Practical Magic 2 (2026) marks a cinematic return to the world of witches and magic, 28 years after the original. The Owens sisters are back, not only to confront their dark family curse, but also to learn how to stop being overprotective parents and finally embrace who they are.
Adapted from The Book of Magic (2021) by Alice Hoffman, the film centres on the Owens family curse: any man who falls in love with an Owens woman dies. Sally Owens (Sandra Bullock) has kept her daughters Antonia and Kylie’s witch heritage secret, believing it would protect them – until Kylie’s boyfriend is hit by a truck, and she learns the truth. Desperate to save him, Kylie flies to the UK, where the curse first began, unaware that it might put her in danger too. Sally and Gillian Owens (Nicole Kidman) race after her, hoping to save Kylie and end the family curse once and for all.
Whether or not the Owens sisters manage to lift the curse, the film itself could use an exorcism. You can feel the filmmakers’ effort throughout Practical Magic 2, but just as often, you can feel that effort failing to pay off.
For instance, I liked the film’s mood to a degree, particularly the way it blends gothic style with everyday settings, making the magic feel ‘practical’. It is exactly how you might imagine a family of witches quietly blending into your neighbourhood. So, props to the props team for that. But those magical flourishes are rare. Most of the film looks fairly plain.
As a sequel, the film captures the status quo well enough for newcomers to understand what is going on. But I do not think it does enough to make viewers feel emotionally invested in the characters. The film likely lands better for those who have seen the original, for whom the viewing experience would surely be more emotionally rewarding.
The film’s saving grace is its beautiful message about love and death – both parental love, and the balance between protecting your children and letting them grow, as well as romantic love, and the idea that love is worthwhile in itself, no matter how it ends. I especially liked how the family curse is reframed as something universal. Eventually, one partner outlives the other, cursed or not.
However, getting to that message means wading through a lot of bad writing. Many story beats feel forced and unconvincing. There are emotional moments, including characters falling in love or being devastated by loss, when you can tell the actors are giving it their all. Still, the script never earns our investment, and most character interactions end up feeling forced.
The direction here is also strange. In the film, there’s a villain who at first only appears as a voice, like the demonic whispering in horror films. But I don’t understand why the filmmakers thought giving the demonic voice an obvious robotic autotune style was a good idea. There is also a moment (minor spoiler alert) near the end where the villain explains his motivation, but no one around him is clearly listening – yet he just goes on and on, like a scripted robot. (Or maybe he really was a robot after all…)
So, between the shaky writing and the odd directorial choices, nothing here does the story any favors. Throughout the film, these unconvincing moments keep piling up, to the point where I can no longer take seriously whatever stakes or hearts it might have had.
In short, Practical Magic 2 has moments that are genuinely heartwarming, carried by a beautiful message, but the messy writing and strange direction pull you out of the story and extinguish whatever magic it might have had.