'Practical Magic 2' Review: Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman Don't Quite Cast a Spell in an Overlong, Predictable Sequel

As cumbersome and overlong as the 28-year wait between the 1998 original and its sequel, Practical Magic 2 is a next-generation reminder that sometimes the best way to let a beloved experience live on is by leaving it behind in one's memory.

Led by Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, the original gained a cult following for its unwieldy mix of romantic comedy, domestic abuse and, yes, magic, with female friendship as the glue. Returning as producers and reuniting with costars Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing, the two leads play the hits under new director Susanne Bier — and in the process inadvertently expose why not everyone thought the original was that great in the first place.

Bullock reprises Sally, the older and ever more cautious Owens sister. After two marriages that ended with her husband's death because of a generations-old curse, Sally swears off romance and casts a spell that makes her twentysomething daughters Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams) forget they come from a family of witches. When Kylie's boyfriend Gideon (Xolo Maridueña) is critically injured, Gillian (Kidman) forces her sister to reveal the truth, causing a rift between a lovestruck daughter and a mother who only wants to protect her.

Hunting for a spell to save Gideon, Kylie finds the Book of Ravens and follows its clues to England, where she meets farmhand Thomas Lockland (Solly McLeod). Meanwhile Sally and Gillian drag oversized luggage across the U.K. with British academic Ian Wright (Lee Pace) in tow, hoping to stop Kylie from using powers that risk causing more problems than they solve.

The film features one scene after another of women unblinkingly supporting one another, yet it oddly sidelines Jet, Franny and Antonia in favor of Ian, a hunky intellectual ripped straight from a romance novel cover. At 130 minutes, the sequel runs a full half-hour longer than its predecessor, and it dilly-dallies so long before unraveling a pretty obvious mystery that the climax feels like a dereliction of duty to the audience.

Bullock's expression barely changes for the first half, while Kidman leans aggressively into Gillian as an overindulged younger sibling. Wiest and Channing take a welcome victory lap, mostly to pass the torch. Thankfully Joey King brings her A-game as Kylie, and Pace is magnetic, generating effortless chemistry with Bullock — you wish the movie made more of it, save for the fact that it's already too long. Poor Maisie Williams, meanwhile, is stranded in a hospital room watching Maridueña lie in a coma.

Back in 1998, Practical Magic stood out by focusing as much on its female bonds as its romances. Nearly three decades later, the spell is a lot harder to feel.