Now You See Me, Now You Don't

Recovering from its lackluster second entry nearly 10 years ago NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON'T sparks some enjoyable, if a bit too familiar, magic.

The great news is that the final caper is a hell of a lot of fun and genuinely surprised me.

We meet a trio of young illusionist street hustlers who have connected to the 4 Horsemen's mission of taking money from bad hombres.

Dominic Sessa, who was SO damn good in his first role in "The Holdovers" a couple holiday seasons ago, is front man Bosco, all bravado and stage presence.

Ariana Greenblatt (Barbie, 65) is June, the fast moving, fast talking member of the group.

Justice Smith (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) is terrific as Charlie, the quiet man behind the illusions. After the trio pull off a fake first appearance of the Four Horsemen, the originals connect with our new trio. They've all received mysterious tarot cards that pull them into a unified force on a quest.

90% of the fun in these films is discovering exactly what that quest is and how it unfolds, so not more plot points.

After nearly a decade, our Four Horsemen and team have not lost any of their humor or screen appeal. Jesse Eisenberg is in perfect form as J. Daniel Atlas, the effusive leader of the Horsemen. Woody Harrelson is hilarious and everything you want him to be, back as Merritt the mentalist. Harrelson gets some big laughs with his flawless comic delivery. Dave Franco is in fine form as the lethal card spinning Jack Wilder and Isla Fisher is clearly enjoying her return ( for the first time since the original) as escape artist Henley Reeves.

There are plenty of surprises on other cast members here as well and Morgan Freeman returns as Thaddeus Bradley. I always love seeing Morgan in anything, but am I alone in worrying about how much older and frail he looks here? It's the first time I've felt that watching him on screen. At 88 years old, I'm hoping this isn't a swan song for one of our finest actors.

Every caper needs a great villain and we certainly have one here. Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day, Gone Girl ) plays diamond industrialist kingpin Veronika Venderberg, an ice queen by any measure. Pike is a great actress and she's relishing her juicy role here, as the Horsemen focus in on the hellaciously big Heart diamond she's currently revealing to the world.

NOW YOU SEE ME gets a lot of things right, recapturing some of the magic of the original film. The sets are fun and complicated, visually arresting. Each of the mini capers are perfectly timed and then we get to see in flashbacks exactly how our team pulled them off.

The final caper in the last half hour had me going and I NEVER saw the resolve coming. I love being fooled and it got me every step of the way, serving up a fun and satisfying resolution.

Not everything is magic however. The emotion of Freeman's last scene in the movie feels rushed and unearned. There are some racetrack size plot holes in the F1 sequence in Dubai, but when the film is globe trotting all over the world to luxurious or fantastic locations like the James Bond films of the 70's, you won't hear me complaining.

Good. not great, NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON'T falls in the middle of the trilogy, not nearly as good as the original, but better than the sophomore entry. Looking for harmless fun? Grab the popcorn.

Abracadabra, it gets a B-.