Directed by: Susanne Bier
Written by: Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett, and Kelly Marcel
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, Dianne Wiest, Joey King, Maisie Williams, Xolo Mariduena, and Lee Pace
Runtime: 130 minutes
‘Practical Magic 2’ does not conjure much enchantment
“No magic is stronger than sisterhood.”
Twenty-eight years ago, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman – before they both won the Best Actress Oscar in 2010 and 2003, respectively - starred in director Griffin Dunne’s “Practical Magic” (1998), a comedy/fantasy flick about a pair of sisters coping with a 300-year-old curse started by their ancestor, Maria Owens. The said supernatural whammy from the 1660s (perhaps?) jinxes any female descendant of Maria (an honest-to-goodness witch) who falls in love, because their dearest sweetheart will soon perish.
Ooof.
One would hope Sally (Bullock) and Gillian (Kidman) would mention this fact on their dating app profiles, as well as the vital bit of information that they are both witches, as is any other female descendant of that troublemaker, Maria.
In 2026, director Susanne Bier resurrects the Owens’ big-screen story for a follow-up on their adventures in dodging amorous feelings, chilling with their favorite aunts, Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Aunt Franny (Stockard Channing), raising Sally’s 20-something daughters, Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams), conjuring an occasional spell, and making margaritas.
Even though life has flown by for almost three decades, “Practical Magic 2” is set – maybe – 10 years after the first film. We discover that Sally’s love interest from the first movie, Gary (Aidan Quinn), died, and she decided to cast a spell on her girls to forget that witchcraft runs in their family.
However, her plan blows up when Kylie falls in love with her boyfriend, Gideon (Xolo Mariduena). He’s a character that the audience barely knows (like scrolling by for .5 seconds on social media), but Gideon is struck by a car and falls into a coma.
Sally comes clean, and Kylie feels betrayed, but she discovers a mystical book that could remove her family’s dreaded curse, and this distraught college student heads off to England to hopefully save her beloved.
So, Sally and Gillian – like any responsible mother and aunt would - follow Kylie across the pond. The sisters connect with Professor Ian Wright (Lee Pace) to help these two strangers in a strange land, while Maisie stays with Gideon in the hospital.
One of the problems with the original “Practical Magic” is that the unfocused and crowded screenplay doesn’t spend enough time – under a limited 104-minute runtime - with the best aspects of the movie: hijinks with our two leads and their magical spells.
(And for the record, Wiest won two Oscars and Channing was nominated for one!)
Based on Alice Hoffman’s 1995 novel, the 1998 film asks us to follow the siblings through childhood, young adulthood, and their dating lives, their relationship with their aunts, coping with magic and the curse, and Sally’s two romantic rendezvous. Then, the movie gets trapped in a police drama due to Gillian’s terrible choices in men and a lame investigation by the aforementioned Gary.
To top it off, Sally has Kylie and Antonia in the original film, and they’re elementary-school aged. Dunne and the screenwriters insisted on including kids’ inconsequential whimsy and naïve observations, which burned valuable on-screen minutes that should have stayed squarely on Bullock, Kidman, Wiest, and Channing.
The sequel then focuses more of its attention on Kylie and Antonia, as the former zips off to the not-so-jolly UK, while – admittedly – the latter is relegated to sit with Kylie’s unresponsive boyfriend.
The 130-minute runtime offers more celluloid runway for all the actors and actresses, but the extra 26 minutes seem devoted to Kylie and her struggles, conflict, and an uninspiring international adventure.
Granted, the Owens saga should pass down to a younger generation, but then “Practical Magic 2” becomes Kylie’s journey to a significant extent. King and Williams will hopefully go on to great things in the movie industry, and King has a nice moment with Bullock when Kylie confronts Sally about witchcraft and the curse. However, just about every other moment with Kylie and Antonia carries the cinematic gravitas and interest equivalent to taping up the edges of ceilings and floor moldings for 2 hours and 10 minutes before one begins rolling paint in the living room. Well, that’s not exactly accurate, because taping off those areas is crucial to a painting project.
Meanwhile, Aunts Jet and Fanny fall one generation behind, and Sally and Gillian are on a cobbled-together rescue mission. The theme of Gillian’s more promiscuous persona compared to Sally’s more selective choices continues here, but we don’t meet any of Gillian’s boyfriends, as she only briefly mentions a dreamboat named Chad in a throwaway line in the first act. Naturally, the British professor could be a potential love interest that picks up where the deceased Gary – the worst detective in human history – left off all those years ago, a predictable plot device.
Bullock and Kidman aren’t given clever banter to chew on, as the two – especially Kidman – are seemingly asked to improvise random thoughts while bouncing around the kitchen or on the road, as screenwriters Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett, and Kelly Marcel may have taken a holiday during the UK shoot or during their original writing process.
As far as a sequel goes, those nostalgic for the 1998 movie will hopefully enjoy it. Margarita pours continue to splash on-screen, and in place of Faith Hill’s “This Kiss”, audiences are treated to a Fleetwood Mac classic sung by Ms. Stevie Nicks.
Look, generally speaking, I buy that “no magic is stronger than sisterhood.”
Unfortunately, “Practical Magic 2” doesn’t conjure much enchantment.
Jeff’s ranking
1.5 / 4 stars
