Ticketworthy - Practical Magic 2

Every once in a while, a sequel comes along that manages to wow audiences and elevate the original movie. Defying the usual expectations that sequels can’t recapture what made their predecessors special, these films become treasured additions to their franchises and pop-culture history. Terminator 2, Pearl, The Dark Knight, and many others serve as perfect examples. With that in mind, the question of whether Practical Magic 2 could join those ranks seemed very valid. After all, the first film has become a beloved classic that for years fans have been clamoring for more of. If director Susanne Bier could capture even a bit of the spark that made the original great, she’d have a hit on her hands. She doesn’t. She doesn’t even come close. I really wish she had.

Once again, the story focuses on Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian (Nicole Kidman) Owens, witch sisters whose family suffers from a terrible curse. Whenever an Owens woman falls in love, that person is fated to die. When Sally’s daughter, Kylie (Joey King), sets out to break the curse in order to save her boyfriend, the sisters must follow her to England and bring her back before something terrible happens to her.

I don’t always feel as though it’s fair to critique a sequel in comparison to the film that came before it. Unfortunately, even on its own merit, Practical Magic 2 is a mess. The chemistry between Bullock and Kidman is still mostly there, but the characters are shadows of their former selves. Sally doesn’t trust love and cares about her daughter, and that is her whole personality, while Gillian is a free spirit that disagrees with Sally. There’s basically nothing else to either woman, and their bickering shtick wears thin very quickly. Not that the rest of the dialogue is much to write home about. The lines that aren’t just one character mumbling while another talks over them, which happens often, are mostly stilted exposition that even the actors don’t seem to fully believe in.

Part of the problem might be that the story they are presenting is mostly silly and shallow. Almost everything that happens in the narrative feels manufactured, as though it is made to push the story along rather than a natural development, and there’s not a hint of subtlety to be found. This is a film that does not trust its audience to fill in any blanks. As an example, the magical book the characters find to help them break the curse literally has a section in it labeled “How to break the curse.” It’s incredibly in-your-face, and the film might have benefited from showing a bit more and telling a bit less.

If the goal was to bank on nostalgia to overcome its shortcomings, sadly the film fails there too. Without going into spoilers, the entire plot of the sequel depends on undermining the message and story of the first film. That’s not necessarily always a bad thing, subverting a previous film can work, but if you’re going to take that route, it needs to land. It does not land in Practical Magic 2.

If there’s a bright spot, it would have to be Bullock, who at least seems to be giving it a real try. The very few times that the movie actually managed to hold my interest were when she was stretching her acting chops. The character doesn’t have the depth she had the first time, but Bullock almost makes it work. If anything, it’s a little disappointing that Bullock clearly cared enough to try, and the movie simply doesn’t match that effort.

Believe it or not, I’m not convinced that this movie was pointless or unsalvageable. There are a few neat ideas in the script, and I’m actually a fan of expanding the world and lore of the original Practical Magic. However, the execution of Practical Magic 2 is weak, to be generous. There is very little that works, to the point that I wonder why the filmmakers even bothered. This cannot be the continuation that fans of the first movie have been waiting nearly 30 years for. I really wish it had found a way to charm me, but I’m sad to say that this one has practically no magic at all.