“All of the fire, none of the flame”: Practical Magic 2 Falls Into the Nostalgia Trap

As with many other releases in recent years, when I first heard about the sequel to 1998’s Practical Magic, I couldn’t help but wonder… who asked for this? Sure, I’ve had my share of midnight margaritas, adorned my vision boards with the Owens home, and channeled Sandra Bullock every time I wear braided pigtails. But despite my affection for the original, I was skeptical about a second film. It felt kind of like going to a gourmet restaurant and ordering their take on a Kid Cuisine; a more polished, updated version of a familiar favorite, but ultimately, still a plate of chicken nuggets. 

Here’s the problem with banking on nostalgia: the emotion itself depends upon the fact that the thing you miss cannot be revisited in its truest form. Yes, we have sisterhood! Sisters abound! Gillian and Sally, Jet and Franny, and Kylie and Antonia are three pairs of witches, the latter of which oblivious, at the start of this film, to their powers. We began with Sandra Bullock’s voiceover catching us up on the years since we last saw the Owenses descend from the rooftop, promptly letting us know that actually, the curse isn’t broken. Sally, now widowed twice, has rejected her magic and forbidden her aunts and sister to teach it to her daughters. Gillian, meanwhile, has lighter red hair now but is otherwise up to her same old behavior, albeit a bit more reined in. Maybe she’s not as flighty because she’s got the Ninja Slushi weighing her down. To be fair, though, the blatant product placement is only part of why this film just doesn’t hit the spot. 

While the two older generations should feel like old friends—Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, and Dianne Wiest reprise their respective roles as Sally, Gillian, Frances, and Bridget Owens—they, at times, ring just as unfamiliar as Joey King and Maisie Williams, the replacements for Kylie and Antonia. The women are oddly chic, and attempts by the film to appear contemporary lean more toward cringe. For example, Gillian mentions that the Owens curse (that any man who loves an Owens woman will die) is “not great for the Tinder bio.” Lines like these feel unsettling and synthetic, like the skin atop across the Kid Cuisine’s chocolate pudding. It doesn’t help that Kidman and Bullock, stunning as they are, can’t quite deliver the performances they are each capable of, due to their tastefully-done cosmetic procedures. I just don’t buy that Sally is that worried about her missing daughter when her brow cannot furrow. The injection site is smooth, thus the emotion slips away.

Just as with the original film, Practical Magic 2 is based on an Alice Hoffman novel. After the success of the first, Hoffman wrote two prequels, then completed the series with 2021’s The Book of Magic. For full transparency, I have not read any of these, so I cannot speak on the source material, but based on the synopsis, the adaptation made quite a few changes that sacrificed what could have been a more interesting film. One of which is Antonia’s plotline: justice for Williams, who had a fraction of King’s screentime and no real character development at all. We don’t even see the moment when Antonia finds out about the magic! 

One of the notes I scribbled during the movie was “do lesbians exist?” because, let’s face it, this curse is pretty heteronormative. Meanwhile, in the novel, Antonia is pregnant with her gay friend’s child and falls in love with a woman named Ariel. Williams should have gotten to do this, instead of just pace around in scrubs! On the other hand, representing this story in the film would have certainly caused backlash from some of the more bigoted members of the fan base. This is exactly why nostalgia-based media is a trap: the creators are beholden to not only the demands of the studios, but also the expectations of the fans, reducing them to a one-size-fits-all monolith. The screenwriters (Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett, and Kelly Marcel) had an impossible task before them, with the inevitable result being two hours of a plot that unfolds exactly the way you expect it to, with no nuance or surprise, at times hitting the nail on the head so directly that it makes your ears ring.

This is not to say that I had a terrible time at the movies; I got to see some of my favorite beautiful faces big on a screen, including the very handsome Lee Pace as mysterious professor Ian Wright. There were some laugh-out-loud moments (albeit, not all were meant to be) and one benefit of a predictable film is that you can turn your brain off. Everything is fine in moderation, so why not have junk food for dinner every once in a while? And while I stand by my claim that nostalgia is a creative trap, the film is certainly not failing: Practical Magic 2 spent opening weekend at the top of the box office, proving that if you build it (heat up leftovers) they will come (eat the leftovers). Still, while folks have been turning out to the cinema, one has to wonder how many people will bother watching it a second time at home. As for me? I’ll be queueing up the original Practical Magic again as soon as it’s cool enough to wear a chunky knit.

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