A magical reunion with diminishing returns
Susanne Bier’s Practical Magic 2 brings Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman back as sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, nearly three decades after the original cult favourite. The result is affectionate, intermittently funny and unmistakably nostalgic, but its 130-minute runtime gives the sequel too much room to repeat familiar spells.
Sally has abandoned magic after losing her second husband, even erasing supernatural memories from her daughters, Kylie and Antonia. When Kylie’s boyfriend Gideon falls into a magical coma, the family is pulled back into the Owens’ legacy. A mysterious book leads the women to England, where they confront an ambitious warlock and another chapter of the family curse.
The plot is busy without always being involving. The film revisits forbidden love, inherited trauma and sisterly loyalty, while adding ancestral mythology, romantic subplots and a late surge of fantasy spectacle. The central idea : that no magic is stronger than sisterhood : remains winning, but the screenplay states it so often that the emotional point loses some of its power.
Bullock and Kidman are still the film’s greatest strength. Their chemistry remains easy and instinctive, with Bullock bringing Sally’s nervous practicality and Kidman giving Gillian her familiar combination of mischief, glamour and emotional openness. Their scenes have the warmth of an old friendship, even when the material around them becomes over-written.
Joey King gives the sequel its most committed younger performance. As Kylie, she plays grief, fear and romantic recklessness with real conviction, attacking the role with an impressive A-game. Maisie Williams has less to do as Antonia, reflecting the film’s wider problem: several supporting characters are introduced with promise before being pushed aside by the main magical storyline.
Lee Pace adds welcome charm as an occult professor whose interest in Sally gives the film a playful romantic energy. Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest are also warmly received as the eccentric aunts, though their return feels more like a gift to longtime fans than a fully developed dramatic necessity.
The sequel offers cosy seasonal pleasures, pleasing performances and an appealing celebration of female solidarity, but it is also predictable, overlong and dependent on nostalgia. Its magic occasionally overwhelms its character work, while the narrative largely retreads the original instead of discovering a compelling new direction.
Practical Magic 2 is therefore best approached as a reunion rather than a reinvention. Bullock and Kidman still cast a spell together, but the film around them struggles to sustain it.
For those looking for more industry insights and deep dives into the latest cinema, the Film & TV Review.com offers comprehensive coverage, while the latest podcast episodes feature roundtable discussions and Exclusive industry interviews with Directors, Producers and insiders working today. Check us out on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
