31 August 2026

Review: Practical Magic 4K UHD

It’s a romantic comedy, a supernatural fantasy, a domestic abuse drama, a murder story and, for a while, a police investigation. It changes direction whenever it feels like it and occasionally appears to have forgotten what sort of film it was ten minutes earlier. Yet, somehow, that has become part of its charm.

Directed by Griffin Dunne and based on Alice Hoffman’s 1995 novel, Practical Magic stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as Sally and Gillian Owens, sisters descended from a long line of witches. The women of the Owens family have inherited magical abilities, a beautiful old house and a curse which ensures that any man they truly love will meet an early death.

Sally wants nothing to do with magic and dreams of an ordinary life. Gillian embraces both her powers and anything else that might annoy the neighbours. Following the death of their parents, the sisters are raised by their eccentric aunts, Frances and Jet, played by Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest. Chocolate cake is served for breakfast, love potions are freely available and conventional parenting is nowhere to be seen.

As adults, the sisters take very different paths. Sally settles down and starts a family, while Gillian travels from town to town and relationship to relationship. When Gillian becomes involved with the violent Jimmy Angelov, played by Goran Visnjic, Sally attempts to help when Gillian calls late one night. One accidental death, one badly judged resurrection spell and one hurried burial later, the Owens sisters have created a problem considerably worse than the one they started with.

Sandra Bullock is ideally cast as Sally. Her performance has the same mixture of warmth, anxiety and comic exasperation which made her one of the most likeable stars of the 1990s. Sally desperately wants to appear normal, despite living in a house full of witches and having recently helped bury a man beneath the rose bushes. Bullock somehow makes that contradiction feel perfectly reasonable.

Nicole Kidman has the flashier role as Gillian and clearly enjoys it. Gillian initially appears reckless and carefree, but Kidman gives her vulnerability once Jimmy’s controlling behaviour turns violent.

The chemistry between Bullock and Kidman carries the film through its less convincing moments. They feel like sisters, particularly when they are arguing, laughing or attempting to solve a supernatural crisis using tequila and a kitchen blender.

Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest nearly steal the film as Frances and Jet. The aunts behave as though witchcraft is simply another household chore. Their midnight margarita sequence remains one of the film’s highlights, helped considerably by the cast dancing around the kitchen to Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut”.

Aidan Quinn has the less rewarding role of Gary Hallet, the policeman investigating Jimmy’s disappearance. Quinn is likeable, but Gary is never as interesting as the Owens women, and the romance between him and Sally feels more forced than magical.

The film’s biggest hurdle to overcome while watching is its shifting tone. Jimmy’s abuse is genuinely unpleasant, yet the story soon moves into comedy involving his corpse. Later scenes become darker again before the final act turns into a celebration of female solidarity. Dunne never entirely brings these elements together, but the cast commits to every change of mood and make the film work through personality rather than logic.

Warner Bros. brings Practical Magic to 4K UHD for the first time on 24th August. The newly remastered 2160p presentation retains the original 2.39:1 aspect ratio and includes both Dolby Vision and HDR10.

The improvement over the previous home releases is substantial. This is not a film designed around razor-sharp images, as Dunn’s photography frequently uses soft light and a deliberately hazy appearance. The restoration respects that look while revealing more texture in the costumes, furniture and crowded interiors of the Owens house.

The expanded colour range is particularly effective. Candlelight and autumnal browns are warmer and richer, while Gillian’s red hair and the film’s occasional bursts of saturated colour are more striking without becoming artificial. Black levels are strong, although some detail is lost in the darkest scenes. The original film grain remains visible and generally natural.

The increased resolution is less kind to a few of the visual effects. Jimmy’s supernatural appearances were never completely convincing and 4K has not made him any more discreet. Fortunately, these moments are brief and have always been part of the film’s slightly homemade magic.

On a side note, we were fortunate to also receive the money-can’t-buy Warner Bros Archive Folder containing a beautiful array of original set drawings.

These drawings, as well as being wonderful individual pieces of artwork, also give a good sense of the style of the sets and locations that the filmmakers were aiming for during pre-production…and which they achieved.

I huge thank you to Warner Bros. and Fetch Publicity for including those with our review disc.

Practical Magic is released on standard 4K UHD by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on 24th August 2026. The limited-edition 4K steelbook follows on 5th October 2026.

Practical Magic4K UHD Blu-ray release will contain the following special features:

Casting the Spell

Director Griffin Dunne and producer Denise Di Novi, along with stars Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Aidan Quinn and Goran Visnjic, reflect on the joys of bringing Practical Magic to life.