PRACTICAL MAGIC has loomed large in my life since I first saw it in 1998. From its all-star, female-led cast to its spectacular soundtrack and otherworldly production design, this movie was pretty much made exactly for me. When anyone asks me my favorite movie, I usually say TITANIC or THE SOUND OF MUSIC, but in my very next breath I always give a shoutout to PRACTICAL MAGIC. People who may not have seen the film before may go to its Rotten Tomatoes page and see it didn’t do so well with critics. But sometimes, the best movies are not critically acclaimed, and that is exactly the case with this film.
My love of PRACTICAL MAGIC reached a new height when I was invited to go with a friend to the PRACTICAL MAGIC 2 movie premiere in Los Angeles last week. Of course, I accepted without hesitation and had one of the best nights of my movie-loving life. It’s still hard for me to think of what my younger self would say… knowing I would one day get to be at the premiere of the sequel, along with the stars of the movies themselves! There’s a kind of magic to all of that.
I give this preface as a clear indicator that with something like PRACTICAL MAGIC, I am not going to be able to be as objective as others. However, I will admit when Warner Bros. announced there was going to be a sequel, after nearly 30 years, I was shocked and nervous about what was to come. I worried that the movie wouldn’t be good but that I would still somehow find a way to convince myself to love it… and would spend the rest of my life defending it to the haters. But lucky for my mental health, the movie is actually good. It takes so much of the qualities I love about the first film and kicks it up a notch, adding an immense amount of humor I wasn’t expecting.
The film opens with Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian Owens (Nicole Kidman) mourning the death of Sally’s second husband. His death confirms that the curse following the Owens women—which states any man who falls in love with an Owens woman will die—has not been vanquished. So, as an attempt to shield her daughters Antonia (Maisie Williams) and Kylie (Joey King) from heartbreak, Sally casts a spell to make them forget about magic. Cut to years later, Sally is still repressing her powers, much to the dismay of Gillian and the Aunts (Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest); Kylie is in college and Antonia is in her medical residency. But things go awry when Sally finds out Kylie has a boyfriend, Gideon. Despite all she has done to protect her daughter over the last several years, she cannot protect Kylie from the curse. Gideon is severely injured in a bicycle accident, and when Kylie comes to her mother for answers, it leaves her with even more questions… putting her on the path to try to vanquish the curse once-and-for-all. And of course, Gillian and Sally aren’t going to let her do it alone.
My biggest worry about PRACTICAL MAGIC 2 was that too much time was going to be spent focused on the newer members of the cast as opposed to Kidman and Bullock. But luckily, that is not the case at all. The heart of the film still lies in the relationship between Gillian and Sally and much of the action remains focused on them. I also love that the screenwriters found ways to pay homage to the original, some obvious (midnight margaritas) and some more discreet (my favorite was reciting one of my favorite lines from the first film, “What’s wrong with you???”). And man oh man, Kidman and Bullock’s chemistry is even more off-the-charts than it was in the first film. The script leans into the actresses’ comedic sides, especially Bullock’s physical comedy. This is easily Kidman’s funniest performance yet, and a nice break from the more dramatic roles she’s been taking on lately. The natural camaraderie and playful banter between the two actresses creates a realistic sisterhood and, more than anything, you can tell everyone had an enormous amount of fun making the movie.
Joey King has been receiving some backlash about being cast in the role originated by Evan Rachel Wood, and at first I was skeptical too, but her performance was one of my favorite parts of the movie. She is a very gifted actress and because so much of the film revolves around her trying to break the curse, I am glad they chose someone of her caliber. Don’t get me wrong, Evan Rachel Wood is a favorite of mine and I would have loved to see her reprise her role. But the film is centered around girls’ young adulthood as they are discovering love… and the impact being an Owens woman has on any potential relationship. Maisie Williams is admittedly wasted, but I am glad the filmmakers chose to still focus primarily on Gillian and Sally versus the younger generation.
PRACTICAL MAGIC 2 is a fun, entertaining, charming film that is sure to leave you feeling good and craving a midnight margarita. It is everything I hoped for in a sequel, and I am beyond pleased by how well the filmmakers were able to balance reverence for the original with a bunch of new elements as well. Fans of the first film are sure to love revisiting our favorite coven, but my favorite part is knowing new generations of fans will discover and fall in love with this world for themselves.
My Review: A
