Practical Magic 2 Review: Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman Still Have the Magic

I never thought I would see Magenta and Blue Beetle kissing, but this movie gave me a DC crossover!

Sandra Bullock always gets a new man, and well, I get it!! She looks amazing!!! Also this film feels like a soft reboot of the franchise.

The Owens sisters are back for another adventure, and while this one doesn’t really raise the stakes all that much, I still found myself enjoying it. I’m going to be honest, I just watched the first Practical Magic Monday afternoon. While I enjoyed the performances from Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as Sally and Gillian, I felt like the story was lacking. The first movie was definitely darker, which makes sense considering it’s a movie about witches, but between the family curse and the random, very weak villain, I was ultimately a little let down.

That led me into the sequel, and Practical Magic 2 is basically a complete 180 in terms of tone, characterization and overall feel. Sally is once again widowed after thinking the curse was broken in the first movie, which honestly was a stupid decision from a writing stand point if you ask me! This time around, we also end up losing two major characters. I don’t want to spoil too much, so I’ll let you sit with that because those moments definitely caught me off guard.

When it comes to the story, it is more or less the same setup. The curse is back, the Owens family has to deal with it, and everybody has to figure out how to break it. The difference this time is that the movie leans much harder into comedy. The jokes and one-liners are everywhere, and Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are absolutely on their A-game.

Honestly, it feels like 99% of their scenes were improv, and I loved it. Their chemistry is still the best thing about these movies. Gillian especially has way more of a presence this time around. In the first movie, I felt like she was more of a plot device at times, but here she actually feels like a character who belongs in the story.

Sally’s daughters are also all grown up, and we get to welcome Joey King as Kylie and Maisie Williams as Antonia. I thought both of them were great in their roles. Joey gets a little more to do because the story mostly revolves around Kylie and her new love interest Gideon, played by Blue Beetle star Xolo Maridueña.

And yes, watching Joey King and Xolo Maridueña kiss on screen had me thinking about how wild it is that Magenta and Blue Beetle are now a couple. DC crossover confirmed!

The curse is back, and this time it takes its toll on Kylie. We also find out that Sally wiped her daughters’ memories of their family heritage when they were younger. Honestly, I thought that was a pretty lazy storytelling decision, especially because the movie eventually undoes that choice once Kylie starts exploring her family history again after the horrible incident that takes place.

That brings me to the biggest problem I had with the movie: the story. While the villain and overall plot let me down, I had non-stop laughs during my viewing. The comedy was on point. A lot of it is physical humor, but there are also so many non-verbal comedic moments that just put a smile on my face. Sandra and Nicole know exactly how to play off each other, and that chemistry carries a lot of this movie.

They also try to expand the Owens family mythology, but honestly, I thought that part was kind of weak. There are some interesting ideas here, but I never felt like the movie fully took advantage of them.

At the end of the day, Practical Magic 2 is a movie I enjoyed more than I expected to. I didn’t hate it, but I also didn’t love it. For me, story is the most important part of any movie, and unfortunately, that was the weakest part of this one.

But Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are so much fun together that they kept me entertained the entire time.

I’m giving Practical Magic 2 a solid 7/10.