Practical Magic 2 is the case of a legacy sequel that trusts its two lead actresses more than it trusts its own script. Twenty-eight years after Practical Magic turned the Owens sisters into a minor cult favorite, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman come back as Sally and Gillian for a follow-up directed by Susanne Bier, taking over from the original's Griffin Dunne, that spends much of its 130 minutes figuring out what to actually do with them.
The setup: Sally's husband Gary has died from the same curse that has killed every man an Owens woman has loved, and rather than pass that history down, Sally decides to keep her own daughters - played by Joey King and Maisie Williams - away from magic altogether. It's a protective choice rather than a dramatic one, and it's where the film's problems start. A story built around hiding the truth from its own characters spends a lot of its runtime hiding the truth from the audience too, and the arrivals around the edges of it - Lee Pace and Xolo Maridueña among the new cast, with Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing back as aunts Frances and Jet - mostly wait for scenes that let them do more than react to Sally's decisions.
What still works is the thing the film was always going to be sold on: Bullock and Kidman together. Nearly three decades on, the two still read as sisters who have irritated each other their whole lives and would still take a curse for one another, and the film is at its best in the scenes that simply let them talk - about Gary, about their mother, about the parts of being an Owens woman that were never really a choice. Critics have converged on roughly that same read: a script reaching for the original's midnight-margarita ease without finding a comparably confident story of its own, held up mostly by two performances better than the material around them.
A Wide Critics-Audience Gap
The most interesting thing about Practical Magic 2 isn't its plot, but the gap it has opened between critics and the people actually watching it. The film sits in the high 30s on Rotten Tomatoes' critics score from more than a hundred reviews, against an audience score above 90% - one of the wider critics/audience splits of the year so far. That split lines up with what the film actually is: a comfort watch for anyone who already loves Sally and Gillian, a shakier case for anyone meeting them for the first time. In a September crowded with studio franchise holdovers and one Cannes import, Practical Magic 2 is the rare sequel not chasing a cinematic universe - it's chasing two specific actresses, and mostly finds them exactly where it left them.
Where to See Practical Magic 2 in Athens
In Mood's data, Practical Magic 2 is the widest release currently on Athens screens: 39 confirmed screenings across 29 different cinemas and open-air venues this week, roughly 29% of the 99 venues showing anything in the city right now. That's comfortably ahead of the next-widest new arrivals - Paweł Pawlikowski's Cannes-winning Fatherland, playing 23 venues, and Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, still running at 14. Against a current Athens programme spanning 67 different titles in Mood's tracking, that scale makes Practical Magic 2 this week's default choice as much as its most talked-about one - the only new-release witch story on a board otherwise split between studio franchise holdovers and one awards-season import.
The film is playing multiple times a day at multiplex chains including Village Cinemas @ The Mall Marousi and Option Cinemas Ilion, alongside dozens of neighborhood and open-air screens across the city. Mood's listings track which cinemas are showing a film on a given day rather than individual showtimes, so check the film's Mood listing for the current schedule at a specific cinema before heading out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to have seen the original Practical Magic to follow the sequel?
It helps but isn't required. The film recaps the curse and the sisters' history early on, though the emotional weight of Gary's death lands harder if you remember him from the 1998 original.
Is Practical Magic 2 a horror film?
No. Mood's own genre tags for the film are Fantasy, Drama and Comedy - it's a family-and-witchcraft drama with comedic beats, not a horror title, despite the curse-and-death premise.
Where is Practical Magic 2 playing in Athens?
Widely. Per Mood's tracking, it's currently the most-screened film in the city, running at 29 different cinemas and open-air venues, including multiplexes like Village Cinemas @ The Mall Marousi and Option Cinemas Ilion. See the full, current list on Mood's Athens movies page.
Is Practical Magic 2 worth watching in a cinema?
If you already have an attachment to Sally and Gillian, yes - Bullock and Kidman's scenes together are the film's real reason to exist. Anyone coming in without that attachment is likely to find the plot around them thinner than the leads carrying it.
How long is Practical Magic 2?
130 minutes, per Mood's movie data - about 20 minutes longer than the 1998 original.
Practical Magic 2 is one of 67 titles Mood is currently tracking on Athens screens. Browse the full lineup, including what else is playing this week, on Mood's Athens movie listings.
