by Nick Ferro, Editor
I am not a long-time fan of Practical Magic. Not through any fault of my own, as it came out the year my family moved back to the US from Japan and, as a 13-year-old boy, I wasn’t exactly the target audience anyway. I hadn’t even heard of it till twenty years later when I finally got around to seeing it for the first time. What’s worse, is prior to yesterday, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you anything about the movie beyond, sisters, witches, dead guy buried in the backyard, and jumping off the roof. I don’t know why, but for some reason the movie just didn’t stick with me. With no one asking to review the sequel I decided to take it on myself and as a result needed to refresh myself on the original, which I did, and found to be incredibly delightful despite my lack of memory! Outside some slower pacing in act one, I had a great time. I felt confident going into Practical Magic 2 that I would be able to give it a fair shake and judge it for the “years-later” sequel that it was, despite being a relative newcomer to this new franchise.
Practical Magic 2 picks up with the Owens’ family of witches suffering another loss. After only a few years of marriage to Gary (Aidan Quinn) the family curse strikes again and kills him off screen but leaves Sally (Sandra Bullock) with the decision to cast a forgetting spell and hide their magic from her daughters. She believes that if they grow up without magic then they will grow up without heartbreak. Gillian (Nicole Kidman) promises to respect her wishes and although she and “The Aunts” never stop practicing witchcraft, they do a fine job over the next fifteen years keeping both Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams) in the dark. Naturally, that all comes to an end when Kylie falls in love with her boyfriend Gideon (Blue Beetle himself, Xolo Maridueña) and he is, within minutes, hit by car and put into a coma. (I can only assume she only kind of loves him since it doesn’t kill him outright like her father and stepfather before him.)
Good news though! Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) finds a book, hidden in the library that has the spell they need to finally bring the Owens’ Family Curse to an end and allow them to fall in love without fear of killing their spouse! This results in a road trip adventure to Europe to unlock the secrets of the mysterious book complete with sisterly bonding, mother/daughter heartache, and a sexy naked man with an air of mystery surrounding him. I’ll let you discover the details and the remainder of this mystery for yourself, but what I will tell you is that this movie survives on the strength of Bullock and Kidman.
On top of the fact that they must be witches in real life (because they look like they haven’t aged a day since 1998), they fall right back into their characters as though no time has passed at all. Having only just rewatched the original, I wouldn’t have guessed that almost thirty years have come and gone between entries. Sally and Gilly both feel real and lived-in as the story progresses and their bond as sisters was ever present throughout. Nicole truly ‘came to this place for magic’ and stood out as having the most fun by getting to really chew the scenery with Gilly’s humor and devil-may-care lifestyle. But Sandy is still my favorite. She somehow manages to hold the entire dramatic weight of the movie on her shoulders while still being able to be playful, funny, and her charmingly quirky self. It’s very clear that the movie knows this too because they are given the bulk of the screen time. She even has decent chemistry with Lee Pace who plays the aforementioned mysterious naked man.
The weaker elements of the movie are the inclusion of both the Aunts and the daughters. While I definitely understand and love the parts given to Jet and Franny (Stockard Channing) there was some disappointment that they had much smaller roles than in the first movie. However, I do believe they were used to perfection as the touching emotional bookends of this story. I think the most underappreciated person in this film has to be Maisie Williams’ Antonia, who was relegated to being the literal nurse at her sister’s boyfriend’s bedside while Kylie went on an adventure without her. I don’t dislike Joey King at all, in fact I find her to be quite delightful in most of the roles I’ve seen her in, but here she feels miscast. I found her parts of the movie to be underwritten and underdeveloped. She should have been a co-lead but essentially became the McGuffin that our actual leads were in search of the whole time.
While I completely understand that no one wants to see a Practical Magic sequel that doesn’t place Bullock and Kidman front and center, I really was expecting an adventure starting two generations of sisters working together. Interestingly though, I think the route they took was a much smarter decision because Sal and Gilly are such endearing characters that I enjoy seeing them do something different and new.
Practical Magic 2 is not like the first movie though in a lot of ways, which does set it apart from many other “years-later” sequels. Rather than try and recapture the feeling of the original with callbacks, nostalgia, and repeated story beats, it focuses on recapturing the feeling of the characters. There is also a certain style that Di Novi Pictures had in the 90s which was fairly unique and very much on display in the original that this sequel doesn’t share (not that this is a bad thing). Likewise, there is a fundamental change in the way the magic is portrayed in the sequel. In the original the magic was very practical (at least as much as possible) and had an element of whimsy that would almost lead you to believe that it might not even be real. It was subtle due to the effects limitations of the time, but as a result it gives Practical Magic a certain charm that is just missing in Practical Magic 2,for me. This entry is not afraid to use CGI and while the CGI looks good (save for the final scene of the movie where the green screen effect combined with the lighting, screams rushed re-shoot) the lack of practical effects is very noticeable, especially if you just watched the original. With all of that said, I didn’t actually mind the shift in tone, premise, filming style, or magical upgrades, as the focus on Sal and Gilly were all that I needed to feel at home.
I think one reason why Practical Magic has grown to be a beloved cult classic after suffering box office disappointment in the 90s is because this is a grand example of femininity and sisterhood in film. Barbie showed us that when a movie is made for women and is honest in it’s intent that they will support it in droves. I anticipate that this will remain true in the case of Practical Magic 2 (if not to the same financial degree). At its core this is a story about two sisters working together with the support of their aunts, in the hope of making a better future for their daughters. There is no better example of this sisterhood on display than at the climax of the film while the antagonist is making his clichéd grand speech. As he drones on his dialogue falls into the background, giving Sal and Gilly a chance to share a private moment of solitude amidst the chaos. The movie almost comedically ignores the action of the scene so that these powerful women can share their power to overcome their obstacles and repair their relational bonds.
As a man I can only express what I experienced, but anecdotally, the audience I watched this movie with (mostly women) was enjoying it greatly and vocally. I truly feel like this will be huge success and will get a lot of good word of mouth from those who see it this weekend. If you are a fan of the original, I recommend you take the time to see it while it’s in theaters because watching it with a crowd was very fun. The summer started and ended with a big “years-later” sequel and while they both succeeded in their own ways, Practical Magic 2 is the one that, to me, hit all the right notes due to its care for the characters. I can only hope that a third entry is warranted because seeing Sandy and Nicole on screen together is worth the price of admission every time. Especially if they’re making mid-night margaritas!
Rating: Liked It
Practical Magic 2 is currently playing in theaters.
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