‘Practical Magic 2’ Will Heal Us
The Warner Bros. panel was a lot of fun at this year’s CinemaCon. With plenty of title announcements, first looks, and more, it is going to be another great year for WB. Including the beauty that is Practical Magic 2.
The 1998 film followed the Owens family, a group of women whose connection and magical abilities has led to a family curse: They really don’t have great luck with men. Basically every single man in their lives dies a tragic dead. The good and the bad. But the witchy nature of the original film has, for many of us, given an aesthetic and dream life.
Growing up as a child of the 90s, this movie is, in a lot of ways, why I have always felt a little witchy. Maybe it’s the Stevie Nicks of it all but it is something truly special. Which is why seeing Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman together at CinemaCon has been one of the best parts of the convention yet.
The two came on stage during the Warner Bros. presentation to give fans a tease of the highly anticipated sequel. Taking us back into the lives of Gilly and Sally Owens with their aunts, played by Stockard Channing and Diane Wiest. This time around, Sally’s daughters (Joey King and Maisie Williams) are ready to go out into the world and join the ranks of the powerful Owens women.
A new man to take out?
The original film saw Sally’s husband die at the beginning, reaffirming the curse the Owens deal with. And when the chaos unfolded, Sally’s feelings for Gary (Aidan Quinn) became an important part of the movie. He is not in the sequel and Sandra Bullock made a joke hinting to the fate of yet another man at the hands of the Owens’ curse.
But now Lee Pace is in the cast and even if he will meet the same fate, it is pretty awesome seeing Pace in a film like Practical Magic 2.
In a lot of ways though, the movie feels like the perfect kind of nostalgia for right now. This is the kind of movie that fans love not because it is perfect or even because it is “high” art (even though I’d argue for both of those points). Instead, it is a comfort.
Every fall, Practical Magic feels like a warm hug and now we’re going to have a new story to love and maybe that will be the healing film we need.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
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