This is a review from the femme perspective. I've heard from guys that couldn't stand 10 minutes, but the film may be aimed at a strong female audience, which means we dude geeks may not be important. So here's the review...
Practical Magic
I saw a three-hour version of the film early August, without what must have been moon and ghost CG. Some of things I mention will definately be cut, evolve in post and hopefully improve before it gets to theaters. Let’s see where I can help that along. I was asked to review because I read the book when it came out a couple of years ago.
I had the book because the Chairman I worked for at Universal Studios had been fired and his secretary was transferred. I would get the mail addressed to him, including his monthly delivery from Putnam, Universal’s publishing house. I figured nobody would miss Practical Magic. Hollywood is not a glamorous place.
Sandra Bullock is beautiful. She wears her hair long, full and darker or deeper brown than usual. Her character is noble and very sad. You just want to hug her. Nicole Kidman looks ravishing and magnetic with a pencil-thin waist and almost too much strawberry-blonde hair. Her character is a little petulent and I just blame uncreative storytelling. They both play about a 20-year age range and I was pleasantly surprised that it worked so seamlessly for them.
Boys won’t mind this chick flick because the chicks are just so great to watch. Girls will like Sandra’s first husband, Michael and Aidan Quinn, the magic, and how good Sandra’s character is to her girls. Everyone will love Stockard Channing and Dianne Weist as the aunts; their chemistry is warm and long-tested. They bring a sense of fun to their scenes.
Sandra Bullock has this amazing scene that is so true and so sad that you want to fall out of your chair and wail on the floor with her. I saw it twice and she broke my heart both times. She’s a remarkably emotional actress. I felt it way out here.
Bullock steals the show because she gets to fall in love twice and so do we. She and Aidan Quinn have a great, oh-so-painfully frustrating and the purest blue, deep, spellbinding connection.
The script however seems to suffer from too many cooks in it’s witches’ brew, and seems to cut off a good vibe just when it’s getting started.
The front end is disorganized and needs to be tightened. There are several moments in time and space they’re trying to make parallel and it’s just confusing. It flashes back and forth between Sandra and Nicole current day but in different places, in the same place but the time is not clear, them as girls, Sandra’s daughters current day (who are also a brunette and redheaded pair, to confuse further) and then there’s ancient family history thrown in the mix.
The back end climax seemed screwy, but I’m sure I didn’t see the points that are still being cleaned up in CG. Classic good against evil. Let’s hope it’s not trite. Griffin has the heart to handle this delicately and should be trusted to care for the scene. It’s his gentle, hopelessly romantic touch that makes the rest of the movie good. Do not, under any circumstances, use the over-the-top, Witches of Eastwick special effects and blow out the passion the film has built up.
The front is confusing and I can’t tell whether I’m reacting to troubled storylines or just too much information. The back, well time will tell. Good luck Griffin.
Currently, there is a mythical story about the founding mother of the family line, Maria Owens, that’s fine on it’s own (even that has one unexplained story point). Anyway, whoever the woman is, she’s a pouting Siren, but her story is not necessary. Her story serves to pass along the information about this curse the Owens women are all under that their men will die young. It’s handled in other places so that sub-story could easily be dropped. It’s a totally manufactured story anyway (not in the book) and it takes away from the time we have to enjoy Nicole and Sandra. That’s 7 minutes I’ve saved for Warner.
There’s another sub-story about Sandra and Nicole’s parents. I only saw a board marking the scene drop in, but it wasn’t missed at all. The aunts in modern time set up the story with one sentence (it’s apparently sad and misguided love craziness), and that’s all we needed. Take it out.
It seems the filmmakers are trying to use these additional stories to add to the romantic feeling of the film. Don’t. Add to the romantic feel with subtle special effects of flowers blooming as Nicole Kidman’s character walks past or birds singing when Sandra Bullock’s character is in love, and especially pump up the creepy LITTLE dark magic that the evil ghost brings to a scene. Sandra, Nicole and Aidan are all captivating because we care about their characters. The sub-plots aren’t people we care about and are a distraction.
Those broken vibes I was talking about above would be vastly smoothed out with those “stumblers” removed.
Speaking of taking things out, there’s Nicole Kidman’s boyfriend. He’s the bad guy. In the movie we spend about 45 minutes with him. Sandra has to rescue Nicole from him. They end up his hostages on this bizarre, yet useless odyssey. They kill him, feel remorseful and use an off-limits spell to bring him back. He wakes up, gets violent and they have to karate chop him AGAIN. Whatever. Take him out. He only forwards the story when he’s dead and haunts their garden.
In the book, Nicole Kidman’s character drives into town after a 15-year absence with the boyfriend already conveniently dead in her car. They have him buried in about 10 minutes. Simple.
Dramatically, we find out what a bad guy he is, and the movie has some of this, because he haunts them at night from their garden, upsets the clairvoyant daughter, gets in their dreams, loses things they need, starts fights and makes their backyard generally creepy.
Leave more time for Sandra and Nicole. It’s so simple. But it’s as if Warner Bros. didn’t trust these two women to carry the film so they manufactured an inconsistent character that takes up space and ignored what the book handed them so beautifully.
Or maybe they felt sorry for Nicole not having a love story otherwise. Actually, there is a reason Nicole needs to have a steamy, evil connection to this guy, but it could be handled as flashbacks, and definately doesn’t need that hostage and double murder crap. There, that’s 30 nore minutes I saved Warner.
The definition of the title seems to be up for interpretation. The tone of the book is very much about living life. The other-wordly magic of the book is “practical” because it gets us through the dark days of life. The movie uses spells and witchy powers. It’s just a little contrived and they almost use the witchcraft as a prop to lean on. Let it be subtle and unexplainable. These characters are all full and captivating. Then Sandra Bullock says she uses a food processor for her potions. Now that IS practical.
But, the movie strongly implies that each character has a magic of his or her own--something the’re really, naturally good at. I like that. Everyone we meet in the film has some charm or power that pulls in the other characters.
I enjoyed the movie, but I missed the book’s embrace of the silly, surreal, dreamy, romantic moments in the book. Gabriel Garcia Marquez calls it “magical realism.” If you’re doing a movie called “Practical Magic,” it seems a must.
There were a few moments in the movie that were nice like with Aidan as a little boy and Sandra blowing her candle lit, but the filmmakers didn’t seem quite committed to their magic. It’s a shame because the movie is focusing on the magic; they’re ready and willing to use the special effects, but they use them to manufacture fear and false drama. Hopefully that will be filled out in post.
Last thing. What the hell is the deal with the very last scene when they all dress up in witches costumes and jump off the roof only to float like Mary Poppins? It’s hideous and lame. Take it out. That’s another 2 miuntes for Warner.
Overall, I liked it because I liked the actors and the director’s work. I like where I think they’re going with it. It’s got some funny stuff without being gaffaws and some very gentle, romantic moments. I’ll like it better when they’re done with it.
The Agent of Order
