Cozy witchy vibes are back! Fans of the original will have fun, despite what critics are saying.
I'm diving into the original as a prelude because it's absolutely impossible to talk about the sequel, Practical Magic 2, without talking about what fans loved about the first one. With all of these recent reboots of beloved films, folks are desperately hoping (and movie studios are desperately trying) to recreate lightning in a bottle. Most, in my opinion, don't really succeed, largely because they're doing the same thing with the same cast, but with no real shift in story, characters, or locale. Because of this, the sequels usually pale in comparison to the original. It's a tale as old as time, I'm afraid.
Fortunately, Practical Magic 2 has rich source material, as both it and its predecessor are based on novels by Alice Hoffman. Set roughly 25 years later (as far as I can tell), the new film brings us up to speed with our main characters quickly. Beloved elderly aunts Jet and Fran are now in their 80s, still living in their magical house by the sea. Sally and Gilly are in their 50s, while Sally's daughters, Kylie and Antonia, are in their 20s.The curse is still around, though Sally has wiped her children's memories of being witches, but they're not aware of it in the first part of the film.
The plot follows the youngest daughter as she absconds to England to learn about the origin of her family's curse as her lover Gideon lies in a coma after a bike accident, fearful that his death is imminent (fun fact: Gideon is played by Xolo Maridueña, who was great in the decent nostalgic vehicle Cobra Kai from a few years back). Her mother and aunt follow her, hot on her trail. Once they arrive in London, they meet a good-guy warlock named Ian (played with effortless charisma by Lee Pace) and team up to track Kylie down.
The climax revolves around Kylie confronting a distant relative/bastard of the Owens line that's mad he didn't inherit witch abilities, and together, through the power of sisterhood and witchcraft, the main characters defeat him. Throughout all this, they learn that the only way to break the curse is for a witch to sacrifice herself, so that's exactly what Aunt Frances does, wading into the water à la Virginia Woolf as she rushes to meet her sister Jet who died at the beginning of the film.
Look, on paper, the plot sounds like something out of an episode of Charmed. And yes, the pacing is just as all over the place as the original. But this film wasn't made for critics, sitting at roughly 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. Neither was the original, which has a similar score, actually. It's made for the fans who have loved it for more than a generation.
But for the first 30 minutes I was a little skeptical. "Oh, they bought a Ninja margarita machine to make their midnight cocktails, great." But once the characters take off to England, everything starts to find a groove. Lee Pace lends a depth and humanity to every scene, and casting him was a wise decision. The autumnal cozy atmosphere of rural England also creates a new way to feel spooky and chilly, another good choice that helps distinguish the films.
What I was thinking about most in the days leading up to seeing it was what the needle drops were going to be. The first movie wouldn't be what it was without iconic Stevie Nicks songs, that triumphant Faith number, and the iconic Harry Nilsson "Coconut" scene. These songs are so deeply woven in to poignant moments from the film that I honestly can't imagine it without them. They move the plot along as well as the characters and set pieces.
In Practical Magic 2, we get yet more Stevie Nicks (and I'm fine with that, as "Landslide" is a perfect tearjerker), some Olivia Rodrigo to keep it hip, Florence + the Machine, a Mazzy Star cover, and finally, a closing number in the form of "Dancing in the Moonlight" by King Harvest. All in all, I think they chose perfectly, and this music will help cement the movie in folks' memories.
By the end, I found myself emotionally invested in everything, and for me, that's enough. The witchcraft is definitely more on display in this one: there are grimoires, left-hand magic, and frank talk of spells. Witchcraft was more incidental, in the first one. The first movie was about sisters that happen to be witches, while the new sequel is about witches that happen to be sisters.
I do think this one fares better than fellow comedy-horror bedmates like Beetlejuice 2 and Hocus Pocus, but I suppose that's not saying much. I've talked about this before, but no reboot or sequel will ever do the same thing as an original, no matter how much we try. But for hardcore fans, Practical Magic 2 is decent enough, and that works.
My only real complaint is how distracted I was by Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman's faces. I could write an entire manifesto about botoxification of women in cinema in the modern age (but really, who couldn't?) but I truly could not stop thinking about how these women, 62 and 59 respectively, have not a single wrinkle on their face. For a movie about female empowerment, it's a bit sad to think that not one gray hair, not one crow's foot were allowed to grace the screen. But that's an article for another day, and sometimes us feminists just have to revel in magical cinematic nostalgia for a little bit.
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Nerd Coefficient: 6/10.
POSTED BY: Haley Zapal, NoaF contributor and lawyer-turned-copywriter living in Atlanta, Georgia. A co-host of Hugo Award-winning podcast Hugo, Girl!, she posts on Instagram as @cestlahaley. She loves nautical fiction, growing corn and giving them pun names like Timothee Chalamaize, and thinking about fried chicken.
