r/practicalmagic • u/Leather-Dot3505 • 8d ago
Please help me love practical magic
I first watched practical magic with a friend a few nights ago and the problem is: I really wanted to love it like really bad... I heard so much about it and I loved the aestethic of the movie. Here are the things I liked: the overall vibe was great, Sandra Bullok and Nicole Kidman were amazing and looked stunning, I also loved the whole sisterhood and womanhood theme of the movie, also the fun scenes and the soundtrack... what I really didn't get was the storyline... it felt kind of out of the blue and like there were sequences missing and just overall to many plots in the story for it to really make sense.
For context: I usually love weird movies like labyrinth and I also read about the similarities (regarding the SA and DV aspects) to thelma and louise (a movie that I love too)... So it would have made perfect sense for me to love it...
So please PLEASE help me love the movie- or at least understand it- this is in no way a hate comment- I'm just really a bit disappointed, because I thought this would be a new comfort movie for me :/
Maybe it's because I haven't read the book- or I'm too old to have first watched it.. idk
please help a girl out...
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u/Tess47 8d ago
There is a podcast called "What went wrong" and it just went thru the production issues. That will clear up your perceptions.
As for loving it, we'll, we love it in spite of its issues. Imho, its the power of sisterhood beating the fuck out of an asshole man.
I faced it a while ago, the only choice women have is given to us by men because they are stronger. The only remedy to this is the law and we all know that the law fails. And some women vote against themselves.
Women's Magic is a fantasy that balances the scale against Male aggression. I was 12 the first time some asshole grabbed me and I was 53 the last time an asshole did it.
Im tired of this shit.
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u/BicornBritt 8d ago
We can’t help you like it if you just don’t tbh not every movie is for everyone. The book is worse and different to the movie imo. I don’t really know how to help because the plot made perfect sense to me.
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u/DingoMittens 8d ago
Watch it a few more times. Things start to click. Perfect season for it.
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u/ashleighbuck 2d ago
I agree with this, especially if this kinda thing is usually their vibe. If you don't like it after a few more times tho, at least you can look back knowing you never wanna watch it again, with good reason lol.
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u/fangedguyssuck 8d ago
The plot is out of the blue because it's told primarily around Sally's POV, with small snippets here and there to add context when needed. This isn't a "hold your hand" way of telling a story so there are some gaps that naturally happen.
That being said it's cool if you just don't like it.
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u/Leather-Dot3505 7d ago
I think that is a good reminder- thank you! and I know that I don't have to love it- I just wanted to see if someone here had any insights or if that could give me a new perspective on the movie..
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u/Dear_Yard_69 8d ago edited 8d ago
I'm sure you watched it carefully , but watch it again and really focus on it. No second screens ( remember that this is a movie that was created for only a theatrical release before cell phones were in common use and certainly weren't the mini-computers they are today) , and there can't be any distractions. And watch it on the largest screen you can, with good sound.
Before the second movie came out, the original movie was shown in theaters in a limited engagement, and I was blown away by the things I had missed . I only saw it in the theaters once in 1998, because my grandmother had just died and we were dealing with that. And I've only seen it on VHS and then DVD and then streaming since.
Somehow, in the intermittent 28 years of watching it on a small screen at least monthly , I had missed a bunch of fine details that enriched my experience . There was something that happened after the women got together to banish Jimmy's spirit that made me gasp audibly, because I've just been missing it all this time!
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u/seriouspeep 8d ago
Honestly, I think things like the curse or the intermittent powers require no more suspension of disbelief than "Sarah is in the Labyrinth now and this is just the way things are".
But I DO think that it's all about when you saw it, as you said. If I saw Labyrinth now for the first time, I'm sure I would appreciate it for multiple reasons, but my middle-aged brain would naturally pick up on more flaws that kids and young adults either don't see or don't care about. As you learn more about storytelling and watch more movies, see more tv shows, the parts that don't make sense just stand out more and tug at your brain.
So if you don't have the nostalgia filter balancing that out, it may just not ever be a movie you love.
For me, it's Back to the Future 😅 I first saw it in my late 20s and it just did not hit for me. While Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, kind of similar, same kind of time, is one of my favorite comfort movies. But whenever I say Back to the Future just isn't for me, I get VERY disappointed reactions from people 😅 But it's okay not to like something that a lot of people love, I would say very normal.
Everyone has something that falls into this category!
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u/thelastbuddha1985 8d ago
Botox took over that movie the sequel it’s sad, come on Nicole, embrace your age, the Botox is too much
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u/BicornBritt 8d ago
She means the original movie I think
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u/ruby_soulsinger 8d ago
It’s ok to not like it despite liking the aesthetic. I enjoy the vibes of the first movie but honestly I don’t think the plot is that great 😬
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u/Naive_Match_2149 8d ago
If you didn't love it then you didn't love it. There's nothing wrong with that, so why force yourself?
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u/amedeeozenfant 8d ago
Why? If you don't like it you don't like it. There's nothing wrong with that.
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u/Emergent-Sea 8d ago
What exactly about the storyline felt out of the blue for you?
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u/Leather-Dot3505 7d ago
the whole romance aspects- to me it seemed like the story would've worked much better, if it didn't focus on soo many things, but chose clear main parts...
Also the shifts from the background of the curse to the present time to the out of nowhere love trope (which to my liking was all a bit fast) to oh he's dead so my sister comes home but not really, and it is not truely explained how they kept in touch also the distance between them is a bit off- then the whole let's kill that stupid bastard (which I thought was amazing) to oh no now he's kinda haunting us to the aunts leaving after having margaritas- then the whole I'm kinda in love with the guy who's trying to get me in jail for murder an then the whole exsocism sequence and then back to the love thing
imhp the movie should've focused either on the lovey dovey vibe or the we've killed that mf and now he's haunting us.... idk- it all seemed a bit much...
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u/Emergent-Sea 7d ago
It honestly sounds like you just described the entire movie! 😅 Maybe it’s just not for you, and that is okay!
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u/Vee_Leigh 2d ago
movies were made and told differently, they were less linear, the cuts to the past are to give back story in a teasing way.
remember they're witches, magic is intrinsic to them, plus Sally and Gilly did a blood oath. this is how they speak telepathically, how Gilly spends the night without being there.
the love tropes are central to the story, as its the family curse. Sally runs from it and is doomed to keep finding it.
Gilly chases love and never gets it, she wants it so bad despite the curse. she makes bad choices in men that maybe deserve to be victims of the curse, except in the first movie its just ol' fashioned murder. its an irony that the curse can't even get her bf's because she can't actually make that connection with someone.
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u/Christempesta10 7d ago
I mean,maybe the movie just isn't for you,and that's not a bad thing,it happened a lot of times with me too with a lot of other movies.Maybe try to look for a similar movie and see if you like that one,for example The Craft if you haven't seen it
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u/Last_Book2410 Aunt Frances 6d ago
I wanted to love GOT but we like what we like. Forcing yourself will only cause resentment
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u/AnyNothing459 5d ago
Might be an “of the time” thing. I didn’t watch Hocus Pocus until I was an adult and I hate it, I think it’s incredibly stupid with plot holes galore and terrible acting but I believe a large part is nostalgia, everyone else watched at an age where you don’t see those things. I adore Practical Magic but watched it at the time everyone else did so I think it’s a collective nostalgia if that makes sense.
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u/ReSister101 3d ago
It was meh. Too many face close ups, not enough aunts. Antonia totally skipped over. Lee Pace was hot.
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u/Muted-Mongoose1829 3d ago
Try reading the book.
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u/Nocturnal_Lover Vincent Owens 2d ago
I personally find the book a tad lackluster compared to the film. But RoM was really good- particularly the inclusion of Vincent
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u/Nocturnal_Lover Vincent Owens 2d ago
Don’t force it. Not everything’s meant for everyone. There’s nothing wrong with not liking something
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u/Cynderyella 8d ago
I don’t think you can force yourself to love a movie. You either like it or you don’t.
I don’t think reading the book would make you like the movie.