Practical Magic has everything a good fall movie should have: timeless outfits, a small-town vibe, beautiful buildings, interesting family dynamics, and a whole lot of witches. It should be a crime that this wonderful movie escaped my notice for as long as it did. I don’t know why but for the longest time I believed that this movie about witches and sisterhood was actually a horror movie. So, to prevent potential future nightmares, I avoided it. Now I know that’s not the case and have thankfully discovered the magic of the Owens women just in time for Practical Magic 2 to hit theaters.
The sequel follows the Owens women almost thirty years after the original took place. They must face another hardship, courtesy of the centuries-long curse on their family which dictates that any man who dares to love an Owens woman will face an untimely death. The sequel carries itself with all the magic of the original, perfectly expanding the world that fans fell in love with in the first place. However, the true magic in this universe doesn’t lie within spellbooks and curses, but rather in the bonds of sisterhood shown through three generations of Owens women and their courage in the face of love.
(Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Practical Magic and Practical Magic 2.)
Let’s start with Jet and Franny, the eccentric aunts who raised Gilly and Sally, the protagonists, and who taught us to dance around the kitchen while drinking midnight margaritas. In the first movie, their relationship was treated as secondary to Sally and Gilly, but in the sequel we get to see a new side to their bond. Jet and Franny ran their shop together for years, helping the locals of their small town who knew that, as long as their porch light was on, they’d always have someplace to go. It speaks to their characters that they chose to help the very same people who shunned them in public for the witchy abilities they privately sought to solve their problems.
The second movie is the final bow for Jet and Franny, who both pass away during the course of it. Seeing their individual arcs and the way the movie handled both of their deaths was very emotional. When Jet passes away, Franny turns off the porch light for the first time, a powerful symbol of the empty space that her death left behind. Franny’s death happens towards the end of the movie, when she sacrifices herself to end the curse placed on the Owens women. Afterwards, she gets to reunite with Jet, showing that their bond followed them even into the great beyond.
Next, we have our protagonists, Sally and Gilly Owens, played by the talented Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Bullock’s and Kidman’s portrayals as the Owens sisters was already iconic, and they brought every bit of magic from the original into this one. The first movie followed Sally and Gilly as they navigated their personal relationships and found out that the strongest magic was the one they shared; the sequel is no different. When Sally’s daughter goes missing, she and Gilly immediately fly to London to look for her. Once they touch down, they join forces with Professor Ian Wright, an expert in occult studies, who helps them see that Sally’s daughter might be in more danger than they originally thought. Sally and Gilly must face off against dangerous foes, all while Sally is trying to overcome her hardest battle yet: learning to accept her magic. It is through Gilly’s help and their unbreakable bond that Sally’s able to find the strength she’d tried to bury for so long and save her daughter from the danger they face.
Sally’s character is the one that really shows us the repercussions of the curse, since she’s already lost her two husbands to it. Her character is a true testament to the power love has and the importance of it in our lives. Even through all the hurt it has caused her, Sally keeps falling in love — sometimes even against her better judgement — and I think that’s an even more powerful statement. It shows that love is worth living and experiencing in all the ways it can present itself in our lives, even though it has the ability to hurt us.
With this sequel, Sally explores a new romantic love interest and some fans were disappointed that Gilly didn’t have a similar storyline. I disagree with this sentiment. Gilly’s love story may not look the same way Sally’s did, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t have one. Her romantic arc rested in her love of life and magic, rather than just settling for the typical love interest. She traveled wherever she wanted to go, she had fun and experienced romantic relationships in her own way without getting to the point where the curse would take over, and she saw magic as a gift rather than something to fear. Gilly’s lack of a fixed love interest doesn’t mean that she lived less than Sally, it just meant that she chose a different path than her sister did. Even though Gilly and Sally have different romantic journeys, the movie shows that romantic love isn’t the only kind worth chasing. In this series, the most important form of love was the one these two sisters shared.
Finally, we have the newest addition to the Owens family, Kylie and Antonia Owens, Sally’s daughters. In the first movie, they were just little kids who were merely side characters. In the sequel, their stories get pushed to the forefront — especially Kylie’s whose storyline with her boyfriend, Gideon, is the driving force behind the plot.
When Gideon becomes a victim of the curse after Kylie tells him she loves him, she runs away to London to try and figure out a way to break the curse and save his life. Even though they spend most of the movie apart, Kylie and Antonia’s bond is felt throughout every aspect of the story. The movie establishes them as unmistakable parallels of their mother and aunt, with each sister sharing key traits with them. Antonia is a lot more reserved and structured, like Sally, while Kylie is more free-spirited, like Gilly.
The movie also shows how deeply they trust each other when Antonia is shown to be the only person Kylie trusts to take care of Gideon while she’s away. Kylie and Antonia may be the youngest generation of the Owens women, but they carry the traits and love passed down from each generation before them.
The story of Practical Magic is so much more than witches or a curse. It’s a story about sisterhood and how a bond like the one the Owens sisters have can help us through even our darkest moments. It shows us that some of the greatest forms of love aren’t always romantic, and soulmates aren’t just the people you fall in love with. It encourages us to be bold, to be brave, and to chase after the things we want, even if they scare us or there’s a possibility that it might not end well.
Sally Owens once shared the most important lessons she knew for sure: plant rosemary, throw spilled salt over your shoulder, remember that lavender is for luck, fall in love whenever you can, and live a lot. I’d like to add one more lesson to this list, the one that’s shown in every scene of this movie: love is the strongest form of magic there is and we should make sure to hold on to it, in whatever way we have it for as long as we can.