Featured DVD Review: Sabrina Down Under

February 5, 2017

Sabrina Down Under - Buy from Amazon: DVD

Sabrina Down Under

I put in a request for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine The Complete Series, but Sabrina Down Under arrived instead. This TV movie is the second such movie from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the first being Sabrina Goes to Rome. Will it please fans of the show? Does it have a grander scale than the average episode?

The Movie

In Sabrina Goes to Rome, Sabrina went to Rome and met a witch named Gwen. Gwen wasn’t a very good witch and her magic tends to get her in trouble, even more than this happens to Sabrina. This time, the pair decide to take a vacation in Australia. Sabrina picked the location, because she read a book about the Great Reef, by marine biologist Dr. Julian Martin and the book has inspired her to perhaps become a marine biologist herself. The pair of witches will be alone, without Sabrina’s aunts and especially the two witches’ animal chaperones. At least that’s what they think.

It turns out Salem has been going to the same resort incognito. He’s been going there under his name, but as a reclusive man who is never seen by the staff. His cat, on the other hand, is to be given free reign of the resort and whatever it wants. The man Salem is pretending to be is rich enough to get away with this. While doing this, he meets another witch, Hilary Hexton, who is pulling the exact same scam.

Early in their vacation, Sabrina and Gwen see Dr. Julian Martin yell at some divers. When Sabrina mentions she wants to be a marine biologist, and demonstrates some of her knowledge, Dr. Martin invites the pair of them on a dive. While on the dive, Sabrina discovers a fish thought to be extinct, while Gwen meets Barnaby, who just happens to be a mermaid. (She doesn’t realize that at the time.) However, pollution in the area is hurting the marine life, including the mermaids. Sabrina and Gwen offer to help Barnaby, who is grateful, but his sister, Fin, hates all humans for what they are doing to their home.

Meanwhile, Dr. Julian Martin learns of the mermaids and decides if he can find where they live, he will become famous.

Sabrina Down Under is a TV movie, so I wasn’t expecting theatrical level production budget. However, I was expecting it to be better than the average episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but I don’t think that’s the case. It feels like a two-part story that was stretched out to a feature-length running time. This hurts the pacing, so the show isn’t as funny as the average episode, while there isn’t enough adventure to compensate. To be clear, if you liked the TV show enough to buy it on DVD, then you will probably like this TV movie enough to watch it. I don’t know if you will like it enough to spend $10 on.

On a side note, I did like seeing Lindsay Sloane as Fin. The actress played Valerie on the TV show for two seasons and was my favorite of Sabrina’s friends.

The Extras

There are no extras on the DVD. There are subtitles, which is nice. CBS releases usually have subtitles, which puts them ahead of a lot of other companies that release older TV shows on DVD.

The Verdict

Sabrina Down Under is thoroughly average. It has a good message, I like the main cast, and I enjoyed it enough to watch it. However, this is not something you need to seek out. Furthermore, the DVD has no extras.

Filed under: Video Review, Melissa Joan Hart, Peter O'Brien, Lindsay Sloane, Tara Strong, Nick Bakay, Rebecca Gibney