‘Practical Magic 2’ Review: Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman Still Cast a Spell
Nearly three decades after the original became a cult favourite, the Owens sisters are back. The magic isn’t quite as potent this time around, but Bullock and Kidman make the reunion worthwhile.
There are some movies you love because they’re great, and others you love because they somehow become part of your life. Practical Magic belongs firmly in the second category.
Released in 1998, the original wasn’t exactly greeted as a masterpiece. But time has been unusually kind to it. Its mixture of romance, witchcraft, sisterhood, Stevie Nicks-adjacent atmosphere and Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman at peak movie-star charisma gradually found the audience it deserved. For a generation of viewers, the Owens sisters never really went away.
Which makes Practical Magic 2 both irresistible and slightly dangerous. Returning to something this beloved almost 30 years later requires more than resurrecting the characters, playing a familiar song and hoping nostalgia will do the heavy lifting.
The good news is that Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman remain the movie’s greatest spell.
As Sally and Gillian Owens, their chemistry feels remarkably intact. Bullock brings the warmth and groundedness while Kidman once again provides the more unpredictable energy, and watching the two of them together is easily the film’s greatest pleasure. There is history between these characters, but there is also history between the performers, and the sequel is at its best when it simply allows that relationship to breathe.
You believe these women are sisters. More importantly, you believe they have lived a considerable amount of life since we last saw them.
That gives Practical Magic 2 an emotional dimension that the filmmakers would have been foolish to ignore. Bullock and Kidman are no longer playing the women they were in 1998, and the film is smart enough not to pretend otherwise. The passing of time becomes part of the appeal.
The problem is that everything surrounding them isn’t quite as enchanting.
There are moments when Practical Magic 2 feels less like a movie that absolutely needed to exist than a very enjoyable opportunity to spend another couple of hours in this world. The story does its job, the supernatural machinery kicks into gear and the requisite ingredients are present, but the film occasionally seems to be trying a little too hard to remind us why we loved Practical Magic in the first place.
That’s the trap with legacy sequels. Nostalgia can get you through the front door, but eventually the new movie has to make some magic of its own.
Practical Magic 2 doesn’t always manage that.
Still, there’s something undeniably pleasurable about being back in the Owens universe. The film understands that the real legacy of Practical Magic was never simply witches, spells or romance. It was the bond between these women — sisters, mothers, daughters and friends — and the idea that the people who drive you completely mad can also be the people who save you.
Bullock remains enormously likeable, with that particular gift she has for making movie-star charm appear completely effortless. Kidman, meanwhile, clearly enjoys stepping back into Gillian’s more flamboyant shoes. Put them together and the movie immediately lifts.
Perhaps that’s enough.
Practical Magic 2 isn’t a great sequel, and it doesn’t possess the strange, accidental alchemy that transformed the original from an uneven late-’90s romantic fantasy into a genuine cult object. You can’t manufacture that kind of affection, no matter how much midnight margarita you pour into the glass.
But it’s pretty good. It’s warm, funny, occasionally moving and made considerably better by two stars who still understand exactly why audiences wanted to see Sally and Gillian Owens together again.
The spell may have weakened a little over the past 28 years.
Bullock and Kidman haven’t.
Mitchell Peters