DVD Review: Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in Practical Magic

Practical Magic, the film adaptation of Alice Hoffman's novel, is an intriguing blend of family, love, and magic. With its intoxicating mix of witches, magic spells, a rambling old seaside mansion, and a zombie thrown in for good measure, this is the perfect film to enjoy during the Halloween season.

The story concerns the Owens women, a family of witches who have been feared and ostracized for centuries by the citizens of their small New England town, because they all have a gift--the gift of magic.

As the film begins, the eccentric Owens aunts Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Frances (Stockard Channing) tell their young orphaned nieces Sally and Gillian the tale of the Owens family curse. Over two hundred years ago, their Aunt Maria (the first witch in the family) was spurned by a lover, so she put a spell on herself, never to fall in love again. Over time, the depths of her despair turned the spell into a hex: any man that falls in love with an Owens woman is doomed to an untimely death.

We soon learn that the family curse has claimed the life of Sally and Gillian's parents (the sound of the "death watch beetle" heralded the death of their father, and their mother died of a broken heart.) The young Owens girls grow up in a rambling, rather spooky old Victorian mansion, learning spells and watching their aunts practice the craft (when the aunts concoct a spell for a lovesick woman, Sally vows "never to fall in love" and Gillian declares "I can't wait to fall in love!")

In time, the more traditional, conservative adult Sally (played with low key charm by Sandra Bullock) experiences the family curse. She marries her sweetheart (Mark Feuerstein) and they have two daughters, but one day Sally hears the sound of the "death watch beetle", a harbinger of doom for her husband's impending death. She tries in vain to rip up the floorboards and stop the sound of the ticking beetle; however, she's too late: at the same time, her husband is killed in a tragic accident.