Practical Magic 2 Review: A Witchy Dream That Still Brings the Stevie Nicks

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and legacy sequels often rely on that alone to get people into seats. While the movie is far from perfect, one of the best aspects of Practical Magic 2 is that it doesn’t just give us nostalgia to chew on.

The 1998 film, directed by Griffin Dunne, was a whimsical dream set in New England that put the Owens sisters at the center of a tragic romance. A family of witches lived together and supported each other through love, loss, and a family curse that prevented any man who loved an Owens woman from living a long and healthy life.

Sally Owens’ (Sandra Bullock) first husband (Mark Feuerstein) died, and she found love with Gary (Aidan Quinn). But that love didn’t last either, as the sequel puts Sally and her aloof sister Gillian (Nicole Kidman) back in the thick of trying to stop their family curse.

When the sequel picks up, Sally and Michael’s daughters are all grown up. Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams) live without knowing about the magic they possess, a choice Sally makes in an effort to break the curse. But when Jet (Dianne Wiest) finds a book with the answer, the film shifts away from the fun of Jet and Franny (Stockard Channing) having their nieces dance and drink margaritas. It becomes more interested in world-building than recapturing the whimsy of the first movie.

Dunne’s soft late-’90s lens is nowhere to be found in Susanne Bier’s sequel. While it does, at times, still remind us of why we love Practical Magic, the movie itself happily stands on its own — which is ultimately both a positive and a fault of the sequel.

Not Every Sequel Needs to Change Everything Up

Successful legacy sequels like Top Gun: Maverick take elements of the original film but bring in something entirely new. (In that specific case, what “remained” 2qw the music and feel of Top Gun). In many ways, that’s exactly what Bier’s direction and the script by Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett and Kelly Marcel do.

There is still a Stevie Nicks needle drop, “Coconut” by Harry Nilsson has its moment, and the score will pull the tears from you because it brings up the same feelings that the original film did. But the look of Practical Magic 2 is very different. From the way the house feels to the outfits, all of it is more modern, but it lacks some of the joy the first film had.

Gilly’s look is more elevated as she’s gotten older, but it does mean that the film lacks the sweaters and lace that we’ve come to associate with the first film. Truly, these criticisms wouldn’t really matter if the feeling of the sequel matched that of the original movie. But so much has changed about how the movie makes you feel that it comes down to the storyline itself. That isn’t a bad thing; the storyline is relatively fun to watch. Still, if Bier had leaned more into the tone of Dunne’s original film, it would have made up for a lot of the sequel’s small flaws.

The saving grace, outside of the obvious (aka the Owens girls back in action), is Lee Pace’s Ian Wright. If ever there was a perfect male love interest for a movie like Practical Magic 2, Pace was built for it. The brief moments we get with Xolo Maridueña’s Gideon are another highlight.

Practical Magic 2 Will Still Make the Witchy Girls Happy

Gillian Owens (Nicole Kidman) holding a black cat in Practical Magic 2.

On paper, Practical Magic 2 is very witchy. If anything, the film does a lot more with the “witch” side of the Owens family than the first film did. Yes, they had lots of spells that went wrong while trying to stop Jimmy (Goran Visnjic), but the sequel explores their magic more deeply. From Ian’s work with magic to Sally having to remember what it means to her, so much of this movie is rooted in the spells that cursed this family in the first place.

Ironically, one of the most glaring issues with the movie is tied to the original’s most iconic scene: the “Midnight Margaritas” of it all. I simply don’t think that moment is placed at the right point in the film.

Outside of that, Practical Magic 2 feels like a modern version of what made the ’90s movie special. That isn’t entirely a great thing; more of the original’s whimsy would have helped it. Maybe just bring out that soft ’90s aesthetic. But overall, it feels like a return to the witchy movies that helped so many of us find where we (the witchy girls) belong.

Practical Magic 2 is now playing in theaters.