There’s truly nothing like seeing some of your favourite characters back on the big screen after more than two decades. It’s just a bummer that Practical Magic 2 didn’t do them justice.
Written by Mariane Tremblay
Truth be told — and I can’t believe I’m writing what’s about to follow — I’m not one hundred per cent sure how I feel about Practical Magic 2. I can’t say I hated it, but I can’t say I loved it either, which is unbelievably disappointing. And yet, it's not really surprising.
I’ve always been reluctant when it comes to sequels because they often end up ruining what made the original so special. Practical Magic 2 may not ruin what made the 1998 movie so iconic over the years, but it definitely isn’t a legacy sequel that was worth making.
One thing is for sure: I am incredibly happy to see Sandra Bullock (The Proposal), Nicole Kidman (Eyes Wide Shut), Dianne Wiest (Edward Scissorhands) and Stockard Channing (Grease) back on the big screen together once again. Practical Magic (1998), although it never earned critical acclaim, grew into a cult classic over the last 28 years, becoming one of the most iconic witchcraft movies. But that’s no surprise to anyone, considering the movie starred America’s sweetheart, a rising red-haired Australian star and two Hollywood icons.
But that’s pretty much all it is: a nostalgic reunion. This sequel relies heavily on nostalgia without bringing anything new or relevant to the world we’re living in today, unlike The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026), which raised questions about the state of journalism and artificial intelligence versus art. Not that this is necessarily what’s needed to make a good legacy sequel, but I genuinely believe that Practical Magic 2 could have benefited from more, whether that meant greater relevance or more depth in its writing.
Minor spoilers ahead
After the death of her second husband, Gary (played by Aidan Quinn in the first movie), Sally Owens (Bullock) swore she would never use magic again. She then decides to cast one last spell to protect her daughters, making them forget that they were witches, hoping to shield them from the curse cast upon her family centuries ago by their ancestor, Maria Owens (Ema Cavolli).
Years later, Sally is working in a library — a library that's hiding the Book of Raven, which contains instructions for [finally] breaking the curse. Brought there by a raven’s portent, Jet (Wiest) takes the book in the hope of setting her family free after centuries. Knowing that she will die soon, she leaves it to her sister, Franny (Channing), hoping she will be able to finish what she started. But before anyone can do anything about it, Kylie (Joey King, The Kissing Booth) begins a serious relationship with Gideon (Xolo Maridueña, Blue Beetle), unaware of what is in store for the man she loves. Faithful to the curse that has been cast — although I feel it comes much sooner than it did with Sally and her first husband in the original movie — Gideon gets into a serious accident that leaves him in a coma, putting his life at risk.
The beginning of the movie led me to believe that there was hope and that the story would be more interesting than I expected, but it quickly unravelled into something incredibly uninspired, if not insignificant. Despite its 130-minute runtime, everything feels rushed, especially towards the ending.
I haven’t seen a movie this surface-level in a while. It barely addresses any of the feelings or challenges the Owens women are facing throughout the story, leaving almost everything feeling strangely hollow. Almost nothing feels quite right, apart from seeing Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest back together on the big screen. And I have to admit that I spent most of the runtime asking myself, “Why?” which is rarely a good sign.
I will admit, though, that I can’t speak to how closely the movie follows its source material, as I haven’t read Alice Hoffman’s 2021 novel, The Book of Magic. So, is the movie accurate? Is it not? That’s something I can’t tell. What I can say is that the movie had so much more potential than what ultimately made it onto the screen. And what I think is most frustrating about Practical Magic 2 is that whenever you finally find something positive about it, the movie doesn’t quite know what to do with it.
I do love the emphasis on sisterhood and family, and there’s something genuinely lovely about seeing the Owens women come together. At the same time, the movie is so heavily centred around Kylie that it leaves very little room for Antonia (Maisie Williams, The New Mutants), which I found incredibly disappointing. If you’re going to give us a movie about the Owens sisters and sisterhood, why not have all of them be part of the journey to break the family curse? It almost feels as if the writers have simply lost interest in Sally’s youngest daughter — which seems particularly odd, given that she is supposed to hold an equally important place within the family. And, honestly, I would have liked to see a queer character given a bit more prominence in a major studio movie. But that's another conversation for another time.
Technically speaking, there are also a lot of stylistic choices that felt extremely strange and, at times, completely at odds with the rest of the movie. Some of the special effects look so cheap that I couldn’t help but laugh, which is probably not the reaction you want from a movie like this. But I think the worst part is the way the villain is presented through a series of visions. I still don’t understand what the filmmakers were trying to do with those scenes, but whatever the intention was, it didn’t work.
However — and this is precisely what leaves me so conflicted — even though the film is far from perfect and far from the sequel I had hoped for, it made me laugh (Nicole Kidman should star in more comedies because her comic timing is absolutely flawless) and it made me cry (beware for the moment when the song Landslide starts playing). A lot. There’s truly nothing like seeing some of your favourite characters back on the big screen after more than two decades. It’s just a bummer that the movie didn’t do them justice.
Practical Magic 2 is now playing in theatres.
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