Halloweentown is the first installment of the Disney Channel original movies about the Pipers. This movie focuses on the story of Marnie the oldest of the Piper children, who is 13 years old. Marnie feels like she is different and does not belong, but the fact is, their family has magical powers.

The story begins on Halloween,  with Marnie begging to go out. Her mother (Judith Hoag) refuses to let the kids celebrate Halloween or even trick or treat. Then magically the children’s grandmother Aggie, played by Debbie Renoylds, shows up and brings candy, costumes and decorations. Aggie tries to talk her daughter into letting Marnie train as a witch but is refused. When Marnie overhears them talking about a darkness in Halloweentown, Marnie and her younger brother and sister follow Aggie onto the bus.

There is a darkness falling over Halloweentown and Aggie has to stop it.

She has a magical talisman of Merlin she needs to activate and put in place to save the town. The mom checks on the kids before going to bed and finds them missing. She immediately goes to Halloweentown to bring them back.

When they go shopping for ingredients for a witches brew, their mom finds them and tells them they are going home. Marnie, who finally feels like she belongs, wants to stay. When the bus isn’t running ,the family goes to the mayor for help. He is the mom’s old boyfriend and agrees to help them after he does one task. After he leaves, Sophie sees Aggie following Luke, a boy that has been helping “The Darkness.” The rest of the family follows them to an old theater. The Darkness apears and tries to get Aggie to give him the talisman. Aggie and the mom are frozen by the darkness and the children are left to deal with the darkness.

They go around town and find the ingredients, fill the talisman and Marnie and Sophie do a spell to activate the talisman. Marnie remembers that it has to be installed somewhere. They head down to the center of town, where there is a large jack-o-lantern. Luke is there and warns her it is a trap. He has changed sides and now wants to help them.

The darkness appears and Luke tries to distract him, so that Marnie can install the talisman. She is frozen but not before she drops it into the giant pumpkin. Light fills the town and the darkness is revealed to be the mayor.  He tries to take the talismans back. Then Aggie starts doing a spell and the mom joins in. Then Marnie sees sparks coming from Dylan’s fingers. The whole family stands up to the mayor and he vanishes. Grandma is coming back with the family and Marnie is going to be trained.

This is a fun movie for the whole family. The costumes and make up are excellent and not too scary for the younger kids. This is a Halloween movie that is entertaining and fun.