Cast: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Dianne Wiest, Stockard Channing, Lee Pace, Joey King, Maisie Williams Review by Carol Allen
This very female-centric tale returns to the family of witches from the original film – sisters Sally and Gillian Owens (Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman) and their supportive and witchily eccentric aunts, Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Franny (Stockard Channing). Despite the passing of the decades, the sisters definitely don’t look either side of sixty, which they are. Must be the power of witchcraft and make up. Time has definitely passed though, as Sally’s two daughters, Kyllie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams) are now grown up. And the aunties have aged a bit too.
Fans of the original will remember that the family curse of this coven is that any man any of them falls in love with will die. So widowed Sally has brought up her girls alone and kept the knowledge of their witchy inheritance from them. But when Kylie falls in love and her boyfriend Gideon (Xolo Maridueña) is in intensive care in hospital after being run over, the cat is out of the bag. An idiom only that. These witches don’t appear to have a cat.
So Sally, guided by “The Young Witch’s Guide to Magic” – my title, not theirs – which one of the aunties has recently unearthed, sets off to the family’s ancestral home in England, where the witchery all started, in the hope of being able to break the curse and save her man. Mum and Auntie Gillian follow her in hot pursuit, leaving Antonia with the less interesting role of keeping an eye on the patient. All of which is good news for the British film industry, as the film was shot in the Uk
Once they’re in England the film from then on is far more Bullock’s with Kidman in support, which a lot of the time is literal, involving her lugging the two enormous suitcases on wheels the sisters appear to need when travelling. Well, a witch has got to look her best at all times, I suppose. They enlist the help of Ian Wright (Lee Pace), an academic and magic historian, who swiftly becomes Bullock’s love interest. He’s dead sexy. But does he know about the curse? And meanwhile Sally has enlisted the help of a friendly young country boy (Solly McLeod), who is helping her with her family history. But can he be trusted?
It’s all very glamourous, a bit silly though sometimes spooky and eventually the famous margaritas put in an appearance along with what I can only describe as a Mary Poppins moment. Great fun though and I reckon the fans will love it.
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