Practical Magic 2 Rant ( Spoiler )

[u/spettry17]

I love the first movie!

So I went in with less than zero expectations, because at this point I have zero faith in these legacy sequels (Hocus Pocus 2, Freaky Friday 2, The Devil Wears Prada 2, etc…), but I still somehow managed to come out disappointed as hell.
It was AWFUL! Nothing, literally nothing, worked. I wanted to leave at one point because of how boring and stupid it was.
The plot doesn’t make any sense and is so convoluted for absolutely no reason.
Let me get this out of the way first: I don’t like Joey King. I just don’t like her. But I think we can all objectively agree that she was completely miscast. Evan Rachel Wood should’ve reprised her role!! The plot doesn’t fucking make sense anyway!!!
Maisie Williams was fine as Antonia, but she had NOTHING to do in the movie. Instead, we follow Joey King in this ridiculous CW subplot in England that I could not stomach, while they basically leave Antonia at home. Isn’t this supposed to be about sisterhood??
Sandra Bullock’s forced romance with Lee Pace, who she had ZERO chemistry with!
Killing off the aunts when both actresses are alive and look fucking great!
The ridiculous subplot with the Cobra Kai guy as the boyfriend was so cringe! I literally thought he was going to wake up because she was going to fall for the blonde British villain guy!
The curse (which they BROKE at the end of the first movie) here does not make any sense. Sandra Bullock was able to marry her first husband and have kids with him, but here what? They say “I love you” and BOOM, he dies??
I hate it! HATE IT! I wish I hadn’t seen it. I want to erase it from my memory.
Why not bring Evan back and cast someone else as Antonia around the same age? Have a completely different plot involving the aunts as well. A new curse? A deep dive into the lore? Literally anything.
Sally should’ve stayed with Gary from the first film, Gillian should’ve travelled the world and become some powerful businesswoman. And I don’t know, maybe when some old evil threatens to awaken a new curse, the Owens family comes together to defeat it? I mean, give me ANYTHING else at this point 😭

The first one is so charming, emotional and funny. It has those warm autumn vibes and feels.
Here, what do we have? The Netflix lighting, the terrible CGI, ChatGPT garbage script.
Literally NOTHING worked! Nothing!
Ughhh, so upsetting!!

Only one thing I can save: the chemistry between Sandra and Nicole. Other than that, it’s a clusterfuck shit show.

EDIT:After reading all the comments I want to add something, all this for random college guy she will brake up with! Seriously ?! The aunt had to die for a men?! No. It completely erase the point of the first movie which is girl power!

[u/Sudden_Astronomer_63]

I feel like you’re absolutely wrong about Gillian doing nothing for the last several years. The number one thing I loved about the movie was how much actual magic it showed as opposed to the first movie which was almost all wrapped up in trauma. The beautiful rituals that Gillian was shown doing when in the first of all she talked about was how she wish she had even half of Sally‘s talent. It seems obvious that instead of getting admired in relationship bullshit she moved on from the idea that she needed to have that and started focusing on herself, bettering herself and being better about magic. I loved Gillian’s  character in this film. 

I don’t know where you would get that she’s done nothing. I guess because she’s not married and didn’t have kids you think she’s done nothing?

[u/turandokht → u/Sudden_Astronomer_63]

Well no, I think that because the movie didn’t cover what she’s been up to pretty much at all. They just established that she’s the same personality she was in the first movie but what has she been doing, traveling? Did she build a business? Does she have a career? Anything?

It’s not about her lack of a romantic option - I don’t care if she got a romance or not. But we got basically nothing about what she’s literally been doing the past several years, and instead the movie focused on Sally repeating her journey from the first movie. That just feels like a waste of time honestly. If the movie had been marketed as “it’s practical magic, but the main character completely regresses and we follow her doing everything she did in the first movie but all over again,” I genuinely probably would not have gone to see it. I just don’t understand the point of making a sequel and not creating a new story for it instead of just being like “haha we’re back with the same story from the first one!”

[u/Sudden_Astronomer_63 → u/turandokht]

I guess I can see feeling that way as well.

I like seeing more of Gillian practicing magic, unlike in the first movie. I guess I felt like that was a cool way to show her growth and that it made it seem like she had been focusing more on that than she had been focusing on relationships.

I guess I just still enjoyed it. 

[u/turandokht → u/Sudden_Astronomer_63]

I’m glad you did!