There’s no surprise in ‘Practical Magic 2’

Nearly 30 years have passed since the first film, and they look younger than the women playing Bullock’s daughters. That, you think, is the real magic.

But the kick here is a curse that strikes any man who gets too close to the Owens sisters. Death is imminent – unless they can figure out a way to end the curse. It’s printed in a book and, with the help of their aunts (Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing), the Owens sisters can break it. Unfortunately, the pages are stuck together, and the sisters have to figure out how to unstick them.

A trip abroad, a couple more relationships and two deaths have to occur before that happens.

Why producers took three decades to get this made is anyone’s guess, but it’s one of those films that didn’t really need to exist. Sure, whole theses could be written about the hidden messages in the story, but it’s easier just to watch Bullock pull off some physical comedy while she tries to right the ship.

Kidman is basically a sidekick who doesn’t figure into the curse as much as the others do. She’s there to nod while Bullock speaks.

Directed by Susanne Bier, “Magic 2” has an odd, ethereal quality that’s punctuated by Stevie Nicks’ “Landslide.” It has gauzy costumes, too, and the feel of a house with too many candles.

When one of Bullock’s daughters (played by Joey King) becomes enamored with a young man, mom sees the urgency needed to break the spell she largely ignored. “Magic 2” then takes a turn and starts another thread. This is like a limited TV series whose producers decided they want to go more than one season.

It isn’t bad, as Netflix offerings go, but it’s not the film that just had to be made. When the witches convene near the end, you realize “Practical Magic 2” is just a place where actors go after they’ve won the awards. It’s not a stretch, just a way to remember them as they once were — unwrinkled and unsullied.