoyable to witness. Michelle Beaudoin also was excellent in her role, as was Ryan Reynolds as Seth and Tobias Mehler as Harvey. And Lalaina Lindbjergh provides an excellent portrayal of quintessential snob Katie Lemore. The only major criticism I have is to do with Seth's character development later on in the movie but I won't give that away because it would be classified as a spoiler. Yet I think it was Sherry Miller and Charlene Fernetz who really provided the most excellent, comprehensive and in depth portrayals of their respective characters. The two gave the characters of Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda so much creativity, depth, imagination and appeal –as well as an elegance and grace that went well beyond what the scriptwriters had in mind. Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda completely stole the show and it was a shame we didn't see more of the excellent acting of Miller and Fernetz in this movie –and indeed that we haven't heard more from Miller and Fernetz on the acting scene. They are truly wonderful first class actresses –I can't commend them highly enough. Sure, the plot was predictable, but the acting made up for it in my view. If you are looking for some light and enjoyable entertainment for younger audiences, this movie quite definitely fits the bill.

I do think the the TV series based on this TV flick is better, but this movie did set the course for laugh-out-loud comedy series. Most of the casting is messed up, except for Michelle Beaudoin as Marny, Sabrina's best friend. Michelle went on to play Sabrina's best friend Jenny for a season, which was good. However, the voice of Salem in this one was all wrong! The voice in the show is much better.