The witches are back, but viewers might need a few “midnight margaritas” to get through a film that appears to have fallen victim to the curse that dooms many sequels to mediocrity.
Reuniting Australian actor Nicole Kidman with co-star Sandra Bullock nearly three decades after the original fantasy flick, the much-hyped Practical Magic 2 has been widely panned in reviews coinciding with its release in cinemas around the world this week.
While Warner Bros has spruiked it as a “must-see cinematic event of fun, magic and mayhem”, critics have derided the sequel as awkward, charmless, bewildering and over-long.
“Practical Magic 2 will, unfortunately, have to be filed away next to the other poorly justified, cash-grab sequels,” declared The Independent, while Empire magazine suggested it should join “the pile of witchy sequels perhaps better left burned at the stake”.
With more than 60 reviews posted, the new film had an approval rating of 36 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, while even the kindest mainstream critics have awarded it just three out of five stars.
To be fair, the original Practical Magic – based on a novel by Alice Hoffman and directed by Griffin Dunne – was also given a lukewarm reception on its release in 1998 and still has only a 30 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, it won a cult following among fans, especially for its celebration of sisterhood and female power in a decade when “witchy” TV shows such as Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer were working their magic on TV viewers.
Practical Magic introduced Bullock and Kidman as Sally and Gilly Owens, sisters from a multigenerational family of witches doomed by a curse that means any man they fall in love with will die.
Kidman, who has been kept busy with a string of screen projects since her divorce from country star Keith Urban, has been actively promoting the sequel on social media, posting videos from premiere screenings – including this week in Sydney.
As well as reprising their roles, she and Bullock are also producers of Practical Magic 2. The new director is Emmy winner Susanne Bier, who previously worked with Kidman on TV shows The Perfect Couple and The Undoing.
The new film is set 25 years after the first, when Sally’s daughters, Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams), are unaware of the curse until Kylie’s boyfriend Gideon (Xolo Maridueña) gets hit by a car and ends up in a coma.
Looking for a way to break the spell, she, Sally and Gilly travel from Massachusetts to the family’s original UK hometown seeking help from handsome magic professor Ian Wright (Lee Pace).
One common complaint about Practical Magic 2 is its two hours and 10 minutes run time.
The New York Post dubbed it “Tylenol P.M.”, while Variety‘s critic said it was “as cumbersome and overlong as the 28-year wait between the 1998 original film and its sequel”.
Others have taken aim at the disjointed storyline and uninspired dialogue, as well as the lack of agency given to its female leads.
“A ’90s film about women coming together to take out a domestic abuser has become a franchise about how heteronormative romance is the most important thing in a woman’s life,” wrote Caroline Siede on her GirlCulture substack.
‘PRACTICAL MAGIC 2’ debuts with 36% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock’s lowest rated movie in years. pic.twitter.com/O2mpyCi1BK
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 8, 2026
And while most critics argue that Practical Magic 2 lacks the charm of the original, they are divided over the role of its stars.
Empire’s Leila Latif said that alongside the film’s “glittering jewel-toned aesthetic”, the reuniting of sisters Sally and Gilly and their eccentric margarita-loving aunts Frances (Stockard Channing) and Jet (Dianne Wiest) was one of the movie’s few pleasures.
“Even saddled with woeful dialogue and plot machinations that literally could have been an email, these formidable actors remain enchanting presences, and their gentle teasing and bickering is where the film feels the most alive,” Latif concluded in her two-star review.
NY Post, however, argued that Kidman and Bullock’s “impenetrable shield of megawatt celebrity” was “one of many obstacles for viewers who want to get absorbed in this story, such as it is”.
“Kidman’s goofiness and Bullock’s sternness are performative. When they dance to Coconut at the end, you can tell they’ve been doing it for hours and just want to go home.”
Viewers, of course, will make up their own minds, with many still likely to be lured by the nostalgia-driven trend that has fuelled numerous recent TV reboots and movie sequels, including Freakier Friday and The Devil Wears Prada 2.
According to Deadline, Warner Bros is projecting Practical Magic 2 will rake in more than $US58 million (SA80 million) globally on its opening weekend.
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