Review: Practical Magic 2 ★★★★★

Somehow, the Sequel Got the Assignment!

There are some movies you watch because you’re curious, and then there are movies you watch because you desperately want them to get it right.

Practical Magic 2 was the latter for me.

And honestly? They got the assignment.

In fact, I’m going to say something that I know some Practical Magic fans may not agree with: I think Practical Magic 2 is better than the original.

There. I said it.

The 1998 Practical Magic has become a beloved cult classic for a reason. It has the Owens house, the magic, the romance, the sisterhood, the midnight margaritas, the music, and Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman at the center of it all. But watching the original again, I’ve always felt that it was trying to do a little too much at once. There are so many storylines, tones and ideas fighting for attention that the movie sometimes feels like it’s wandering around trying to figure out what it wants to be.

Practical Magic 2, on the other hand, actually knows what story it wants to tell.

The sequel picks up with Sally Owens still carrying the weight of everything her family’s curse has taken from her. Rather than simply repeating the first movie, the story shifts the focus toward the next generation and what happens when Sally’s daughter Kylie finds herself caught in that same dangerous cycle of love, loss and magic. The Owens women once again have to confront the curse, but this time there’s a much stronger sense of purpose behind their journey.

And I loved that.

The story feels more organized. There is an actual through-line. The magic isn’t just there because this is a Practical Magic movie—the magic is connected to the family history, the curse and, most importantly, the relationships between these women.

That was the biggest difference for me.

The original sometimes felt like several movies had been thrown into a cauldron together and someone just hoped the spell would work. Somehow, it did. But Practical Magic 2 feels like someone finally figured out exactly what ingredients were supposed to go into the potion.

And then there is Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.

Twenty-eight years later, their chemistry is still one of the best things about this franchise. Sally and Gillian have always been opposites, but Bullock and Kidman understand exactly how to play that contrast without making it feel forced. Sally is more guarded, practical and emotionally cautious, while Gillian brings that wild, impulsive energy that Sally has always struggled to understand.

But underneath all of that is the thing that has always made their relationship work: they love each other fiercely.

Their relationship feels even more meaningful now because we’re watching two women who have lived with decades of history between them. They bicker, they tease, they frustrate each other, but there is never really a question that they will show up for one another when it matters.

And that is where the movie works best.

It isn’t really about witches.

It isn’t really about the curse.

It isn’t even really about the men.

It is about the Owens women choosing each other.

I also absolutely loved that the movie brought back the original supporting cast. Seeing Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing return as Aunt Jet and Aunt Franny was exactly the kind of thing that could have easily been reduced to a cheap nostalgia cameo, but instead, their presence makes the world feel connected. Seeing the four women together again—Bullock, Kidman, Wiest and Channing—gave me that little feeling of, Yep. This is why I came.

The new generation also brings something important to the story.

Joey King as Kylie is fantastic. She gets the bigger role of the two sisters, and you can understand why. Kylie is the one whose choices push the story forward, and King does a really good job carrying the emotional weight of that storyline. There’s an interesting contrast between Kylie’s curiosity about the magic and Sally’s determination to protect her daughters from it.

I also really liked Maisie Williams as Antonia.

And this is probably my biggest disappointment with the movie: I wanted more of her.

Williams is given a character who is intelligent, scientifically minded and seemingly less comfortable with the idea of magic than the rest of her family. That could have been such an interesting perspective to explore. Imagine having one Owens sister who wants to understand everything through science while discovering that some things simply cannot be explained that way.

Instead, Antonia spends far too much of the movie separated from the main adventure. Once the story really takes off, it feels like Maisie Williams has been left standing on the sidelines when she should have been right there in the middle of the action.

That was a missed opportunity.

Because I genuinely loved the idea of these two sisters representing the next generation of Owens women. Kylie and Antonia have a different dynamic than Sally and Gillian, and I would have loved to see the movie spend more time developing that relationship.

Still, what I appreciated most about Practical Magic 2 is that it doesn’t feel like a sequel that exists solely because Hollywood knows people love the original.

It actually feels like the filmmakers understood why people love the original.

They understood that the magic was never the most important part.

It was the women.

It was the sisterhood.

It was the feeling of belonging to something—even when that something is messy, complicated and occasionally cursed.

And yes, there is plenty of nostalgia here. Of course there is. How could there not be? Bringing Bullock, Kidman, Wiest and Channing back together almost three decades later is going to make anyone who loved the original feel something.

But for me, the nostalgia didn’t overpower the story. Instead, it felt like the movie was taking everything we loved about the first film and finally giving it a more focused narrative.

That’s why I walked away liking this one more.

The original Practical Magic is still the movie that started it all. It has the iconic moments, the atmosphere and the charm that made people fall in love with the Owens sisters in the first place.

But Practical Magic 2 feels more confident.

More intentional.

More emotionally grounded.

And most importantly, it feels like the filmmakers understood the assignment.

Give us the Owens women. Give us the magic. Give us Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman being sisters again. Give us Aunt Jet and Aunt Franny. Give us the next generation. And, please, let these women save themselves and each other.

Honestly, that’s a pretty good recipe for a sequel.

My verdict: Better than the original. And yes, I will happily defend that opinion.