Practical Magic

This is one of my favorite movies and the movie was based on the book Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. It is a story about the magic of love. The movie starts off with Maria Owens as a witch 200 years ago, who had affairs with married men. The town tried to hang her but the rope broke, so the towns people banished her to an island. Maria was pregnant and was waiting for her lover to come but he did not come. In a moment of anger and despair she cast a spell never to fall in love again, but it turned into a curse on the Owen family. The curse was death for a man who dared to love an Owen woman.

Sally and Gillian moves in with their Aunts when there parents die. The Aunts, Frances and Jet, raise the girls. Sally longs to be normal and Gillian just wants to have fun. When they get older Gillian leaves the town but makes a pack with Sally that they would grow old together. The Aunts do a spell on Sally and Michael and soon they are married and have 2 girls, Kylie and Antonia. Michael dies because of the curse and Sally moves back in with the Aunts

 Gillian and her current relationship Jimmy has taken for the worse. Jimmy hits Gillian and she wants to leave him. The Aunts and the girls go to a Wiccan festival while Sally gets Gillian. Sally gets there but Jimmy kidnaps both of them and Sally accidently kills him. They decide to bring him back to life with a spell. Things get worse and Sally once again kills Jimmy right after they bring him back. So with Jimmy dead for the second time, they decide to bury him in the back yard.

 The Aunts and girls return and everything is fine. The Aunts, Sally and Gillian get drunk and the Aunts know something is wrong and confronts them. They lie to the Aunts, so the Aunts leave them. Jimmy is haunting Gillian and then an Arizona investigator, Gary Hallet, comes looking for Jimmy. They lie to him but he sticks around to ask questions. The finds out about the Owen curse and he falls for Sally. Sally too is falling for him and confesses to killing Jimmy. Gillian is now possesed by Jimmy. Gary and Sally thinks they are killed Jimmy's spirit and Gary leaves. When Sally was young she did not want to fall in love so she does a spell of the perfect man but he does not exists so she can't die of a broken heart. She realizes that Gary is the man from the spell so she can't rely on their feelings.

Sally discovers that they did not banish Jimmy's spirit and he has full control over Gillian. The Aunts arrive just in time to help Sally banish Jimmy. Sally calls the other mothers from school and tells them that she is coming out of the closet and admits she is a witch. She needs their help to banish Jimmy for good. They try but they are unsuccessful but Sally realizes that they are doing it wrong. It is all about love and she uses the same spell they did as kids before Gillian moved away. Sally's blood, Gillian's blood and Maria's blood. The love of the Owen family defeats Jimmy and saves Gillian.

Gary covers for Sally and Gillian, he reports that Jimmy was killed and burned beyond recognition. Sally decides that love cannot wait so she magically sends for Gary to return. The end scene is with the Aunts, Sally, Gillian, Kylie and Antonia jumping off the roof down to the towns people.

I really enjoyed the movie as it gave a positive and more of real take on witchcraft. Not all of it is true but parts of it are true about the craft. The movie is quirky, scary and romantic with a splash horror. The movie is fabulously cast and Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing as the Aunts were great. I am a Sandra Bullock fan but must say that the Aunts made the show. I really don't do soundtracks to movies, but I must admit that I enjoy the music in the show. It is the only non musical show that I want to by the soundtrack to. So over all I enjoy watching it every October in my countdown to Halloween. I also will take it out to watch when I need a pick me up or when I am really stressed out. It always gives that fuzzy feeling that gives me strength to go on.

So I will leave you with the last line of the movie. "Can love really travel back in time and heal a broken heart? Was it our joined hands that finally lifted Maria's curse? I'd like to think so. But there are some things I know for certain: always throw spilt salt over your left shoulder, keep rosemary by your garden gate, plant lavender for luck, and fall in love whenever you can."