Practical Magic 2, dir. Susanne Bier

Just like its Halloween-classic predecessor, Practical Magic 2 is best when its sibling main characters, witches Sally and Gillian (Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman), are either affectionately sparring with each other or momentarily feeling extra appreciative of their unusually tight-knit bond. That’s in part because both movies do a fine job exploiting much of what we like about Bullock and Kidman offscreen: the former’s deadpan wit; the latter’s blithe, I’ll-try-anything-once lease on life. The crackling chemistry that results between the pair makes simply watching them hang out, even through a scrim of fiction, a treat — enough so to make the first Practical Magic’s tonal swerves worth buckling up for and its sequel’s unnecessariness occasionally seem necessary after all.

Kidman’s and Bullock’s star power can only do so much, though. During 2, I most missed the 1998 original’s cozy, autumnal aesthetic and misty Whidbey Island shooting locations. Everything in its studio lot-shot sequel has a beige, made-for-Netflix sheen that makes you long for the days when an expensive studio movie was competently lit. But even as some things are worse — there’s also its cynically nostalgia-baiting soundtrack; underuse of the wise aunt characters played by Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing; and slight you-can’t-live-with-or-without-them male-centricity that dulls the film’s sisters-first shine a smidge — some things are an improvement. Its surer tonal command is the biggest. And time has only honed Bullock’s and Kidman’s comic timing, with some laugh lines penned by screenwriters Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett, and Kelly Marcel sounding improvised when coming from their lips.

Read the full column at South Sound.

Header image: Warner Bros. Pictures