Broken spell Sequel to cult classic fails to conjure same charms
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“You’ve heard tell of the Owens sisters,” says a handy voiceover at the start of this unsatisfying sequel.
Why, yes, they were in a movie 28 years ago, which did so-so box office at the time but went on to develop a large and loyal cult following.
That first Practical Magic go-round, adapted from the book by Alice Hoffman, was full of crowd-pleasing “You go, girl” empowerment and witchy shenanigans, making for a sweet, supernatural-lite kind of vibe.
It wasn’t a great movie, but it had its own hokey, Halloweeny charm. It was a pumpkin spice latte before pumpkin spice lattes were even a thing.
Understanding viewers’ deep devotion to the 1998 original, PM2 is big on fan service. (Female bonding! Pop-song montages! Slumber parties! Midnight margaritas!) It’s a pleasure to see Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest doing their stuff, and Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock are bona fide movie stars who bring a lived-in, back-and-forth authenticity to their characters’ sisterly connection.
WARNER BROS. PICTURES Nicole Kidman (left) and Sandra Bullock fail to find the magic again in the sequel to the 1998 movie.
But the charm feels forced, and the story’s tonal dissonance — already embedded in the first film — has become outright uncomfortable.
The magic is gone.
Movie review
Practical Magic 2
Starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman
Garden City, Grant Park, Kildonan, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital
PG, 130 minutes
2 ½ out of five
Much of the original cast is back. There is, alas, no Aidan Quinn in a denim shirt — the fate of his character being summarily dealt with in the first three minutes. But the Owen women’s magical matriarchy is still going strong. Aunts Jet (Wiest) and Franny (Channing) are still eccentric. Sally (Bullock) is still the serious, stay-at-home sister, and Gillian (Kidman) is still the restless party girl.
Sally’s daughters, Antonia (Maisie Williams) and Kylie (Joey King), have grown up, more or less replicating the dynamic of their mother and aunt. Antonia is the organized, clipboard-wielding one, while Kylie is irresponsible and adventurous.
Kylie has also recently fallen for Gideon (Xolo Mariduena), who is a standard-issue 20-something dreamboat — “emotionally available and a DJ,” as Antonia points out.
It looks as if the next generation of Owens sisters will have to come to terms with their legacy — the curse called up by a powerful witchy ancestress that any man they love will perish.
WARNER BROS. PICTURES Stockard Channing (left) and Dianne Wiest are also back for the second go round.
“Everyone we love dies,” as Sally says.
“A really horrible death,” Gilly adds. “It’s not great for the Tinder bio.”
Since Sally and Gilly know this, it feels a mite irresponsible that they haven’t mentioned it to Kylie and Antonia, who are at that falling-in-love stage. But Sally has chosen to put the girls under a forgetfulness spell and raise them without any knowledge of witchcraft or the curse running through their maternal bloodline.
This approach falls apart completely when the deathwatch beetle that caused such havoc in the first film starts clicking around again. Now three generations of Owens women will have to come together to find a way forward, which will involve a trip to England, an encounter with Dr. Ian Wright (Lee Pace), a mystery man who once studied the “dark path” of witchcraft, and the ultimate rediscovery of the franchise mantra that “no magic is stronger than sisterhood.”
WARNER BROS. PICTURES Sisters Joey King (left) and Maisie Williams don’t know about their family’s curse that kills anyone they fall in love with.
Danish-born director Susanne Bier, who made her name with slow, subtle dramatic films (Brothers, After the Wedding), struggles with the broad, clunky screenplay from Georgia Pritchett and original PM scripter Akiva Goldsman. Poorly paced, oddly structured, full of improbabilities and with a void where the villain needs to be, the storyline goes on too long.
The tonal shifts also become increasingly awkward, with scenes that attempt to combine comic bickering with sentimental sap and urgent life-and-death threats (augmented by way more CGI than the original).
The star power of Kidman and Bullock still casts a spell, but even they can’t hold Practical Magic 2 together.
art@winnipegfreepress.com
Other voices
It’s a sweet movie, sometimes moving, about accepting your family heritage and coming into your own power.
— Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times
Even if Practical Magic was a beloved part of your childhood, it’s hard to see what would excite you about this sequel.
— Anna McKibbin, AV Club
Practical Magic 2 is the most blatant fan service in years: a blandly watchable but stubbornly inessential sequel to a forgettable 1998 romp…
— Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph (UK)
Beyond the cheap sell of seeing beloved characters again, “Practical Magic 2” is not an especially entertaining movie.
— Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post
Studying at the University of Winnipeg and later Toronto’s York University, Alison Gillmor planned to become an art historian. She ended up catching the journalism bug when she started as visual arts reviewer at the Winnipeg Free Press in 1992.
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