Two times a charm: Is Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman’s agelessness the real trick of Practical Magic 2?

A film about sisterhood with fifty- and sixtysomething female leads is something to cheer – but would it have been made if its stars had aged like mere mortals since the 1998 original?

Would Hollywood have brought Practical Magic back from the dead if the intervening 28 years looked more visible on Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman? An awkward question, as it risks subjecting their faces to the invasive scrutiny older female actors already endure. Their return as leads in their late 50s and early 60s should count as progress. Yet it reveals a condition of female stardom: age can increase a female actor’s nostalgic value, provided it does not show too…