"Practical Magic 2," in theaters Thursday, regresses its characters and separates them in a convoluted magic quest with lazy attempts at comedy.

Nicole Kidman (L) and Sandra Bullock return in "Practical Magic 2," in theaters Thursday. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures UPI Joey King (L) and Maisie Williams play sisters in "Practical Magic 2," in theaters Thursday. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures UPI Nicole Kidman (L) and Joey King star in "Practical Magic 2," in theaters Thursday. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures UPI Stockard Channing (L) and Diane Wiest return in "Practical Magic 2," in theaters Thursday. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures UPI Nicole Kidman (L) and Sandra Bullock star in "Practical Magic 2," in theaters Thursday. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures UPI

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Practical Magic was far from a perfect movie but it had characters viewers want to see again. Practical Magic 2, in theaters Thursday, struggles with repeating elements from the previous movie that are no longer relevant and introducing new themes on which it cannot deliver.

Based on author Alice Hoffman's The Book of Magic, the sequel finds the Owens family still cursed that any man they love will die. Sally's (Sandra Bullock) second husband, Gary (Aidan Quinn's character) has died and she casts a spell to make her daughters forget about witchcraft.

Sally makes her sister, Gillian (Nicole Kidman), promise never to tell them about magic or curses. But, when Kylie (Joey King) goes to college, she falls in love with Gideon (Xolo Maridueña) and Sally can't hide the curse from her.

The new film calls back the death watch beetles who chirp for a character exiting the movie early. Midnight margaritas don't return until the end, but the entire premise commits the error of many sequels that retread the original.

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At the end of Practical Magic, Sally finally embraced her power as a witch. Sure, death is traumatic, and losing two husbands to a curse must compound it exponentially, but the sequel is about Sally believing that repression will spare her heartbreak, until it doesn't anymore.

When Gideon is hit by a car and sent to the hospital in a coma, Kylie is rightfully upset that her mother hid vital information that she needed to navigate life. Gillian comes clean first, so now the sisters bicker throughout the movie instead of supporting each other.

The film separates Kylie from her mother and aunt when she goes looking for a way to break the curse on her own. Kylie travels to London under the guidance of a book Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) gifted to Aunt Frances (Stockard Channing).

The book is actually cursed so it is leading Kylie down a dark path. That was a joke in the Simpsons parody of "The Monkey's Paw," but it is why Sally and Gillian have to fly to London to find Kylie.

The film leaves Kylie's sister, Antonia (Maisie Williams), behind with little to do but watch over Gideon in his hospital room.

Sally and Gillian were always different enough characters to create comic friction, but the script, adapted by Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett and Kelly Marcel, only has them frantically talk over each other so that none of the conflict actually gets addressed.

Gillian will say something sexual and Sally will be embarrassed. It is a cheap form of hack comedy.

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Bullock finds slapstick business to add to scenes that feel desperately inorganic this time, most notably fumbling with her cell phone for no reason in an exposition scene.

The one genuine strength of the sequel is Kylie gaining the confidence to love. She avoids saying "I love you" back to Gideon because of all the rumors she's heard about her family's love curse. See, you can cast a memory spell on your daughters but you can't cast one on the rumor mill.

So, when Kylie admits she does love Gideon, it is a genuine moment of discovery that is highly relevant to people in their first serious committed relationships. Sadly, it serves only as a plot point to launch Kylie on her plot-heavy quest.

An interesting question not raised in the film, but apparently in the book, is whether the curse would affect non-heteronormative couples. The curse is that any man they love will die, so would a same-sex couple be safe? In the book, Antonia is gay but has no love interest in the movie.

The timeline is so vague it wants to avoid questions but gives just enough concrete details to be frustrating. Gary died in 2007 according to his tombstone, yet Sally's daughters appear the same age they were in the 1998 film.

In the sequel's present, Kylie is in college and Antonia is a medical intern. So they are maybe 10 years older, but it has been 28 years since the first film.

This is a movie about women coming together that keeps them apart for most of the film. Uniting against a dark power should be the inciting incident to an empowering film, not the lackluster payoff to a middling quest movie.

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Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.