After nearly 30 years of waiting, the Owens sisters finally made their way magically back to the big screen. If you haven’t seen the original “Practical Magic” film stop here and go watch, as there will be spoilers ahead for both the original and the sequel.
For those of you in need of a refresher, the original film follows the Owens sisters, Sarah played by Sandra Bullock and Gillian played by Nicole Kidman. After losing their father, the sisters get dropped off by their mother to live with their two slightly eccentric aunts, Jet and Franny. It is living with these aunts that the sisters learn they are from a long line of witches, who are burdened with a curse to never be able to find love.
We see this curse put to the test with Sarah as she loses her husband and the father of her children, much like her mother had. The film ends however, with Sarah falling in love with a new man and protagonist of the film Aiden Quinn (Gary Hallet) giving the audience some hope for her happily ever after, after all.
“Practical Magic 2” opens up with the death of Aiden Quinn immediately shooting down whatever hope fans had for poor Sarah’s happily ever after. The story then pivots to Sarah’s daughters: Kylie played by Joey King and Antonia played by Maisie Williams. It quickly becomes revealed that the girls don’t know that they are witches, but are beginning to become suspicious after being teased and bullied their entire lives for being a part of the Owens family.
This realization does not solidify for them until Kylie’s boyfriend gets struck by a car much as her own father had in the previous film, coincidentally the morning after Kylie tells him she loves him. Her boyfriend, unlike her father and Aiden, doesn’t die but instead ends up in a coma, creating a need for Kylie to find a way to break the family curse and save him.
While this film is not doing great at the box office, or in the eyes of many reviewers, my hot take is that it delivered exactly what I wanted and expected as a massive fan of the original. It had myself, my mother and aunt in tears numerous times throughout the movie. For us the magic still felt very much alive. Yes, the jokes were corny and the issues the family faced felt strange in our modern world, but I think that was part of the charm for me. It felt correct within the current times. The awkwardness felt accurate to how I imagined a single mom of two college aged witches would be navigating trying to keep her family safe. Sarah and Gillian’s bickering as now middle aged women filled some longing I had to see these characters again.
I’d argue that some of the original fans who felt like the magic was lost, wanted less of a sequel and more of a re-make. But for me having been born in the late ‘90s and being within similar age to the daughters the film felt comforting. It captured the grief of losing older family members, while making me laugh in other moments, and cry with gratitude at the generations of women I had sitting next to me in the theater.
This was a cute, gentle and nostalgic start to the spooky season. In the words of Aunt Franny, I would agree this film felt “Cast by fate, tested by time, and never broken.” The magic was not lost on this reviewer, as I give “Practical Magic 2” a 4 out of 5 on the spicy scale. I definitely recommend if you are a long-time fan like myself, you catch this one in theaters, though I do think it would also make for an excellent double feature from the comfort of your couch. Invite the important women in your life over, blend up some margaritas and start with the first one and lead straight into the next, let the nostalgia wash over you and escape to the whimsy of this heartfelt film.