Rewatch Review: 'Practical Magic'
Would we still rate this 'PG-13' if it were released today?
Rewatching a movie is comfort food for the soul. Sometimes we’re chasing a familiar feeling that comes from the story, other times we’re nostalgic for the era in which we first discovered it. But sometimes, the movie feels like a completely different movie the second time around. This was my experience rewatching Practical Magic.
Going in for the rewatch, I think I thought I was going to be rewatching Stardust, a light and funny Fantasy film from 2007. I forgot how dark and dramatic of a movie Practical Magic is! The opening scene is a Disneyfied Salem Witch Trials complete with a stoning in which children participate. And while we see very little actual magic throughout Practical Magic (more on this later), we do get an early scene where a childhood Sandra Bullock watches her aunties sacrifice a dove to perform a love spell. But this is also just a product of that era. Even the beloved Hocus Pocus begins with a child losing her life and three women getting hung by an angry mob.
Before we dissect, here’s a quick plot refresher: Two sisters (Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock) are taken in by their aunties, Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest, after a curse on the family brings about the death of their parents (any man who loves them will die an early death, including their dad, and their mom dies from suicide shortly after). Nicole is a wild-child type with an affinity for magic, and Sandra is the reserved-type who isn’t as natural a witch as the rest of her family. Fast forward to adulthood, and the sisters reunite (Nicole traveled abroad, Sandra never left town) to confront and hopefully end their family’s curse once and for all (spoiler alert: they succeed).
My main issue with the film is the sporadic tonal shifts that occur throughout. The opening scenes play like Disney, then about fifteen minutes in (after the death of Sandra’s partner), the vibes start to feel oddly ominous. It almost feels like the Nicole/Sandra storyline is a completely different movie than the B-plot involving Stockard/Dianne, with the latter carrying the lighthearted notes of the film’s opening sequence while the former gets serious. The whole thing just gives a bit of emotional whiplash.
Then there’s the lack of actual magic. There’s nothing wrong with a soft magic system; I don’t always need to know the nuts and bolts of how magic works to enjoy a story. But aside from the enduring curse on the family and a couple of minor spells here and there, the story is largely devoid of it. You could easily edit the magic out of the script entirely, keeping the “curse” elements in place but scrubbing the witchcraft and pagan elements. (But maybe I shouldn’t have expected much when the word ”practical” is right in the title.)
It is fun to see just how influential this film has been to the canon of Horror-lite media, particularly when it comes to Ryan Murphy’s work. The resurrection scene performed by Nicole/Sandra is remade almost shot-for-shot in American Horror Story: Coven, as are the “black swan and her ducklings” motifs of the young witches following their parasol-doting aunties around town.
Practical Magic is definitely not a bad movie by any means, it’s just not what I remembered watching the first time for whatever reason. I wish it had leaned more heavily into campiness, but even without doing so, it’s remained a cult classic. The script is definitely beneath most of the actors, particularly Nicole and Sandra, but it’s not cheesy enough to be unwatchable.
OVERALL RATING: 3.5/5
Side Notes:
-How does Sandra’s small town shop have three employees on the clock at a time?!
-Great 90’s aesthetic, so much brown!
-Margot Martindale was, per usual, underutilized