Practical Magic 2: Hollywood Critics Are Laying Down the Hex

There are some things you just can’t escape in life and apparently, harsh criticism of Practical Magic 2 is one of them.

Before I even stepped inside the theater, critics and social media influencers had already begun their incantation: Why did they make this movie? It should have been left alone. The original was better.

Which got me thinking: Are the critics accidentally casting a spell on this movie?

The original Practical Magic arrived in 1998 and didn’t exactly conquer the box office. Yet, like a witch who refuses to stay buried, it resurrected itself as a cozy ’90s cult classic—the movie you pull out when summer fades, the air gets cooler and suddenly you’re craving candles, oversized sweaters and something witchy simmering in a cauldron.

So perhaps the question isn't, “Why did they make a sequel?”

Maybe it’s, “Why are we surprised that a movie about witches came back from the dead?”

When I chatted with one of the concession-stand gals at the Festival Theaters in Palm Springs about the bad reviews, she simply said, “People tend to not like sequels.”

Fair point.

Personally, if I had allowed social media influencers to influence my decision, I probably wouldn't have seen Practical Magic 2. And that would have been a shame.

Because sometimes your experience of a movie depends on the lens you're wearing when you walk into the theater.

And my lens happened to be a little witchy.

As the movie opened, we hear the clicking of a deathwatch beetle, not exactly the sound you want to hear in an Owens family story. Death, generational curses, love, family and magic are all wrapped into the Owens women’s history.

Immediately, I thought about my own recent synchronicity. Earlier this summer, I visited the Huntington Library to see its enormous, bizarre and mesmerizing corpse flower, a plant associated with carrion-loving beattles.

Coincidence?

Probably.

But then came another one.

While watching a movie about the Owens family curse, I was also aware of Hurricane Marie moving through the Pacific and creating dangerous surf along Southern California’s coastline.

Okay, universe.

I see you.

Maybe it’s nothing. Or maybe that’s the fun of Practical Magic, sometimes you start paying attention to the signs.

And then there are the women.

Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, Dianne Wiest, Joey King and Maisie Williams create a multi-generational Owens lineup that actually feels like a family rather than six actors thrown into a sequel for nostalgia. Bullock and Kidman still have that effortless sisterly chemistry, while Channing and Wiest bring the warmth and eccentricity that made the original so beloved. King and Williams carry the story into the next generation.

I especially loved seeing Stockard Channing back.

And, of course, another synchronicity appeared.

A recent article about Channing's life after the death of her longtime partner, Daniel Gillham, in 2014 caught my attention. She described how profoundly his death changed her, saying, “The pattern of my life shifted, so I shifted my life from Maine.”

That line stayed with me.

Because isn't that what Practical Magic is really about?

Patterns.

The patterns we're born into. The patterns we inherit. The patterns we repeat and eventually, hopefully, break.

Watching the younger Owens women follow visions and intuition made me think about my own attempts to disentangle some of the patterns I've inherited.

Maybe curses aren't always literal.

Maybe they're relationships, choices, family stories and old behaviors we keep carrying until someone finally says:

Enough. The spell ends here.

So while Hollywood critics were busy laying down their hexes, I walked into the theater looking for a little magic.

And I found myself thinking about deathwatch beetles, corpse flowers, hurricanes, family curses, mysterious men, scrying mirrors and the strange synchronicities that make us stop and wonder.

Maybe the spell isn't in the movie.

Maybe it's in the timing.

About the Author:

Ersilia Pompilio is the Editor in Chief of SQUAD Magazine, a Palm Springs guide for bachelorettes and ladies who love to leisure. With over two decades of experience in performing, producing live storytelling shows, and hosting a podcast, she has also taught storytelling classes and written professionally for several media outlets. Originally from Los Angeles, Ersilia is also a twenty-year resident of Palm Springs, California.