Back in 1998, Practical Magic appeared on the scene to give the whole witch=sisterhood thing an unfeasibly cozy makeover that – to many – acted like the cinematic equivalent of sipping coca while wreathed in a snug onesie. Regardless of my insignificant opinions of some impressively messy pacing issues and a bunch of storytelling problems that seemed unwilling to pick an actual plot thread until about a third of the way in, the frothy comedy featuring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as witch sisters trying to find love within a family curse, has amassed a rather sizable cult following over the years. Of course, we all know what that usually means in these days of modern Hollywood – especially in these times of nostalgia-fueled legacy sequels – so we’ve now got a Practical Magic 2 to contend with. But has this twenty-eight-years-later follow up simply waited too long to manifest, or can it overcome the storytelling problems from the first film that bugged me so much to ensure that it’s midnight margaritas for all?
We rejoin with the Owens clan in Massachusetts to discover that the intervening years haven’t been overly kind to Sally Owens. Despite the fact that she, her freewheeling sister, Gillian, and her aunts, Jet and Frances, thought that they had finally broke the Owens curse that sees the man soon die if any of them happen to fall in love, it seems that it was still going full force when it claimed the life of Sally’s second husband, Gary, not long after they were wed. In the face of such tragedy, Sally takes great pains to avoid this happening to her or her daughters – Antonia and Kylie – ever again, when she renounces magic after using a spell to wipe any witch-related memories from her children.
Years later, Antonia is on the verge of becoming a doctor and Kylie is in a relationship with the charming Gideon that’s fast becoming something serious, but after a family tragedy occurs, it coincides with the Owens curse coming back in full force when Kylie’s beau is walloped into a coma after a traffic accident. However, after Kylie learns about her witchy heritage, she also learns of a sinister tome known as the Book Of Raven, which may hold the key to ending that pesky curse once and for all. But such a big task requires a trip to London, and after she flees, leaving Gideon in the care of her sister, both Sally and Gillan discover that she could be in grave danger.
Trying to bury their animosity toward one another, Sally and Gillian race to merry ole’ England to try and enlist the services of Ian Wright – no, not the footballer, but a professor who studies magic – in order to locate Kylie, and save her from whatever threats come with following the Book Of Raven. But how can Sally possibly save her daughter when she continously denies herself of her own, formidable gifts?
So, as you may be able to tell, I wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of the original movie by quite some margin. While Bullock managed to conjure up enough charm to make things watchable, it’s slack storytelling and bizarre pacing led it to be something of a formless experience until the murder of an abusive boyfriend finally gave the film some semblance of plot. Well, the good news is that with Birdbox’s Susanne Bier at the helm, the belated return of the Owens sisters finally has more narrative meat on its bones as there’s much more stuff to sink your teeth into other than endless, autumnal whimsy. However, the bad news is that it ends up being the sort of adventure that would close out a particularly derivative season finale of Charmed, that throws in evil magic users, malevolent books that smoke more than Bill Hicks, and Lee Pace’s tattooed magic professor who feels weirdly like a PG-13 John Constantine has finally climbed on the wagon.
In the first Practical Magic, it felt like the formless family stuff was getting in the way of the actual film – when, in actuality, it’s the part of the movie it’s acolytes embraced the most. But with this sequel, the attempts to graft a cohesive threat into the entirety of the flick now is getting in the way of all the warm, cuddly stuff. I guess it’s something of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t sort of scenario (or should that be cursed?), but while the nostalgia factor should obviously help the sequels cause, there’s an overwhelming feeling that everyone has waited a little too long. For a start, I don’t want to be that guy who picks on women over their age, and it’s truly impressive that they’ve brought back almost everyone who isn’t a killed-off Aidan Quinn. However, while I was frequently distracted by the fact that both Sandy and Nicole now reminded me of Gelflings from The Dark Crystal, there are also times when my anxiety went through the roof when it was clear that Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing seem fairly unsteady on their feet.
Still, all the old chemistry is still there and Bullock does well to throw in random spots of her trademark comedy, but I’m still hampered by the way Kidman’s Gillian is still mostly a fucking liability, but gets a pass because the movie still deems it a crime that Sally is incredibly uptight. Even more curious is the treatment of Sally’s daughters. While a nightie wearing Joey King gets to traverse London and fall with a questionable influence, all Maisie Williams gets to do is watch other a comatose Xolo Maridueña while he spends the majority of his screen time in a coma. I suspect that some post production editing may have occurred, because it’s strange that a movie that claims to be so defiantly about sisterhood chooses to bench once of its main characters for the entirety of the runtime – on the other hand, Practical Magic 2 is a hefty 130 minutes long, so any exorcised plotlines may have been something of a mercy.
However, despite this whole thing really not being my bag, I will say that some of the onscreen farewells the film tackles prove to be genuinely moving, and the whole vibe with Lee Pace’s magical scholar gives Bullock something more tangible to work with than repeated panic attacks involving the safety of her daughter. However, while I found most of Practical Magic 2 fluffy guff, I’m not sure what devotees of the original are going to think. Is there too much supernatural stuff going on now? Are scenes of magic people zapping each other over a flaming pentangle too Doctor Strange, for what is essentially a warm, fuzzy, romantic fantasy? As I have no real feelings about the original one way of the other, I can’t really speculate, but it did generate a similar amount of apathy – so I guess it’s consistent, if nothing else.
While there’s still enough of the good stuff here to narrowly avoid things becoming practically tragic, the continuing drama of the Owens women still failed to fully induct me into their coven. How dyed-in-the-wool fans will ultimately recieve this long awaited legacy sequel will be quite interesting – but it’ll be far more interesting than anything that can actually be found within the film…
🌟🌟