From the (Sub) stacks: There’s no witchy wonder in ‘Practical Magic 2’
Another legacy sequel has arrived, and despite taking place in the presentish with all the accompanying CGI and other digital accessories, it’s funny how Practical Magic 2 seems very stuck in time. Its complete inability to truly move forward in any sense affects every single frame, every turn the story takes, and most troubling of all, how its leads act what this film views as their age.
It tries to evade that fact by widening the world of the much beloved 1998 original, taking the family across the pond to the root of its evil, a curse that has doomed the Owens women to life without the men who love them, a truly terrible fate in the eyes of Practical Magic 2. So much so that it undoes the whole sisterhood proving strong enough to undo that legacy thing the first film ended on.
Yep, fooled ya! The curse is still going strong, that dreamy cop who fell for Sally (Sandra Bullock) gets killed off, and she’s even more obsessed with the whole normalcy thing to the extent that she’s not only once again refusing to use her considerable powers, she’s erased her daughters’ knowledge of their witchy heritage. Kinda weird considering they all still live in the same town, and the residents are now coming in the front door for magical aid rather than sneaking in the back, but whatever. There are worse things to come.
