History Film / PracticalMagic

* HasTwoMommies: Gilly and Sally are raised by their two aunts.

* BlackMagic: Bringing Jimmy Angelov back from the dead falls into this category.

* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Witchcraft follows bloodlines. During the climax however, other women in the town help them perform a spell [[SubvertedTrope so magic doesn't seem to 100% genetic]].

* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Witchcraft follows bloodlines.
* SuddenlySober: After Gillian smashes the bottle of tequila, everyone instantly loses their giggly drunkenness. It could be argued that their intense intoxication was somewhat caused by [[spoiler: Jimmy's spirit affecting everyone in the house]] as the aunts are heard singing the same song He was just before [[spoiler: Gillian and Sally killed him the first time]], and Sally noticed that it was Jimmy's bottle of booze.

* EasilyForgiven: Despite finding out that Gilly and Sally killed someone, no-one seems to bothered by this (however, it ''was'' justifiable both times, and [[{{Pun}} thus]] {{justified}}. Averted in the book, [[spoiler: where Jimmy died of alcohol poisoning.]]

* IdiotBall:
** The abusive boyfriend who WouldHitAGirl, and who scared Gillian so much she telephoned across the states for help, stepped out of the car to take a leak. Do they drive away? No, they sit meekly in the car, Sally at the steering wheel, and wait for him to come back.
** He had taken the car keys, so they couldn't drive away. The real TooDumbToLive moment was when Gillian went back for her tiger's eye despite knowing that Jimmy could be anywhere.
** [[spoiler:And after all that trouble in killing him, reviving him, killing him again, and burying him in the backyard... they just leave Jimmy's car parked in their driveway. Hallet notices it immediately.]]

* PortentOfDoom: The chirping of the death watch beetle foretells the death of a loved one.

** Sally's daughters mirror this due to GenerationXerox. With Kylie being a FieryRedhead with no qualms about using her magic and Antonia being more levelheaded and concerned about hurting others.

** In a meta sense, the movie does this to Gilly. In the book, she overcomes [[spoiler:Jimmy]]'s death quickly and meets her SecondLove, the girls' high school principal. The movie removes her second love interest and [[spoiler:adds a DemonicPossession ]], effectively "punishing" her for her promiscuity.

* IJustWantToBeNormal: Sally.

* CoolAunt: Franches and Jet. Gilly is also this to Sally's girls, Kylie and Antonia.

* MismatchedEyes: One of the details that young Sally works into the Amas Veritas spell is that her true love will have one green eye and one blue eye. When she sees that Gary has those same eyes, she panics and runs away.

The story is probably best remembered as a 1998 film, but was originally based on a book of the same name by Alice Hoffman. It should be noted that most of the tropes here apply to the movie. The book [[GhostlyGoals is]] [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane markedly]] [[AHouseDivided different]]. The movie stars Creator/NicoleKidman and Creator/SandraBullock as the sisters (Gillian and Sally, respectively), with a supporting cast featuring Stockard Channing, Creator/DianneWiest, and Aidan Quinn. The director was Griffin Dunne, previously known for ''Addicted To Love'' (1997). The film was not particularly successful at the box office. It earned an estimated 46,683,377 dollars at the United States market, where it was only the 45th most successful film of its year. It performed relatively well in the United Kingdom but not elsewhere.

* WitchSpecies: Witchcraft follows bloodlines.

->'''Gary ''': Did you or your sister kill James Angelov?\\
'''Sally''': [[SarcasticConfession Yeah, a couple of times.]]

* BugBuzz: The sound of the death beetle portended Michael's death.

* TheBigDamnKiss: After recording some of her confessional and showing her the letter she had written weeks ago (which he confessed to reading over and over), Gary and Sally end up sharing a kiss after rounds of BelligerentSexualTension building up between them.
* TooDumbToLive:
** Given that Jimmy was already shown to be a borderline sociopath, you have to question why bringing him back to life as something "dark and unnatural" was ever going to be a good idea. Sally does question this, but only for about two minutes. Gilly points out "he's already dark and unnatural," arguing he couldn't get any worse. [[FromBadToWorse She's wrong.]]
** Averted with the Aunts, who promptly leave the next morning with the following note;
--->'''Aunts''': [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Clean up your own mess.]]
** Gillian sees blood on the moon and freaks that she left her tiger’s eye behind (whose magical property is protection). Running back to get it gives Jimmy the time to ambush them and puts their lives in danger. If she hadn’t gone back, they probably would have gotten away safely.
* ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler: Ultimately the CurseEscapeClause.]]

* PortentOfDoom: The chirping of the death watch beetle foretells the death of a loved one.

** This troper interpreted the scene as some form of astral projection aided by their psychic connection and Gillian's natural skill. It explains how she just shows up and leaves without anyone seeming to notice her there and how Jimmy (who didn't like her leaving to go the bathroom alone) didn't have a problem with it.

* ArtisticLicenceGeography: Bulgaria doesn't really border on Transylvania. It does border on Romania though (one of the regions of which Transylvania is), and that's probably as good knowledge of Balkans as it gets in Hollywood.

* CannotTellALie: Sally finds herself unable to lie to Gary.

* HollywoodLaw: Without a search warrant, any evidence Gary collected would be deemed inadmissible in a court of law and thus could not be used against them. Not to mention that by repeatedly stealing Sally's mail, he is in fact committing a felony himself.

* ReallyGetsAround: Implied with Gillian after she shows up at the phone tree meeting and all the women gossip about her.

* TheScapegoat: If something bad happens in town, you can bet the Owens women will be blamed.

* SiblingYinYang: Solid, practical Sally and wild, flighty Gillian. Even their hair colors telegraph this, with Sally's straight black hair and Gillian's fiery locks.

* ComingOutStory: A non LGBTQ kind. Sally, during the phone tree operation. "I'm a witch!"

* IronicName: Jimmy ''Angelov'', which sounds like "Angel Love," who is really a DevilInPlainSight.

* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Gilly.

* ComingOutStory: Sally during the phone tree operation. "I'm a witch!"

* DeathByDespair: Sally and Gilly's mother after their father died.