Picturehouse Recommends

You know the nights are drawing in when it's time for Practical Magic. The none-more-autumnal classic, starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as siblings with extraordinary powers and a taste for margaritas, is perfect when there's a chill in the air. This year we're especially lucky because the long-awaited sequel, Practical Magic 2, offers us new adventures for the magically gifted family. 

In the beloved 1998 film Bullock and Kidman are perfectly cast as witchy sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, because surely no-one but a witch could look that good in those maxi-skirts. Raised by their eccentric aunts, played by the divine Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest, the pair took very different paths in life. Sally married her sweetheart and raised two children while Gilly went off to see the world. That story saw the pair navigate a crisis that made the sisters realise they still needed one another and always would. By the triumphant finale, they even seemed to have overcome the curse that had haunted their family for generations. 

As we rejoin Sally and Gilly they face a new threat that could unravel their family once more. Sally's daughters, Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams), are now young adults, reckoning with the history of witchcraft in the Owens family and facing their own romantic challenges.The whole family will have to work together once more to escape a twisted magic and find their happily ever after. 

This latest slice of witch-y wonder will be conjured up by director Susanne Bier, the gifted Danish director who brought us Brothers and Things We Lost In The Fire. She's worked with both leading ladies before – Bullock on Bird Box and Kidman on TV's The Perfect Couple – so she's perfectly set up to tell a story about sisterhood and woman-power. Bier has also assembled a fabulous cast around them. Alongside three generations of magical Owens ladies there are new characters, with Lee Pace, Xolo Maridueña and Solly McLeod joining the adventure. Let's hope they can keep up with the margarita mixing and even a small percentage of the ladies' sass. 

It's time to prepare for the return of the Owens, bringing the autumn with them and the sense that anything is possible with your sisters by your side. Light a few candles, brew yourself some kind of potion – we won't ask what's in it – and get cosy as they cast a new spell over us all.

Helen  O'Hara

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Practical Magic 2 is in cinemas from 11 September — Book Now!