Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return for Practical Magic
The sequel to the 1998 cult film reunites the original stars as the Owens witches, grappling with a generational love curse and family legacy in a new
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return as the Owens sisters in Practical Magic 2, a sequel arriving in US and Australian cinemas on September 10 and in the UK on September 11. The film reunites the original stars, now in their 60s, alongside Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest as their eccentric aunts, for what The Guardian calls an anomaly that is both an inevitability and an oddity.
Directed by Susanne Bier, the film's script comes from original co-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman alongside Georgia Pritchett and Kelly Marcel. It is again based on a book by Alice Hoffman. The sequel doubles down on the original's signature elements: hairpin tonal turns, strange CGI flourishes, and needle drops by Stevie Nicks.
The Cursed Legacy Continues
Bullock's character, Sally, has once again given up practicing magic. Despite believing she broke the family's ancient curse at the end of the first film, her second husband died after only a few years. In response, she magically erased all memories of magic from her daughters' minds to protect them. Kidman's character, the looser and airier Gilly, is dismayed by this choice.
The timeline requires some magical adjustment. While the original film was set in March 1998, new headstones in the sequel place those events in the early 2000s. This allows Sally and Gilly's daughters, Kylie and Antonia, to be portrayed as in their young 20s by Joey King and Maisie Williams, rather than the mid-30s they would logically be.
A New Generation's Trouble
Gilly warns her niece Kylie that "love is our undoing." Kylie ignores the warning. When her doting college boyfriend Gideon, played by Xolo Maridueña, ends up cursed and in a coma, she follows her mother's path. Guided by a recently unearthed Book of the Raven, she flees to the Owens' ancestral homeland of England.
Sally and Gilly chase after her, leaving Channing and Wiest's characters stranded at a hospital in Boston. The reviewer notes this is a shame, as Channing and Wiest are "by far the film's most luminous screen presence."
Masculinity in a Magical World
The journey to England introduces two contrasting male figures. One is an occult professor played by Lee Pace, who openly pines for Sally and encourages her to embrace her power. The other is a brooding warlock played by Solly McLeod, who craves Kylie's power and seethes with a sense of aggrieved entitlement. The reviewer describes this as a fascinating dichotomy of masculinity.
The plot guiding the women through these encounters and back to each other is described as characteristically odd and mostly beside the point. The appeal lies in watching Kidman and Bullock channel their unique movie-star sorcery.
Casting a Familiar Spell
The magic system remains endearingly inconsistent. It allows for generational curses and purgatorial spirits but not for levitating suitcases, forcing Nicole Kidman's character to lug bags in multiple scenes. The overarching theme, occasionally overwritten, is feminine solidarity through cyclical adversity. As the source states, the "midnight margarita redux may feel obligatory, but there's just enough magic here to still, despite everything, cast a peculiar spell."
