Review: Witchy women cast another spell in 'Practical Magic 2,' for margarita-supplied fans only

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Set us as preferred When remembering “Practical Magic,” Griffin Dunne’s 1998 silly-spooky witchy sister movie, the image immediately conjured has to be that of “midnight margaritas.” The scene of Nicole Kidman, Sandra Bullock, Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest — two generations of Owens sisters — dancing around a kitchen to Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut” while blending frozen cocktails is one of the most inexplicably indelible images of 1990s cinema, encapsulating the curious appeal of the film itself.The scene is goofy, weirdly enchanting and doesn’t entirely make sense, yet it’s a fun hang.

That’s the whole deal with “Practical Magic” — it’s not that it’s a “good” movie, necessarily, but a fun one.For lovers of the first film, the sequel, arriving 28 years later, will go down like one of those midnight margaritas.It hits all the familiar notes of the original, while expanding the lore considerably.

Happily, Bullock and Kidman’s chemistry hasn’t waned.While Dunne’s film, based on the 1995 book by Alice Hoffman, was an exploration of an unlikely coven of suburban PTA moms overcoming fear and prejudice, the sequel sees the Owens women exploring the roots of their power and trying to break the curse that keeps them single.

Thanks to an ancestor who wished to never feel the agony of love again, any man the Owens women fall in love with ends up dead.High-strung herbalist Sally (Bullock) deals with this by walling herself off.Free-spirited Gillian (Kidman) never gets attached to any men, which was most of the drama in the first movie.

But after the heartbreak she’s experienced, Sally’s had enough.She casts a spell that her daughters forget about magic and never practice again.

But repression isn’t a good plan when generations-long curses run in the bloodline, because Sally’s daughter Kylie (Joey King), now a college student, has gone and fallen in love behind her ...