Practical Magic 2 Reunites Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, and the Real Debate Is About Aging in Hollywood

The Owens sisters are back. Practical Magic 2 has officially reunited Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, more than 25 years after the original charmed audiences in 1998. For a lot of us, that first movie was a staple of rainy afternoons and sleepovers, so the nostalgia is real and it’s earned. But the sequel does ask fans to overlook a couple of things, starting with the fact that the first film already wrapped up the family curse plotline.

Then there’s the calendar math. Bullock is 62 now and Kidman is 59, yet both appear nearly identical to their 1998 selves. Meanwhile, Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest were only 54 and 50 when they originated the aunt roles, and 47-year-old Lee Pace is stepping in as a possible romantic interest for Bullock. Twenty-eight years supposedly passed in this story, but almost nothing on screen reflects it. The movie doesn’t even blame the witchcraft.

Critics are pointing out that this speaks to something bigger than one sequel. When stars stop visibly aging, audiences lose their bearings on what chapter of life a character is meant to be in. The age of agelessness makes storytelling harder, and the article on everyone’s mind asks the obvious question: why be of a certain age when you can keep delaying it? So what do you think, should Hollywood let these leading ladies grow older on screen, or is the escape part of the fun? Tell us in the comments.