Hollywood just can’t stay away from the past.
CelebnMusic247.com and CelebnMovies247.com has a review of the legacy sequels are everywhere right now, bringing beloved characters back decades later and hoping audiences are ready for another dose of nostalgia.
Sometimes, it works spectacularly. Movies like Top Gun: Maverick and Creed proved that returning to a beloved franchise can work when filmmakers respect what audiences loved about the original while giving them something new.
Other times?
You leave the theater wondering why anyone disturbed the original in the first place.
Unfortunately, Practical Magic 2 may fall into that second category.
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are back as Sally and Gillian Owens, and on paper, that should be enough to make longtime fans grab their midnight margaritas and celebrate.
But according to this critical take, while the cast appears to be having a blast returning to the magical world of the Owens women, the sequel struggles to recreate the heart, humor, romance and irresistible witchy charm that turned the 1998 original into a cult favorite.
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman Are Back — So What Went Wrong?
The original Practical Magic wasn’t just about witches.
At its heart, it was about sisterhood, family, love, grief and women finding their own power.
That’s why people are still watching it nearly three decades later.
The sequel certainly has all the ingredients necessary to recreate that magic.
Bullock is back.
Kidman is back.
Dianne Wiest returns.
And a younger generation of Owens women is now part of the story.
Yet the biggest problem appears to be the screenplay.
Instead of allowing audiences to simply reconnect with the Owens family, Practical Magic 2 reportedly piles on new mythology, family secrets, magical complications and another battle against the infamous Owens curse.
And things get complicated VERY quickly.
Wait…The Owens Curse Wasn’t Broken?!
Here’s the sequel’s first major surprise.
Apparently, the curse that has haunted generations of Owens women wasn’t actually broken.
Remember the curse?
Any man who truly falls in love with an Owens woman is doomed to die.
After losing Michael and later Gary, Sally has apparently become so traumatized that she makes an extraordinary decision.
She removes her daughters’ memories of magic.
Sally also makes Gillian promise never to tell Kylie and Antonia about their supernatural heritage.
Even more surprising, Sally turns her back on witchcraft herself.
That decision immediately creates a major question:
After everything Sally learned in the first movie, would she really choose to hide such an enormous part of her daughters’ identities from them?
The sequel wants viewers to believe she would.
The Owens Women Reunite — And Tragedy Strikes
Decades later, the Owens family reunites for Jet’s birthday celebration.
But this is Practical Magic.
A peaceful family gathering was never going to stay peaceful for long.
A tragedy suddenly sends the family into turmoil, and long-hidden secrets begin surfacing.
Kylie eventually discovers enough about her mysterious family history that she heads to London, determined to uncover the truth and finally break the Owens curse.
Sally and Gillian aren’t far behind.
The sisters eventually join forces with an academic named Ian, played by Lee Pace, while searching for Kylie.
But there’s another complication.
A mysterious warlock named Thomas enters the picture, while Kylie’s boyfriend begins experiencing a frightening decline in his health.
And suddenly, that supposedly unbroken Owens curse becomes VERY important.
The Biggest Problem? The Story Is Overloaded
The movie reportedly has plenty of ideas.
Maybe too many.
Hidden magical books.
Previously unknown relatives.
Family secrets.
New mythology.
A mysterious warlock.
Another attempt to break the curse.
A race to save Kylie and the person she loves.
Individually, some of those ingredients could make for an entertaining sequel.
Together, however, they reportedly create a story that feels unnecessarily complicated while somehow still lacking emotional urgency.
That’s a frustrating combination.
Because Practical Magic should never feel like homework.
It should feel like slipping into an oversized sweater, lighting a candle, pouring a midnight margarita and spending two hours with the Owens sisters.
Instead, the sequel reportedly spends too much time explaining itself.
Did the Sequel Undo Sally’s Original Journey?
This could be the biggest issue for longtime fans.
The first movie gave Sally a satisfying emotional journey.
She spent much of her life afraid of magic and afraid of loving someone because of the curse hanging over her family.
By the end, Sally wasn’t hiding anymore.
She embraced who she was.
She embraced her family.
And the Owens women were finally able to live openly in their community.
So having Sally once again reject magic and hide it from her daughters risks feeling like the sequel is undoing the growth audiences already watched her achieve.
Sequels need conflict.
But creating conflict by reversing a character’s previous development can make viewers feel as though the original ending no longer mattered.
Even the Dangerous Moments Reportedly Lack Emotion
Another criticism is the dialogue.
Characters reportedly spend too much time explaining things viewers either already know or just watched happen.
Instead of trusting audiences to follow the story, the screenplay repeatedly spells things out.
That becomes an even bigger problem when combined with slower pacing.
A movie involving deadly curses, dark magic and a family racing to protect one of its own should have serious emotional stakes.
You should be worried.
You should be laughing.
You should be crying.
You should be completely invested in whether the Owens women can save their family.
Instead, some of the biggest moments reportedly land with surprisingly little impact.
And that’s where the sequel may lose its spell.
But Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman Are Still the Reason to Watch
Here’s the thing:
It’s Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman together again.
For longtime Practical Magic fans, seeing Sally and Gillian Owens reunited after nearly three decades is going to carry enormous nostalgic appeal regardless of the movie’s flaws.
Their sisterly relationship was the heart of the original.
The Owens women are why audiences fell in love with this world in the first place.
And there’s something genuinely special about seeing actors return to characters who have remained meaningful to fans for decades.
So even if the screenplay doesn’t completely deliver, seeing Sally and Gillian together again may still be worth the trip back.
CelebnMovies247 Take
This is what makes legacy sequels so difficult.
Nostalgia gets audiences through the door—but nostalgia alone can’t recreate magic.
The original Practical Magic wasn’t beloved because it had the most complicated supernatural mythology.
People loved it because it had heart.
It was Sally and Gillian.
It was the Owens women standing together.
It was romance, heartbreak, sisterhood and discovering that the very thing that made you different could also make you powerful.
And, yes…
Midnight margaritas. 🍹🔮
Practical Magic 2 has Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, witches, curses and another generation of Owens women.
All the ingredients are there.
But sometimes you can follow the recipe perfectly and still discover that something is missing.
For longtime fans, seeing Sally and Gillian together again could still make this return to the Owens family worthwhile.
But if you’re going back to one of the most beloved witchy movies of the ’90s, there’s one expectation you simply can’t escape:
It better feel magical.
