‘Practical Magic 2’: Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman Are Out of Spells in ‘90s Witchy Cult Classic Sequel

Alci Rengifo

No corner of millennial nostalgia is safe. Even the smaller hits of the late ‘90s are now deemed worthy of a sequel. “Practical Magic 2” arrives almost thirty years after the original “Practical Magic” divided critics and became a minor success. Its charm could be traced to the star power of Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, along with a combination of romantic comedy, sisterhood loaded with family trauma and warm witchcraft. While the movie has retained a following, it is very much a product of 1998. On paper the sequel should work. Renowned Danish director Susanne Bier is behind the camera and the screenplay is based on the final novel in the “Practical Magic” series of Alice Hoffman. They don’t conjure much magic, however, just an overly long, tepid reunion with odd casting.

The idea here is that it has been twenty-five years since the events of the first movie. The Owens sisters, Sally (Bullock) and Gillian (Kidman) famously descended from witches, still live in a house in Massachusetts with witch aunts Bridget (Dianne Wiest) and Frances (Stockard Channing). Still resentful about the Owens curse where anyone they love dies, Sally has cast a spell to make her daughters, Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams), forget their family roots. Turns out Sally’s love interest from the first movie (Aidan Quinn) did eventually die. Gillian remains an eternal free spirit but is upset that her nieces are denied the truth about their history. The secret can’t stay buried for long when Kylie gets a boyfriend in college, Gideon (Xolo Maridueña). Despite being Zoomers, they are eager to get married. That pesky curse intervenes and Gideon is soon struck by a car and left in a coma. Angry, Kylie not only uncovers the truth, but follows a potentially dark force to the United Kingdom.

“Practical Magic 2” could have easily remained loyal to the simple charms of its predecessor. It is all too easy to see the politics at play here. The story should be about the daughters. After three decades, it would be just as fun to have Bullock and Kidman replace the aunts as the elder witches. Bringing back everyone is pure fan servicing and nostalgia bait. Curiously enough, Evan Rachel Wood, who played Kylie in the original film, was not invited back despite being of a more convincing age. Joey King and Maisie Williams are good actors in their late twenties, but there is no way we can honestly take seriously the film’s timeline with them as Sally’s daughters (especially with them written as barely college students). Other jumbled story choices keep the story dragging rather than moving. Bridget dies early in the film after the black beetle announces someone will pass prowls around the house. So why leave only one aunt alive? Sally has already been brought back to square one with the revelation the cop she had a meet cute with in the first movie died.

The first “Practical Magic,” which was directed by Griffin Dunne, has retained some interest among fans and pop scholars for its feminist angles. The Owens represent a kind of female independence empowered by their witchcraft (though they never do much with it) and in the first film their community has to learn to treat them with dignity. There was also a darkly comic storyline about one of Gillian’s crazy boyfriends being killed before turning into an evil spirit haunting the house. The sequel does not know where to go and it is surprising to see Susanne Bier, an Oscar-nominated director for films like “In a Better World,” let it become a mess. A book containing potential answers for breaking the Owens curse also becomes a conduit for a dark force, which Sally and Gillian first encounter when flying to London and meeting Ian Wright (Lee Pace), an academic of some sort who looks like a handsome “Sons of Anarchy” reject. Like so many of the side characters, Ian is kept doing almost nothing except stepping back when the sisters have a showdown with the malevolent entity. Solly McLeod is then tossed in as another English character with a plot twist totally out of left field. Kylie just doesn’t want her boyfriend to die, but the script is then stacked with one more storyline about there being another branch of the Owens family resentful for getting no magic.

Say what you will about “Practical Magic,” but the original still has the breezy fun of a nineties date movie. There was a journey to everyone, from Sally learning to accept her gifts to Gillian learning not to date psychos. The only lesson in this new movie is that botox work looks glaring in a movie shot on digital. To be fair, Bullock and Kidman clearly enjoy each other’s company, to the point that we almost get too many repetitive moments of the sisters cuddling, hugging and assuring each other of their love. Yet, where is the Halloween season ambiance? Why has Gillian not grown in any convincing way since 1998? Nobody thought of this option for breaking the curse in three decades? They all travel to England but we wouldn’t know it. The big showdowns could be in someone’s backyard in Pasadena. Sometimes a sequel with such a time gap can convince us we wanted it, but “Practical Magic 2” has no new tricks to offer.

“Practical Magic 2” releases Sept. 10 in theaters nationwide.