Courtney Howard // Film Critic
PRACTICAL MAGIC 2
Rated R, 2 hours and 10 minutes
Directed by: Susanne Bier
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Joey King, Lee Pace, Maisie Williams, Xolo Maridueña, Solly McLeod, Dianne Wiest, Stockard Channing
PRACTICAL MAGIC 2 had every opportunity to best its charming-but-tonally-challenged originator – and yet, the filmmakers frustratingly fumble the bag. Centered on the witchy Owens coven reuniting to battle dark magical forces in hopes of lifting their longstanding familial curse, the romantic-comedy/ mystery contains half the cozy whimsy of its 1998 predecessor and almost none of its masterfully soundtracked vibes. While this legasequel 28 years in the making does hold some strong thematic resonance for those looking, it makes us work overtime to uncover that clarity, only to make us wish it cast that spell in a tighter window of time. Still, it’s the leading ladies who genuinely earn our good graces, sharing an indomitable spirit and delivering pure magic.
After her 2nd husband tragically dies, Sally Owens (Sandra Bullock) decides that not only is she never going to love another man again, but she’s going to totally shield her two daughters from similar heartbreak by renouncing her witchcraft legacy. She doesn’t date, goes into full denial mode about her magical gifts and becomes her Massachusetts town’s very-good-looking librarian. Her sister Gillian (Nicole Kidman), on the other hand, after being possessed by the demonic spirit of her abusive ex-boyfriend, continues to casually date and makes no secret of her powers – hiding them only from her nieces. Even their kooky Aunts Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Franny (Stockard Channing) have continued conjuring, helping townsfolk live better lives. So Sally’s secret isn’t exactly safe. Still, Sally’s daughters Antonia (Maisie Williams) and Kylie (Joey King) don’t start harboring suspicions until their college years.
Sally’s master plan to keep her powers buried comes to an end once Aunt Jet discovers The Book of the Raven – a handbook of dark magic with a clue about how to undo their curse, which damns all the men the Owens women love to die. Tragedy strikes again after Kylie tells her boyfriend Gideon (Xolo Maridueña) she loves him and he’s hit by car (because he doesn’t abide by common sense traffic laws of the Owens curse!) and falls into a coma. Learning the truth about her family, she flees the country with the handbook in order to save her beau. However, Sally and Gillian aren’t far behind, putting them on the path to encounter hot, heavily tattooed Dark Arts Professor Ian Wright (Lee Pace) and estate caretaker Tom Lockland (Solly McLeod).
Bier, along with adapting writers Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett and Kelly Marcel (who took some of their cues from Alice Hoffman’s novel The Book of Magic), knows that much of this franchise’s fortitude is indebted to Bullock and Kidman’s chemistry and easy rapport. There are light-hearted scenes of them sweetly hugging, jocularly bickering and bantering as real sisters do, as well as one of them hilariously pants’ing the other. Bullock shades her overly-protective mother with new colors we hadn’t seen in the prior chapter. She subtly digs into her caustic, grief-stricken side, cloaking her vulnerability with a harder edge. Kidman ditches the wild frivolity of her free-spirited sexpot and instead plays up a nuanced, funny and romantic version of Gillian, who’s a bit more reserved now. Cinematographer Simon Duggan’s lighting typically sticks to a soft focus, with warm, golden hues when the two are stealing lost moments together.
Since the first film was focused on Kidman’s character’s chaotic conundrum, the sequel has Bullock tackling a problem of her own making. To see the dynamic duo reunite after over two decades and a few loves of their lives behind them augments the emotional timbre. Themes of resilience, determination, survival, sacrifice and female empowerment reverberate in a time when men seek to take away womens’ powers. It’s the gasoline that powers the 3rd act climax’s engine and adds a little more oomph to an otherwise elongated, belabored 20 minute epilogue.
While tonal fluctuations aren’t as ham-handed as the original (because, no matter how hard you try, singing Harry Nilsson into kitchen utensils and sexual abuse don’t mix as well as Midnight Margaritas), other problems persist. It’s far too long and needs a 30 minute trim. We can sense every single act break. The material is lackluster at best and fails some of the cast members completely. Sally’s daughters are dealt short shrift, as they are swiftly split apart and Antonia is left at home to look after a man. In the book, at least she’s got a girlfriend. She has no internality at all in the film – and Kylie’s drive is solely dependent on her boyfriend. The soundtrack, on which Bullock serves as an Executive Producer, also falls way short of expectations, lazily recycling a few chart-topping hits that just don’t hit the same.
Multiple scenes where Sally and Gillian struggle with their clunky luggage in England don’t make for good comedic fodder, though the filmmakers seemingly insist they do. Those test our patience. Same goes for the gals’ cross-talk when neither of them are truly listening to one another and they’re forced to repeat themselves to an audience who heard both sides the first time. The voodoo doll binding spell which has a hold over the hot prof when they first meet him is clumsily and quickly discarded. Worse, the film’s baddie is introduced so late in the film that his villainous nature holds little dramatic weight as he’s not been properly assimilated into the hijinks.
With smarter, sharper craft and care, perhaps this long gestating second chapter in the Owens’ lives wouldn’t have felt as slapdash and creatively stilted. The treasures within aren’t many, but do refract a glittery glimmer. It might be enough for some audiences who desperately need a hit of charming nostalgia in these dark times. But for those who are a bit more discriminating, its alchemy is, unfortunately, less than enchanting.
Grade: C-
PRACTICAL MAGIC 2 opens in theaters on September 10.
