Practical Magic’s unenchanting sequel fails to cast spell
Practical Magic 2, directed by Susanne Bier, is in cinemas now.
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman were fresh-faced thirtysomethings when they starred in 1998’s Practical Magic as modern witch sisters with a family curse that doomed any man they loved. The film went unloved by critics for its jumbled tone and tanked at the box office.
But with Alice Hoffman, the author of the 1995 book on which the film was based, delivering a concluding sequel in 2021, and with the film gaining a cult following, Kidman and Bullock – both now experienced producers – thought it worth another ago. They roped in Danish director Susanne Bier (who Kidman had worked with on miniseries The Perfect Couple).
In the first film we learned that if any of the Owens women fell truly in love, their lover would die a horrible and unavoidable death. Here, Bullock and Kidman return as staid Sally and flighty Gilly, joined by Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest as the adult sisters’ elderly aunts, with two younger women as Sally’s daughters Antonia (Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams) and Kylie (Joey King).
When one of the oldies dies, just as Kylie falls for a nice-guy boyfriend who in any other movie would turn out to be a lying cheat (spoiler: not this guy), the centuries-old curse rears its ugly head.
But 28 years later, with their faces awkwardly frozen, Bullock and Kidman cannot bring this franchise back to life. There’s the occasional laugh, but overall their clichéd roles as Uptight and Ditsy don’t serve either woman well or offer anything to get their teeth into.
Unfeminist as it is to admit, the only substantial male character in the movie is also its highlight. The mellifluously voiced Lee Pace (The Hobbit) plays academic Ian Wright, who Sally enlists to help find her missing daughter. His professor isn’t especially interesting, his dialogue is as vapid as the ladies’, but somehow Pace’s few scenes emit a chemistry lacking in the rest of the film.
The strong theme of sisterhood may touch audience members who are blessed with such a relationship themselves, and it’s nice to see a story in which sisters are prioritised over misters.
Unfortunately, any sparks that fly fizzle out instantly, and the overlong story drags on into silliness.
