That’s okay, I’m prepared.Īnd today my review is so late as I shared the film with my niece. So we are just going to end up with a double dose of vampires this weekend. I wouldn’t normally have two vampire movies next to each other (tomorrow I will be posting my review of Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part I), but as usual-I’m nearing the end of Horrorfest X and I’ve fallen behind in some of my reviews. I didn’t talk too much about this film as I planned to review it in October of that year, but I didn’t, so finally after all these years I’m going to share my thoughts on this film. Seven years ago a I did a 30 Day Disney challenge and one of the prompts was your favorite DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie).
This entry was posted in Halloween Horror Month, Movie Reviews and tagged Adaptation, Comedy, Coming of Age, Drama, Fantasy, Magic, Romance, S, Supernatural, TV Movie, Witchcraft, Witches. While the TV movie stumbles every now and then, it’s a fine and respectable adaptation for its heartfelt narrative and because Melissa Joan Hart is just so darn likable. None it was really as interesting as watching Sabrina learn the ropes of her powers, and how vast her world was now that she knew where she came from. For a ninety minute TV movie, there’s just so much filler to go around, including a pool party mishap, and a track meet that decides the direction of the finale. Which is not to say that the TV movie is anything resembling a masterpiece, mind you. It somehow lacked the heart and soul of the original TV movie that spawned it. I fondly recall tuning in to check it out based on Melissa Joan Hart’s name credibility alone, and was utterly bored by it.
I’m one of the few nineties kids that really disliked the “Sabrina” TV series (this movie is a pilot for the inevitable series) of the late nineties. Tibor Takacs is able to take a low budget and turn it in to a fairly charming adaptation of the Archie Comics series that’s familiar without being so faithful that audiences will have to turn to the comics for a reference point. “Sabrina” works primarily as a teenage dramedy where Sabrina has to remember to stay true to herself, and watch out not to get too power crazy.Įspecially with the threat of becoming an animal if she uses her spells to win over the affections of the school jock. Its fun to see how much she’s able to master her powers, and what happens they don’t quite work out as planned.
Tibor Takacs does a good job of creating the world of Sabrina for a more realistic coming of age tale, building a charming dramedy that keeps us guessing where Sabrina is going to end up next. Sabrina begins using her magic to boost her popularity at school and begins to learn what happens when magic is used sloppily. Her cat Salem is also a familiar, who is basically around to do their bidding. On the day of her sixteenth birthday, she discovers that she comes from a long line of witches and that her aunts are her witch mentors. She’s fairly new to her school and dreams of becoming one of the senior elite. Much like the comics that spawned her, Joan Hart plays Sabrina a transfer student from Massachusetts who goes to live with her aunts at Riverdale.
Hart was always able to convey the girl next door charm and otherworldly beauty well, and she is able to transform Sabrina in to an admirable silver screen heroine.
Melissa Joan Hart is really good casting as Sabrina, the young witch who discovers that she has magical powers on her sixteenth birthday.