Rating: 
Summary: Good, but Far from Perfect
Review: This movie certainly is a mixed bag! Not only does it mix in several very good and poignant scenes with some utterly illogical and cheesy ones, but compresses within it no less than five plot strands! Gillian and Sally (Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock) are the latest in a long line of witches, stemming from their ancestress Maria Owens who was banished from her village on the crimes of witchcraft. Pregnant with her lovers child, and devastated that he never came to rescue her, she placed a spell upon herself that she might never again feel the pain of love. However, this spell became a curse, and for the next three hundred years, the men that any Owens women ever loved would reach an untimely end. This is what happened to Gillian and Sally's father, and soon after their mother died also of a broken heart, leaving them to stay with their quirky aunts Frances and Jet (Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest). The four make a loving family, but as Jet puts it - 'with the sweets comes the sour', as the close-knit town community despise the strange and eccentric Owens women...except of course when its in their best interests to go to the aunts for help with their life-love.
Exposed to the desparate and all-consuming nature of love that is witnesses in the aunt's customers Sally decides that she never wants to fall in love. Gillian however can't wait, and while she scampers away from the town as soon as she's old enough, Sally creates a spell in her childhood of the man she is to fall in love with - a man so perfect she feels he can not possibly exist, with qualities such as being able to flip pancakes, ride a horse backwards, and have one green and one blue eye. Her logic is if he doesn't exist, she can never have her heart broken.
Time will tell differently however - by their adulthood Sally is happily married and living a blissfully normal life with two daughters and Gillian is involved with a gorgeous -but dangerous- man. Sally truly loves her husband however, and when the curse takes effect she is devastated. Gillian has problems of her own however when her boyfriend Jimmy gets violent. When Sally goes to rescue her sister they are both kidnapped by Jimmy and manage to escape only by loading his liquior bottle with belladonna, a powerful sedative. Unfortunatly, Jimmy doesn't survive the experience.
Terrified, the sisters perform a ressurection spell, but when Jimmy returns as something 'dark and un-natural' they panic, knock him out and bury him in the backyard. But not all things stay buried, least of all Jimmy, and when a police-dectective from Arizona comes investigating his disappearence the house, Sally is petrified - especially since he has one green eye and one blue one... Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are great as Gillian and Sally, and they carry full weight of the mish-mashed storyline on their shoulders. Kidman's accent faulters at times (especially whenever she says 'aunts') but on the whole performs the carefree, irresponsible younger sister very well. Bullock as the older, more composed and sensible Sally is just as good, and the two can easily pull off the sister bond.
Unsurpringly Stockard Channing and Diane Weist create the aunts perfectly, with Channing as the sharper, more eccentric Frances and Weist as the gentle and kind Jet.
Aidan Quinn however is nothing to sing and dance about. He enters the movie quite late, and then leaves just as early and Bullock has far more chemistry with the actor playing her first husband, even though he's in the movie for an even shorter time (or maybe its just because I love their run 'n jump kiss so much!) ...
Rating: 
Summary: It's Not About the Magic!
Review: I am absolutely flummoxed that no one who has reviewed this movie in these pages so far 'gets' what it's really about. It seems so obvious to me! It's NOT about the magic. It's NOT about the witchcraft. It's NOT about the romance. It's about the power of numbers. In particular, it's about how a group of women can achieve results in the fight against the physical abuse of womankind, when a single victim, with or without the help of a friend or relative or two, can not. On a lesser scale, it's also about how women are are not prone to victimization can rescue those who are. Is a pumpkin pie about the spice? Is a dish that is served 'flambe' about the alcohol? This movie contains a lot of "food for thought." Superficially, yes, it is a bit of fluff, not meant to be taken seriously or as a work of art. But dig a bit deeper for goodness sake! There's a lot to dig for here! Sandra Bullock [Sally] is wonderful as the thoughtful, sensitive sister. Nicole Kidman is, if anything, even better as the flighty, unthoughtful, prone-to-be-victimized sibling [Gillian]. (And it's a master touch that one of Sally's kids looks exactly like a small Gillian!) My only complaint is with the soundtrack, which so many reviewers have gushed about. There are two ways of using well-known songs as plot devices in a movie. One is to choose songs that meld right into the story line [see O Brother, Where Art Thou, for example]. The other is to make the plot line swerve to incorporate the desired song. Unfortunately, this movie chose the latter path. They're good songs, one and all, but they jar here because they don't seamlessly fit the story line. As to the Special Features on the DVD, forget trying to find the clues in the Menu Pages to unlock the Cauldron. If they're there, my wife and I certainly couldn't find them. It's much easier to turn the DVD case upside down and read the fine print footnote on the inside front cover. It's all spelled out!
Rating: 
Summary: What a Waste
Review: What a waste of excellent actors and any viewer's time! The main problem was not so much the senseless use of special effects as the utter boredom of the narrative. How I would like to see Bell, Book and Candle again.
Rating:
Summary: Okay adaptation
Review: I really like Sandra Bullock, so I checked this film out and was pleasantly surprised by it for the most part. I had expected a tedious "chick flick." Instead, I got a fairly whimsical and engaging romantic comedy. There are many departures in plot from the book, but I think most were necessary since the story in the book unchanged would not translate well on the silver screen. I do have one bone to pick with the makers of the film: the ten minutes of melodrama that passed as the climactic moment of the story (and were not in the very good book) really, really, really did not fit in with the rest of the story. Nor did the sudden about-face in attitudes by the townswomen who shunned the Owens family in the book but suddenly became their friends in the film when the plot demanded it. Still, Bullock never looked lovelier and unlike another reviewer I think Aidan Quinn did a good job as her love interest.
Rating:
Summary: practical waste
Review: If the Hollywood pitch guys got together and said, "Hey, what's hot now in the mid 1990s?" "Hey, who's spending more money now and wants movies targeted to their taste?" The answers would be New-Age-Non-Sense Wicca-Come-Lately Tame-Spin-On-The-Whole-Witch-Thing-... which we can target to affluent, bored, meandering, liberal arts degree having, white women, female teens and their trapped boy-and-or-girl-friends. The love story is meaningless and poorly done (acting and plot -- no chemistry whatsoever). The bad guy is trite and the horror he comes with is similarly ... The gags/laughs are inane. The supporting theme, learning about yourself and the world from doing things you're not supposed to do, seems written by some poor lost middle age women who wouldn't know a book of shadows from a day runner. The reviews here on Amazon.com are high on average, so I encourage you to look it up on the Internet Movie Database ... where it's received more than 4,000 ratings to give it a solid 5 out of 10. I think that 5 is extremely generous and only there b/c no matter how [poor] the detritus that the script grew in and the director stepped in, Kidman and Bullock have the kind of charisma to make them likeable in anything.
Rating: 
Summary: it makes you yearn to have a sister..
Review: when i first saw this movie at my friend's house, i was thrilled.. it was so good! the closeness between the two sisters is incredible.. and the actresses are so well suited to their roles.. sandra bullok and nicole kidman are especially awesome..
this movie is emotional, but also jam packed with FUN!
RENT IT AND YOU WON'T REGRET IT!
Rating:
Summary: A Really Great Movie
Review: This is a movie about hereditary Witches and it felt very magickal. This movie is a very good fictionalized verson of Witches (where are the male Witches?). It gave me some great ideas for my BoS. I want that BoS.
Rating:
Summary: not the best
Review: for sure because Devine Secrets Of The Ya Ya Sisterhood is the best. this is second.this flopped in theaters but i dont know why. its a great film. it has the story to pull it off.thumbs up.
Rating:
Summary: Sandra Bullock + Nicole Kidman = Great Movie
Review: Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, what a perfect pairing for the enchanting Practical Magic. The two play sisters whose family heritage is that of being a good witch. Another part of the heritage? The men who the Owens women fall in love is sure to die after living in the euphoria of the woman for a couple of years. This leads to sure mishaps in both of the women's lives, and we see as both overcome the spell and one falls in love. Practical Magic is full of humour, drama, and estrogen wit. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are the perfect match for the roles of the Owens sisters, and both play their parts superbly. They both had me near tears and in laughs. Stockard Channing and Diane Wiest play the aunts of the sister, and are great. With a great story and a superb cast, Practical Magic doesn't fail in anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful playful movie, Much better than the book
Review: If you think witchy movies are not your thing, then please take the time to watch this one. I think you will stop thinking of Dorothy, insipid voices and striped socks. Oz does not live here!! I adored this movie! I loved how the women came together to help rid the Owen's of Gillian's loser boyfriend. I loved the house, can I have it? Stockard Channing as my Aunt? Oh how I wish!! Any movie with her in it is a must see. Solid cast, solid performances really a great time. The ensemble cast gives depth to a movie that really could be 2 dimensional, and in my opinion beats the book by leaps and bounds. While this is nothing like real witches, no we don't blow on flames. Nicole's sexy innocence is a great choice for Gillian; I don't know if I would have picked Sandra for Sally, her performance is very good as well.
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