I’ll admit that I enjoyed this movie quite a bit more than I expected to. Frankly, the trailers for it didn’t do anything for me. I liked the original series, and the trailers didn’t make it look like those remaking it knew much about the series. The big surprise is how much the original series is referenced, in terms of specifics. Nicole Kidman has a lot of fun with her role. It should be second nature to her, since she’s played a witch before (in the underrated Pratical Magic). Will Ferrell didn’t seem like the best casting choice to me when I saw the trailers for the film, but I must admit that he’s a pretty funny choice to play Darren – and they find great ways to play his persona into the trappings of Darren (such as his insecurity when he realizes that they replaced the original Darren on the show and nobody cared). The always great Michael Caine turns in another fun performance as Kidman’s dad, who enjoys his special powers. Shirley MacLaine even lands a fun performance as Endora. Probably the most inspired piece of casting goes to casting Steve Carell as Uncle Arthur. He’s absolutely perfect for that role. Even more amusing is that they used another of The Daily Show’s “reporters”, with Steven Colbert as one of the producers on the fictional show within the movie. So yeah, in the end I was pleasantly surprised that I like this movie as much as I did. I guess it does help to have lower expectations ahead of time.