Practical Magic 2 Can’t Conjure the Original’s Spark: Review

1998’s Practical Magic, the tale of two witchy sisters confronting the curse that’s haunted their family for centuries, wasn’t a huge hit when it was first released. However, the Sandra Bullock/Nicole Kidman supernatural dramedy became a cult favorite pretty quickly thanks to its magnetic cast, emphasis on sisterhood, and a banger of a soundtrack that still holds up great today. Hence Practical Magic 2, the inevitable legacy sequel, featuring the core original cast in a movie sadly muddled by a weak script filled with awkward moments.The time jump between the first movie and this one is not nearly as long as the 28 years that have passed in reality — more in the range of 18-20 years, enough time for Sally’s daughters to grow up, but apparently too short a period of time for the original film’s Evan Rachel Wood to return.Before we get to the present-day action, there’s a brutal reveal — as spoiled by the first teaser trailer, the curse that has killed the men loved by Owens women for centuries did claim Gary, Sally (Bullock)’s second husband. After his early death, Sally decided to take extreme measures to protect her two daughters Kiley and Antonia in the future: She magically erased their memories of magic, and also stopped using it herself.Years later, Kiley and Antonia (now played by Joey King and Maisie Williams) are living their lives as young adults — Kiley’s an art student and Antonia is studying medicine — and are blissfully unaware of their witchy heritage. Their aunt Gillian (Kidman) and their great-aunts Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Frances (Stockard Channing) have continued to practice, but keep the girls unaware of that per Sally’s wishes.Unfortunately, when Kiley finally admits to being in love with her devoted boyfriend Gideon (Xolo Maridueña), he immediately gets hit by a car and slips into a coma. As a result, both girls learn the full truth about their legacy, and Kiley runs off to England in search of a solution that could save Gideon, guided by an ancient book filled with potentially dark magic. When Sally and Gillian chase after her, they uncover new secrets about their family line that could change everything.Kicking things off with an abrupt reversal of the first movie’s happy ending is theoretically necessary for the needs of the plot. However, it ensures that Practical Magic 2 begins on a sour note, one that makes the movie’s subsequent attempts at lighter beats feel jarring. This would be more forgivable in a more coherent movie, but unfortunately we’ve got one of those screenplays where characters are prone to making bad choices based on poor logic, and contrivance drives more of the plot than one would hope.Practical Magic 2 (Warner Bros.)When this sequel works, it works largely thanks to its stars, as Bullock and Kidman still draw that sisterly bond out of each other, even if their dynamic hasn’t really evolved from one movie to the next. Susanne Bier takes over directing duties from Griffin Dunne, and emphasizes a loose, seemingly improvised directing style that involves a lot of characters talking over each other — charming at some points, especially when they allow the two stars to riff together.It’s a small cast, with the most notable addition being Lee Pace as an occult academic who shows up largely to deliver exposition and deliver some hot smolder in the direction of Sally. He’s excellent at the second thing, but although he and Bullock do have some solid chemistry in their scenes together, the movie’s eagerness to set up their fledgling romance does feel forced at times.One defining element of every male character in this movie: They are either very very good or very very bad, with no nuance whatsoever. The women get a bit more dimension, but overall feel underserved — Gillian is relegated to a sidekick role, and their beloved aunts and poor Maisie Williams are also largely absent from the action. The result leaves the movie feeling unbalanced, especially considering the emphasis the first movie placed on the power of sisterhood.To its credit, the film does avoid the legacy sequel trap of trying to hit too many familiar beats — for example, a full tribute to “midnight margaritas” fun is reserved for an appropriately significant scene, rather than forced into the first 30 minutes. However, that blast of Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut” is a sad reminder that the soundtrack disappoints in comparison to the first film, which featured artists like Joni Mitchell, Marvin Gaye, Nick Drake, and more. The one bright spot: Someone did make sure to include a Florence + the Machine needle drop. Really, Warner Bros. should have just commissioned Florence Welch to do a concept album, Charli XCX-style.There’s no shortage of actual witchcraft here, though it’s represented more by CGI swirls than actual practical effects, which Dunn used pretty elegantly in 1998. The real magic of that movie, though, was the emphasis on its female characters, something not totally lost here. Even when cursed with a substandard script, Bullock and Kidman still cast quite the spell.Practical Magic 2 flies into theaters on September 10th. Watch the latest trailer below.