The Craft: Legacy finally turned from a $20 rental down to a more reasonable post-release streaming rental (6 bucks or so). I didn’t blow the 20 bucks simply because I’m not a devotee of the original film from 1996. It’s something I saw, thought was ok, and moved on… but I was curious what they’d do in a sequel (or remake)… but not $20 curious. But glad I did watch it. It’s 2/3rds a pretty enjoyable movie, surprisingly so.
So tell me if you’ve heard this one before: a girl moves to a new town and meets three other girls who have been looking for a fourth for their witch coven. Yes, very similar to the original film, to the point I wondered if this was a reboot. Again, it’s not but it does follow the same beats (at least to begin with).
And, hey, the first two thirds of this film are surprisingly enjoyable. We get four talented young actresses with the new girl – played by relative newcomer Cailee Spaeny – as the star of the show. She’s really good and very photogenic in this film. It should be a star-making performance. They are joined by the adults in the cast played by Michelle Monaghan and David Duchovny. Nice to see both of them.
Unfortunately, the film does suffer a bit from a lack of characterization. The three witch leads are charismatic but get almost no personalities or stories of their own. This is clearly the Cailee Spaeny show. And, not to beat a dead horse, the original film did a lot of leg work to make all four of its girls into real characters. This personality problems extends to some of the other characters to the point it feels like maybe something got lost in the edit.
But maybe that’s ok – this is its own movie and wants to be about the lead character. Fine. That’s ok. And honestly I was having enough fun with the first two acts that I could forgive these transgressions.
Alas, however, the third act is almost a disaster. It’s not so bad it kills the movie or completely sabotages the first two acts (in my opinion – I suspect this is a deal breaker for many viewers). Basically the movie takes a hard right turn in tone and plot.. and introduces a villain that, while not completely not set up, still feels a little out of the blue. And very cartoonish. It also looks cheap and takes place on an obvious set. It feels like maybe a last-minute reshoot or something.
On the other hand, like the original movie, this is a tale of female empowerment. It takes it in a different way this time and that’s refreshing and fun. It is a bit “woke” but I don’t think in a way that’s too pandering or messagey. It’s just a different angle on the original’s girl power… one that’s not quite so 90s and very 2020.
So, yeah, I think this movie mostly works with a barely passable but obviously a mistake final act. I can still recommend it though – it was strong enough and the cast was enjoyable. I think it works, despite its attempts to sabotage itself.
Score: 81