Information AboutHalloweentown |
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Halloweentown is the name of a fictional community in three movies aired as works for television on The Disney Channel (presented as " Disney Channel Original Movies ") between 1998 and 2004. SYNOPSIS Halloweentown proposes that Fantasy beings such as Troll s, living skeletons, and humanoids with varying numbers of heads, limbs and sensory organs are real, but separated themselves from Earth's history to escape humans' fear and persecution. These characters created their own community, Halloweentown, a thousand years ago in an alternate space. Travel between Halloweentown and the ordinary, historical world (which Halloweentown residents call "The Mortal World") is only possible with magical aid, and only at regulated times (until the events of the second movie create a less restricted traffic channel and events of the third film widen that gap even further). Although magic is present in many of the details of daily life of Halloweentown, it appears that only a limited number of persons actually practice or control magic. These people are human in appearance (sometimes mostly human), and called Witch es if female and Warlock s if male. Magic is hereditary in their families. The three Halloweentown movies concer n episodes in the lives of the Cromwell/Piper family. The family matriarch, Agatha Cromwell, has been a pillar of Halloweentown society for centuries. Her daughter, Gwen Piper, married a mortal and chose to leave Halloween town for a life in the Mortal World. At the time of the movies she is apparently widowed. She has decided to raise her three children (Marnie, Dylan, and Sophie) apart from magic, and thus rejects contact with Halloweentown and the influence of her mother. HALLOWEENTOWN (1998) The film begins with Marnie and her mother arguing over why she and her younger siblings can never go out for Halloween. Gwen patiently explains that "there are things about Halloween that you don't understand", but with no more detail than that, it is little surprise Marnie still has a problem her's mom's order. Gwen has more or less restored order when her mother Aggie shows up for her annual Halloween visit. The kids are happier to see Aggie than Gwen is, and we soon learn why: Aggie openly encourages the kids to get more involved in all things Halloween, and Gwen is nearly powerless to stop her. Aggie seems especially intent on training Marnie as a witch, since it is Marnie's 13th Halloween. Marnie, of course, has no idea about any of this. Aggie drops a huge hint as she is about to head home: reading the kids a bedtime story, she selects a book called "Halloweentown", and when Sophie sees a drawing of a witch that closely resembles her big sister, Aggie does nothing to stop Marnie from imagining such a thing. Gwen and Aggie get into an argument about all of this, and Gwen insists Marnie will be raised as a normal person and not a witch. Aggie says she disagrees with this, but actually she is there for another reason: people have started disappearing "back home". Gwen thinks they just moved, but Aggie says it is not that simple. Aggie leaves, turning the chicken leftovers into a live chicken on the way out. Aggie and Gwen are not aware Marnie was watching this the whole time. Marnie runs back upstairs to tell Dylan what she just saw, and Dylan says she's insane. They then follow Aggie covertly to a previously non-existent bus stop. When the bus indeed arrives, Marnie and Dylan sneak on board. Suddenly, the bus shakes violently and the bus is filled with flashing lights...and before they know it, the bus is landing in Halloweentown. Aggie also doesn't see Marnie and Dylan getting off the bus. At the same time, Marnie and Dylan don't see Sophie getting off the bus. Dylan notices her, and Marnie asks what she's doing here. Sophie says she was only pretending to sleep; she heard everything Marnie told Dylan, and followed them. They all begin to look for Aggie, who they have lost, when the mayor approaches them. He says his name is Kalabar and whistles for the cab. The cab is driven by Benny, who is a skeleton with a bad sense of humor ("He's a much better driver than a comedian," says Kalabar). Dylan can barely believe what is happening, and Marnie sees it on his face: ''Marnie: Dylan, it's rude to stare!'' ''Dylan: Why don't we talk about how illegal it is to drive without eyeballs?'' The three siblings find their grandmother's home, and against her better judgment, Aggie decides not to take them home immediately. She says she'll start Marnie's witch training, but has to take care of "the bad thing" first. She shows her grandchildren what she is talking about: in the cauldron, a vision of a hooded demon appears, laughing maniacally. Aggie has a talisman that she says can defeat this demon, but her witches brew is defective ("That's what I get for trying to use instant!"). So she has to take the kids into town and get the ingredients to make her own. In town, Marnie discovers a broom sales man, and the family is introduced to "local punk" Luke, who loks like a normal human kid. He makes a clumsy pass at Marnie, which she turns down on the spot; after Luke calls himself a "big cheese" and offers to take Marnie out for an ice cream, she stares daggers at him and says, "I was hungry, but then I smelled something stinky...it must have been the Big Cheese!" Benny later explains that Luke once looked like a gnome, but claimed a shadow demon made him look better. Marnie picks a broom, and she and Aggie take it for a test drive. When they get back, a furious Gwen has shown up and orders the kids to return home immediately. Marnie fights her briefly, but eventually knows she is in deep trouble. Gwen can't find another bus back to the mortal world, and when she tries to see if the mayor can do anything, she is shocked to see that the mayor is Kalabar...her old boyfriend. When Kalalbar briefly leaves to handle another problem, Gwen and her kids see Aggie walking somewhere with Luke. Sensing Aggie might be in trouble, they follow Aggie and Luke to an abandoned movie theatre. Once inside, Gwen and Aggie find themselves battling the hooded demon they had seen in the cauldron. The demon freezes Aggie and Gwen, and suddenly Marnie finds herself in charge. She decides to finish what Aggie started, by gathering the ingredients for the witches brew that will hopefully make the talisman work. They are successful, and soon find themselves battling the demon...who reveals himself to be none other than Kalabar himself. With the help of Luke, who has realized the error of his ways, Marnie disables Kalabar long enough to unfreeze Aggie and Gwen...as well as all the other Halloweentown citizens Kalabar trapped in the theatre. Marnie, Gwen and Aggie confront Kalabar. Kalabar is apparently bitter that their kind were forced to relocate to this new world because humans wouldn't accept them, and also that Gwen passed him years ago for a mortal man (the kids' father, now deceased). But the three of them alone aren't enough. Sophie had also been showing signs of possessing magic, and Dylan, when angered, also shows slight powers himself. The five of them combine their powers and banish Kalabar to oblivion. Gwen agrees to let Marnie start witch training and even invites Aggie to live with them. HALLOWEENTOWN II: KALABAR'S REVENGE (2001) Some years after the events of the movie Halloweentown, Marnie prepares to spend a year with her grandmother Aggie in Halloweentown. While hosting a neighborhood Holloween party Marnie tries to impress a new boy, Cal, by showing him Aggie's magically-hidden room. Cal steals Aggie's spellbook. Soon Aggie notices unwelcome magical symptoms. She and Marnie travel to Halloweentown to investigate and fix the problem before the portal between Halloweentown and the mortal world, open only on Halloween, closes at midnight. They discover the whole town has been made grey and dull. Aggie diagnoses a "grey spell". Aggie contacts grandson Dylan back home for a spell from her book, and Dylan and Sophie discover the book is missing. Marnie and Aggie learn that Cal is the son of their enemy Kalabar from the previous movie. Cal stole Aggie's book to limit her ability to hinder his attempt to revenge his father on both Holloweentown and the mortal world. Aggie searches for her spare copy of her spell book at her house in Halloweentown, but it is missing. She eventually learns it was acquired by Kalabar decades ago. Aggie becomes caught in the grey spell. Marnie, while trying her own solution involving time travel, accidentally learns how to break the spell. Then the Halloween portal to the mortal world closes before she can return home. Cal, having enspelled Halloweentown into a boring charicature of the mortal world, is now at work enspelling the mortal world into a monstrous charicature of Halloweentown. Sophie and Dylan discover that a frog-golem, constructed by Cal to pose as his father, has taken Gwen as his date to the town Holloween party. Gwen dispels the golem, but Cal casts a spell to turn the revealers into the monsters their costumes depict. Marnie, trapped in Halloweentown, frees Aggie, contacts her siblings, and they create a new portal between Halloweentown and the mortal world. Cal produces both spell books, which Marnie takes from his hands. Cal then vanishes, apparently not of his own desire, and the family breaks the spells to set things right in both the mortal world and Halloweentown. HALLOWEENTOWN HIGH (2004) As Marnie prepares to begin a school year, she asks the Halloweentown Witches' Council to work toward openness between Halloweentown and the mortal world. She proposes to bring a group of Halloweentown students to her own high school in the mortal world. The Council agrees, but only after Marnie unwittingly bets "all the Cromwell magic" that her plan will work. If she does not prove she is right by midnight on Halloween, her entire family will lose their magical abilities. The Halloweentown students arrive, magically given human appearances to disguise their true non-human natures. School begins with Marnie acting as tour guide for the exchange group ("from Canada"), Aggie substitute teaching so she can be available in case of need, a romantic interest for Marnie in new student Cody, and a possible threat from the Knights of the Iron Dagger. The Knights are a long-absent anti-magic cult that wants to keep the mortal world closed off from Halloweentown. While Aggie proves unable to teach any subject effectively, the Halloweentown students keep to themselves, hiding in the refuge that Aggie magically creates for them. Marnie gradually encourages the kids to join school activities and make new friends. Marnie's progress in interrupted by a warning that appears to be from the Knights of the Iron Dagger, then by a magical incident at the mall that results in the Halloweentown students assuming their natural appearances, by a break-in at the secret magical locker, and finally by the disappearance of one of the students. Meanwhile, Marnie's developing relationship with Cody parallels an unexpected romance beginning between Aggie and the school's principal, Phil Flanagan. But Aggie suspects Cody of being the cause of the trouble, and convinces Marnie to halt their relationship. They eventually discover that Phil has been attracted by the allure of a secret order and thinks of himself as the revival of the Knights of the Iron Dagger. Edgar Dalloway, head of the Witches' Council and father of one of the students, is the real root of their problems. He wants to keep Halloweentown isolated from the mortal world, and enlisted Flanagan as a Knight to ensure the failure of Marnie's project. This, he hoped, would cause a negative reaction in Halloweentown and keep the portal between Halloweentown and the mortal world closed. The Halloweentown students use the school's Halloween carnival to improve mortal attitudes toward magical folk. Their haunted house depicts the ordinary lives of creatures that have typically been used as monstrous images in the mortal world. Gwen meanwhile uses a witch's glass to hunt down the missing student. At the school Halloween carnival, Dalloway launches magical attacks begin against mortal students. Damage and panic spirals beyond Marnie and Aggie's ability to contain it. Flanagan incites a mob to corner the Halloweentown students. The students reveal their true selves, and Cody shames the crowd into accepting them. Dalloway claims the Cromwell magic, but Gwen has shown the evening's events to the full Witches' Council. They return the Cromwell magic, Gwen returns with the student Dalloway had imprisoned, and the Council imprisons Dalloway. The portal between Halloweentown and the mortal world opens in the middle of the haunted house, and crowds of kids from Halloweentown cross over to enjoy the carnival together with mortal world kids. Marnie flies off for a romantic broom ride with Cody. LITERARY THEMES All three movies develop the characters and plot around a triad of relationships among the three main characters: The mother-daughter relationship between Aggie and Gwen is tense. They live in, literally, different worlds. There is a generation gap between the choices of the two. The parent tries to persuade her child to do things the way the parent prefers. Aggie and Gwen struggle over whether Gwen's children will know their magical heritage. The mother-daughter relationship between Gwen and Marnie mirrors in many ways the one between Aggie and Gwen. The same underlying cause (their attitudes toward the magical heritage of the family) causes another generation gap. Marnie wants the magical life her grandmother offers, and resents her mother's rejection of that choice. This relationship is somewhat echoed in Gwen's relationship with younger daughter Sophie. The grandmother-granddaughter relationship between Aggie and Marnie has two aspects. Aggie provides what Marnie misses in her relationship with Gwen. Aggie is also a magical teacher to Marnie, who becomes Aggie's Apprentice . The teacher-apprentice relationship between Aggie and Marnie also exhibits some common Comic themes. Aggie often plays an addled grandmother - her magic seems more pride than potency. In the first two movies, the apprentice takes over when the teacher is defeated, and both outshines and rescues the teacher. Yet Aggie's formidable reputation is based on skills she actually has, and Aggie comes through after her rescues to lend essential strength in the climactic confrontations. The first and third movies rely heavily on the theme of a stranger coming to town, and running afoul of unfamiliar local customs. In ''Halloweentown'', Marnie, Sophie, and Dylan are tourists in the unfamiliar town of Halloweentown. In ''Halloweentown High'', Marnie plays the local expert who rescues both Aggie and the Halloweentown students from comic situations. In ''Halloweentown High'', Marnie makes a foolish wager. When this theme appears in literature, the wager may be unwinnable, resulting in Tragedy . Because this movie is a Comedy , the family finds an unexpected way to win the wager, causing a happy ending. SEQUELS
CAST The Halloweentown movies preserve the same cast in all the major roles in all three installments:
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