User reviews

Those three generations of Cromwell women, Debbie Reynolds, Judith Hoag, and Kimberly Brown are once again fighting some evil forces that are trying to keep the world of Halloween away from the human world. This time it's a world exchange program that's at stake.

Young Kimberly Brown has the bright idea to have some Halloweentown kids come to the human world incognito as humans, the better not to instantly shock people to foster greater understanding. Of course the powers that be in Halloweentown remembering their experiences with humankind before are very skeptical.

But Kimberly believes so much in the project that she bets the family magic powers on it. The bet comes due appropriately on Halloween.

The Magic Kingdom has developed its own nice little franchise in the Halloweentown movies to go along with the various incarnations of High School Musical. Debbie Reynolds and the rest of the cast are as enjoyable as they were in the first Halloweentown film. And if the school looks familiar Zac Efron and company sung and danced there. And Lucas Grabeel of the High School Musical films is also part of this cast as one of the Halloweentown transfer kids.

Halloweentown High is good viewing during goblin season.

I would say that this is the best and most interesting story since the first one. Especially when compared to part 2 and 4. But the execution of that story was just so much weaker. Was also not a fan of the silly/tone. I get not wanting to be as dark as the second film but it's even less serious than the first one.

I, like many people, love the first two movies. The original is an all time Halloween classic and the second has some really interesting social commentary and a fun, fast paced story with real stakes and tension. This movie however is so slow and plodding. There is nothing going on for most of the film.

The story actually has a lot of potential. Bringing monster students to the human world to prove we can co-exist nicely follows the themes of diversity and acceptance from the earlier films, and Marnie being the leader of this program continues her story arch of believing people can exist in both realms. The threat of the film, The Knights of the Iron Dagger, explain some of the conflict that lead to Halloweentown's creation and serves as a surprisingly somber allegory for real world hate groups. Unfortunately none of these ideas are fleshed out to their full potential.

We barely see the exchange students. We never see them in class. We never see them struggling to assimilate. We don't really see them do much at all. They only briefly talk about their experiences, which is so much more boring than actually seeing them. When they do finally start to fit in, we see it in a montage that last maybe one minute and only features two of the kids. Isn't this what the movie is supposed to be about? Can we develop the concept a little, give them personalities, funny fish-out-of-water set pieces, show them slowly starting to figure things out and find their place?

The Knights are another disappointing element. They're presented as an actual threat, like real world human violence kinda threat, but again we don't spend much time dealing with them. They send a few calling cards to scare Marnie, and she mostly ignores them. She doesn't seem that worried, and when she does finally take things more seriously, not much time is dedicated to it, although Kimberly J. Brown's performance really sells her concern. The movie was intended to be more "family friendly" and less scary than the previous installments so perhaps some of the threats and drama were removed from the final product.

Halloweentown doesn't actually appear in the movie (LAME), but do get some nice dungeon-y hidden rooms where the kids hideout and show their true forms. All the effects and makeup are great, a little more colorful than the previous films, but that's fine. However, like everything else good in the movie, we don't get enough of it. The actual high school is very modern and very boring. Remember the high school from a nightmare on elm street, gothic, dark wood, moody atmosphere? A better setting like that would have really helped the movie since we spend so much time in the real world. The only Halloweentown setting is a court room where judges control everything in Halloweentown as a tribunal? The first movies shows that the town has a Mayor, so I don't really understand how this municipal government works.

There are good elements. The performances are all good, the main cast is great actually, and I do enjoy seeing the characters from the previous movies return, although the younger sister doesn't get much screen time. The scene where the kids get upset at the depiction of monsters at a mall Halloween store is good, and has some genuine emotion. You feel bad for them. The carnival at the end where they recreate Halloweentown to push positive depictions of monsters is fun, if a little underwhelming, and it is nice to see Marnie succeed in uniting the two worlds.

The movie was made in 2004 as the young adult horror boom of the 1990s was dying out and Disney's best made for tv movies where behind them. In this time period, Halloweentown High is struggling to live up to it's legacy, and while I was really rooting for it, it's just really boring. It doesn't betray the characterization of the Cromwell family. It doesn't disrespect the lore/continuity or the themes of the previous movies. There's nothing to get mad about. It's just not terribly engaging, but it is the final film with the original cast, and that might be enough for you to want to seek it out.

The highlight of the movie is Debbie Reynold's little orange pumpkin car. It's the cutest thing.

This was the best out of ALL of them, and I am being honest. It was the coolest, greatest, best written and acted one of them all. I love all the Halloweentown movies because of their plots! Witty and clever ones. You get to see a different villain, which I loved. In every Halloweentown movie, there is a new villain. I love that! In a lot of movies, they have the same villain for every movie. It had more characters i.e. Cassie, Natalie, Chester, Pete, Ethan and more, they are all students from Halloweentown come to the mortal world to see what it's like to live like a human. My favorite was Ethan! He is so good. Lucas Grabeel is such a good actor, and this was his first acting job ever, and he was excellent. We were also joined by Cody, a new student at Marnie's high school, who happens to like her, she likes him too! It's a real cool movie, the best one out of all, so check it out!

This movie series is obviously some people's favorite Halloween movies. I didn't grow up on Disney, but my wife did. So we watch different Disney classics every year and I'll warn that I'm not sentimental about Disney movies.

This one was easy to watch and isn't boring which makes it ideal for a holiday when you are passing out candy or carving pumpkins as you don't need to really figure out the plot since it's over explained.

Being the third one, I imagine it didn't get the same budget as the film quality wasn't nearly what movies were using in 2004. Some scenes looked like they were filmed on a household camera from that year.

I couldn't really tell if the principal was a bad guy or not.

You'll appreciate the characters and find most of it good enough. If you have kids, it's probably a really good pick since it is really tame and none of the costumes are intense.

It's our third trip to Halloweentown, although almost the entire movie is spent in the human world. This movie takes the idea of the foreign exchange student program to a whole new level. Marnie organizes for monsters and creatures from the Halloweentown world to attend school in the human world. We're introduced to a group of fun new characters. Similar to the first Halloweentown, the weakness of this film is its villains. There isn't anything the least bit frightening or original about them, nor is there anything surprising about their motives. What makes this movie enjoyable is watching the Halloweentown teens learn how to get along in the human world and find common ground with their human classmates. The romantic side stories are a nice addition. Marnie's new love interest is genuinely likable and you can't help but root for the guy. There have been many moments during this series that have made me think of Harry Potter and this movie has some more like that, and it's not a bad thing.

This Halloween Town was again worth the time. Disney hit a home run with the casting and fine tuned the show for its audience. Lucas Grabeel stood out in this debut as Ethan, a warlock worth watching. He has much to offer the acting world and is going to go places in Hollywood and his newest release, High School Musical may be the launching pad. The show was fun and the Disney audience loved it. The Halloween Town High premise of creatures disguising themselves as high school students and trying to fit in when their peers find it hard to fit in themselves is a refreshing twist from the other roles available. Disney once again found a new vehicle for some talented young actors. Way to go, Disney!

Halloweentown High, just premiering last week on the Disney Channel was a lighthearted family feature. Watching it, anyone would realize that this film was not out to grab a best picture nomination at the Oscars. However, for what it's supposed to be, Halloweentown High proves to be a film that children will enjoy to watch. With a wide fan base of children of all ages from the first two films, you can see why the Disney Channel is playing the movie several times all month.

While I read over a few of the comments made on the movie, I was perplexed at how some young girls went completely crazy over it, while others took out enough time to write a full essay on how horrible it was. As a movie for children, it's supposed to be cheesy; so expect that and you will find yourself pleasantly surprised.

It's rare that sequels are better than the original, and this movie proves that in many words. Halloweentown was a blast to watch, and I knew at once that the other 2 sequels would be good, but I was wrong. I didn't particularly like #2, but I definitely don't like this one. The entire movie is like repeating one scene over and over and over and over with different lines, it's not exciting at all. A lot of the Halloweentown citizens aren't as believable as they were in the first, they look more like costumes had just been slapped on them. It doesn't seem so much like it's connected to the original. It just seems like it's an entirely new movie and not a sequel. It was just bad. I don't recommend.

Halloweentown III: Halloween High, though not a stunning piece of cinema, held much more talent and savvy than that of the first two. The characters did not seem as 1-dimensional and bland. The production value was more towards the theme of the film. And the acting was much better as well.

Truth be told, I was appalled by the first two films. To me, they seemed to poke too much fun at Halloween and the mystique behind the glorious Holiday that it is. This was abandoned that lack of respect and focused more on being a family friendly film.

Kimberly J. Brown has grown into a beautiful and talented young actresses. It is good to see her give less of a "wooden"performance, as in the last two entries.

I think the new director & new writer were just what this series needed. If Disney continues to make them like this...I'll keep watching with my Daughter. If they revert back to what they have been dishing out...Then I'll stay on Nickelodeon!

7 outta 10

Halloweentown High is exactly what you would expect from a weird Disney movie. It is an offshoot of the Halloweentown series and holds little value. The characters are forgettable, the plot is dumb, and the discrimination topics are unoriginal and overplayed. Granted, it is a kids movie, but even kids movie should be compelling. As far as Disney shows, it wasn't very fun and an incredibly unneeded sequel to the duology.

I really enjoy all three Halloweentown movies though the only thing missing from Halloween High was Marnie's friend Luke. Maybe he's too old to be in High School anymore but that doesn't mean he couldn't have come over to give some moral support. ;-) These movies maybe intended for kids but I really enjoyed them! When the first two came to TV, I taped them and had a neighbour copy them onto a few more VCR tapes for other kids I knew. A Halloween movie that's not at all scary is something I enjoy. I can't wait to buy all three movies on DVD! :o)

I am having someone I know who lives in the U.S. pick up a copy of each movie for me and mail it to me. Though I'm the only with a VCR copy of Halloween High and one day hope to pass the third installment onto all of my neighbourhood kids since I know they enjoyed both Halloweentown one and two.

While I adore the Halloweentown movie characters this film in the series marks a significant shift away from the first two and in a way that I didn't particularly enjoy.

Most importantly the character dynamics and how they relate to each other is dramatically different. In the first two Marnie and Grandma Aggie are like two peas and a pod. Marnie almost idolizes her grandmother and the one screen chemistry really works for me in the first two movies. In this movie , seemingly out of of nowhere, the relationship between the two is all of a sudden combative from the start with no explained reason why. Dylan is the most enjoyable charter for me in this one as he maintains his relationships with the other family members in a way that is consistent with the first two movies . The total absence of Luke and the very limited use of Sophie was a huge loss and a poor decision. They were both great in the first two and I don't understand why they went away from them. Meanwhile, Marnie and Gwen's relationship change I can understand a little more as they have always been growing close as the movies have gone on , but Gwen's passion and use of magic even for simple things seems excessive for what her character believed in the past.

The movie also has more of a high school musical vibe to it rather than a movie that's strictly for Halloween. A further annoying change to me is Grandma Aggies's bag. It's all of a sudden a reptile that walks and eats things. It gets way too much screen time in my view and becomes annoying . I really don't think anything it does couldnt have been achieved another way. Not going to Halloweentown like the first two movies was also disappointing for me.

As you can tell I loved the first two movies, but this movie is where it starts to go downhill for me.

I watched this movie knowing how much of a chance it had to be awful. The most recent Disney Channel original movies have been complete crap (case and point, The Cheetah Girls). And this movie is the third of two great movies already, and I was shocked to find that it was actually good! The only complaint I have is that there is no mention of Cal or Calabar, the villains from the first two. The story starts out with Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown) and her grandmother Aggie (Debbie Reynolds) are planning to bring kids from Halloweentown, disguise them as humans and have them attend a high school in the mortal world, to prove monsters that live in Halloweentown aren't dangerous. But of course, there is a problem, if Marnie can't prove to the humans that the monsters are harmless, she, and her family will lose all their powers.

When the monsters start attending the school, they all stick together and aren't interacting with their fellow human schoolmates, so Marnie suggests they do different extra curricular activities. Then, they start making friends. Then, they sign up to make a haunted house for their school Halloween Carnival, but they make it so it is a wax museum with wax monsters sitting, drinking tea, and eating cookies trying to how that monsters mean no harm. No kid at their school is amused by this. And during this whole time, the monsters are being chased down by evil knights, which leads to a surprising revelation. This Disney Channel movie has surprisingly good computer special effects. Considering their latest effects-laden original movie, Zenon: Z3, had the worst computer effects I've ever seen. Another thing great about this movie is that Disney seems to have a knack for getting the same actors back for their sequels to their original movies. Kimberly J. Brown, Debbie Reynolds, Judith Hoag, Joey Zimmerman, and Emily Roeske are all back, and have been in all three Halloweentown movies. If you haven't seen the original Halloweentown movie and its sequel, I would see those first, because there are some things that might not make sense. You have to see them in order to get the entire story. All in all, this is the best original movie Disney Channel has produced in quite a while. 9/10

Halloweentown High is terrible, not nearly as good as the first or even the second one. For the first hour and a half of the movie absolutely nothing happens. And whats up with the knights...give me a break. I think they ran out of ideas at the end of the second one. The knights really do nothing until the end, it's pathetic. By the end I didn't even care about this movie, The one thing it did have was good special effects, for a Disney movie. But, besides that small and not so great bright spot, This is garbage. My advice skip this movie, unless you have absolutely nothing to do and there is nothing on the television,and you want to watch this movie to see if it's really as bad as my review says.2/10

This movie was awful it had no story. I mean Halloween town wasn't even in the movie why name it Halloween town high when Halloween town is not even in the movie. O.k. it was in the movie but only that council room thing with those guys. But i mean there was no point to the movie. Its like a stupid fairy tale with a happy ending. THE ACTING WAS GOOD MARNEY THE GRANDMA AND THE MOM WERE THE ONLY GOOD ACTORS. But other then that, really bad movie i don't know why they keep on making sequels with different directors kinda stupid don't you think. All the monsters that come from Halloween town was retarded they all stunk at acting. I don't want to be harsh but if you make a good movie don't make a bad sequel that kills the whole series the second one was o.k. but the first one was good see what Disney does to movies. I give it a 1/10.

this movie is a must for any Disney fan, especially if you (as i am) a fan of High School Musical, some of the cast choices were not as you expected but they all shine, a brilliant story line and is very unpredictable, some corny lines but if you love Lucas Grabeel you will melt, as they are all said by him a very well used budget for a DCOM and use of sets effectively. the special effects are very amateur but it was never going to be a blockbuster, high earnings movie, which is probably appealed to me. all of these actors have bright futures ahead of them as you can see with the success of some already. i cannot wait until i see the next installment of the movie, and any others in the future. i would recommend this movie young and old as a movie that is a must for your DVD collection.

I love this movie, must watch it every October. It's ICONIC, definitely the best of the whole franchise.

HalloweenTown High is a 2004 prequel to the Halloweentown movies and stars all of the original cast Debbie Reynolds,Kimberly J Brown and Judith Hoag. This time Marine(Brown) invites all the monsters to attend her mortal School,disguised as humans. Along the way Marine falls for Cody(Finn Wittcock) who just started school.

But will danger be lurking for Marine and her new friends when the Iron Dagger doesn't want the new monsters to enter the mortal world.

Keep an eye out for Lucas Grabeel(Ryan) and Olysea Rulin(Kesli) who both appeared in the HSM Trilogy as monsters.

4.5/10.