"Twitches": A fun Halloween movie

Spoiler Alert With Jimmy Nichols

After watching “Obsession” last week, I wanted a palate cleanser. While that movie is fantastic, I wanted a more fun watch before we ramp up the horror movie watch-alongs for the end of the month.

After asking around for suggestions, I was told about a 2005 Disney original movie that I had not heard of yet. Growing up, I was a Disney Channel kid, thanks to my sister, and I was surprised I had not watched the movie, especially because it would have come out when my sister was the target demographic.

“Twitches” was not one of the first Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOM) centered around the pumpkin holiday, as that honor would go to “Under Wraps,” and perhaps one of the most famous DCOM movies, “Halloweentown.”

While I might have never seen or heard about “Twitches” before last week, I was excited to see what the movie was about.

The plot follows two twin sisters, played by Tia and Tamera Mowry, who are separated at birth on their birthday, Halloween. The two are from another dimension called Coventry, which was under threat from The Darkness.

The Darkness absorbs people in its dark cloud of smoke, claiming their souls in its misty haze. Coventry has fallen to The Darkness, except for the castle, which is under the protection of Queen Miranda.

The twins’ father, Aron, sends the girls away, under the watchful eye of two protectors, to Earth to protect them from The Darkness. However, he gives each of them all his magical abilities so one day they can return and defeat the evil force.

The two are originally named Artemis and Apolla, for they represent the sun and the moon. As a reminder of their original names, the two wear amulets with the corresponding heavenly body to match their name.

This is their only link to their home, as they are adopted by two loving earthly families. However, the two could not have experienced more different lives.

Apolla is renamed Camryn and is raised by a wealthy family in a gated community, while Artemis is renamed Alex and is raised by a single mom in a trailer park.

The audience time-jumps to the twins' 21st birthday, and we get a sneak peek at their abilities before they are realized.

Both can see into the future but express their clairvoyance in different ways. Camryn is an artist and draws what she sees early in the morning when the sun rises, while Alex writes it down in journal entries.

The two protectors, Illeana and Karsh, feel it is time for the two to meet and force the two long-lost sisters to do so. Up to this point, the protectors have stayed out of the sisters’ lives, but now they make themselves known, as The Darkness is close to overtaking the castle.

The sisters are shocked to find out they have a twin and quickly realize that together they have magical powers. When they hold hands, they make clothes rip off mannequins, cars go crazy and drawers fly.

They realize together they are unstoppable. The sisters read through Alex’s readings to find spells they can cast and look at Camryn’s drawings to see what Coventry looks like.

Meanwhile, in Coventry, Queen Miranda can feel that her daughters are still alive and asks their uncle, Thantos, to find the girls and bring them back home. However, the girls do not need their uncle's help to return home, as they learn they can open portals to Coventry themselves.

After the classic third-act fight in a Disney movie, Alex returns to Coventry to meet their biological mother, while Camryn returns home for her 21st birthday party. Because of the advice of her parents and because The Darkness is closing in on her house, Camryn joins her sister and biological mother in Coventry.

This is when the audience is given one of the least surprising villains in Disney history, as it is revealed that Thantos is the leader of The Darkness. He killed his brother to seize power and wants to engulf the entire kingdom in darkness, but he could not do it until he defeated all three: the twins and their mother.

Alex and Camryn forgive each other, and through the power of love, defeat The Darkness, setting free all it had engulfed.

The message of the movie is great, which is, love always wins. The twins name everyone they love: their adopted parents, friends and each other.

The only negative thing about this movie is the graphics. The movie receives some grace because it was released in 2005, when computer graphics were still new, and it is a DCOM, which means it did not have the biggest budget for filming.

However, the movie shows its age a bit when it shows the wide shots of the castle surrounded by The Darkness or when the twins freeze time around them and are clearly in front of a green screen. This is easy to look past, though, because the movie is so fun.

Is this the greatest movie I have ever watched? No. Was it still a lot of fun to watch over 20 years after its release? Yes.

While the movie might not reset the standard for the best movie ever, it does not need to, nor does it try to.

The point of the movie is to have fun and to remember to love those around you. This is an easy watch this Halloween season, and if you want something light to reset your palate after a horror movie, this is worth a watch.