THE STORY – Now demonized as the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba lives in exile in the Ozian forest, while Glinda resides at the palace in Emerald City, reveling in the perks of fame and popularity. As an angry mob rises against the Wicked Witch, she’ll need to reunite with Glinda to transform herself, and all of Oz, for good.
THE CAST – Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Colman Domingo, Michelle Yeoh & Jeff Goldblum
THE TEAM – Jon M. Chu (Director), Winnie Holzman & Dana Fox (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 137 Minutes
One of the famous themes of “The Wizard of Oz” is to be careful what you wish for. All Dorothy wanted was to leave her home, but as soon as she did, she wanted everything to go back to normal. She wanted to go back home to Kansas; she wanted to undo what she had done. But, as a character states in “Wicked: For Good,” nothing can change what has happened. Just like Dorothy, the characters we met a year ago in “Wicked” must now live with the consequences of their actions or passivity.
“Wicked: For Good” takes place around 12 years (or 12 tide turns) after the first, though the film doesn’t directly address this, so the timeline is a little ambiguous. Here, the characters are much closer to the ones we recognize from the 1939 film. Glinda (Ariana Grande) is officially Glinda the Good, a public figure who counters Elphaba’s (Cynthia Erivo) perceived wickedness by the people of Oz, fueled by propaganda from the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). The rumor has long since caught fire about Elphaba’s wicked nature, and animal rights have been stripped as they’re used for forced labor to build the yellow brick road, stripped of their voices, with many others fleeing the land of Oz. But, even with the world against them, Elphaba is steadfast on her mission to free the animals and show Oz how corrupt and fraudulent the Wizard is, while Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey), now Captain of the Wizard’s Guard, pursues Elphaba before someone else finds her.
In general, making a sequel to a successful film on the level of “Wicked” ($759 million in global box office and ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and two wins for Best Costume Design and Production Design) is always stressful, since it will inevitably be compared to the predecessor. An adaptation of a beloved piece, such as the Broadway musical “Wicked,” which has had a legendary run since 2003, is also stressful for the same reason. Fans have been clamoring for this big-screen treatment for many years, and the expectations couldn’t be any higher for Chu and his team to deliver again.
However, anyone who is familiar with the stage show knows that the second act of “Wicked” is much different than the first. There are rarely any significant dance numbers, over-the-top musical theater moments, or jokes, as the tone takes a more somber turn with some standout moments, but it doesn’t fly as high as the first. Some wondered if this would carry over to Chu’s second film, and it inherently does. The dip in quality can be felt throughout “Wicked: For Good,” despite Chu’s best intentions and efforts to make this second film stand on its own as much as possible while completing a nearly 5-hour epic.
Glinda has to hold up a friendly face as the citizens of Oz demand the death of her friend, while Elphaba’s attempts to expose the Wizard are thwarted at every turn as the stakes rise and the situation becomes more and more grim. Both are stuck yet unable to change their path, both because they feel their paths have already been laid out for them and because deep down, despite the hardships, they don’t want to stop. Even though Elphaba isn’t successful in stopping the Wizard, she won’t quit until she does, and while Glinda may not enjoy listening to others condemn Elphaba, she cannot resist the attention it places upon her. These parallel paths are set up quite nicely by director Jon M. Chu, not just in “Wicked For Good” but across the two films as a whole, as the arcs of Elphaba and Glinda come full circle.
But with the decision to split the “Wicked” story into two feature films, there are undoubtedly issues that arise. “Wicked: For Good” offers greater creative latitude than the first. Here, Chu and screenwriters Winnie Holzman (the original playwright) and Dana Fox add multiple new scenes rather than additional dialogue between songs featured in the first. In addition, Stephen Schwartz and John Powell also added two new songs, one for each witch, with Erivo singing “No Place Like Home” and Glinda singing “The Girl in The Bubble.” Most of the new material occurs in the film’s clunky first act and focuses primarily on character backstory (particularly Glinda, who you can argue this film belongs to as much as the first was more in service to Erivo’s Elpahba), reintroducing its audience to the world and the story. Therefore, some of the scenes will be engaging enough to audience members who already care deeply about the characters, but they are ultimately unnecessary. This results in some uneven pacing as Chu tries to sew the new material onto the old. With Schwartz’s new songs lacking his usual spark and the added dialogue missing the original’s charm, “Wicked: For Good” can feel somber and padded. But once it leans into being a faithful adaptation of “Wicked,” it finds its voice, its strength, and it soars
Unsurprisingly, Ervio sings “No Place Like Home” beautifully. But “No Place Like Home” is a placeholder (it exists only because Elphaba needed a new “I Want” song in this film, since “The Wizard and I” is in the first film). “The Girl in the Bubble” is Glinda’s eleven o’clock number and has much more narrative purpose. It not only gives Grande more emotional depth to work with but also helps fill in gaps in Glinda’s arc, a common critique of the staged musical. The song marks a significant turning point in Glinda’s journey and provides Grande the space to deliver her best work of the two films.
Both Erivo and Grande earned Oscar nominations for their portrayals of Glinda and Elphaba in “Wicked” last year, and the two continue to radiate in “Wicked: For Good,” proving that they were far and beyond the best casting decision Chu could’ve made for these iconic roles. Grande’s Glinda is still the silly, light wannabe pink sorceress we all initially fell in love with, but this time around, she must confront the consequences of her actions. She is both a political prisoner and a lost soul trying to figure out what the truth is. There is a pitiful innocence to Glinda that Grande brings out with fragility and heartbreak. The audience can tell she wants to do the right thing by the people of Oz and herself, but she also wants her best friend to be happy and safe. Grande shows that Glinda does know right from wrong, and her ability to depict the character’s internal battle over her dreams is astounding, even compared to her work on the first film, which was already highly praised.
Additionally, Erivo is on fire as the Wicked Witch of the West. Much like the first film, Erivo plays Elphaba with subtlety and sweetness, allowing the second act’s more powerful moments to really pay off. Elphaba comes to terms with her reality in this film, and Erivo plays her with compassion and a sort of desperation that can be felt in every moment of her screentime. One can tell she is headstrong on freeing the animals, but there is also that innate desire to be seen and accepted by the citizens of Oz. But when she realizes that dream is forever gone, she leans fully into the villainous character the world sees her as, with the showstopping rendition of “No Good Deed,” a perfect adaptation of Elphaba’s lowest point put up on screen and backed by Erivo’s immense vocal performance. Here, Erivo allows the audience to feel all of Elphaba’s rage, exhaustion, fear, grief, and regret in a performance that matches her work in the first film, even with less narrative emphasis.
Both Erivo and Grande are terrific separately, but together, they bring an emotional weight to these two young women that is deeply profound. Their relationship is the highlight of the film as they bring out the best and worst in each other, because they are the only ones who truly know each other. It all adds up to one of the best on-screen duos in the history of cinema, framed brilliantly by Chu in certain shots and sequences, particularly the film’s titular track of “For Good,” where the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda is put to its final challenge, illiciting tears from those who have been deeply invested in these characters for over twenty years (or two years if you’re a newcomer to “Wicked“).
The supporting cast is also turning in excellent work. Jonathan Bailey is perfect at playing a “perfect” man who is now embracing a new side of himself, versus what the world wants him to do. His vocal work on “As Long As You’re Mine” with Erivo is both incredibly alluring, warm, and comforting in all the best ways. Marissa Bode and Ethan Slater turn in strong work in their scenes together as the newly appointed Governor of Munchkinland, Nessarose Thropp, and her servant and hopeful lover, Boq Woodsman. Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh get even more to play with here as their villainous characters, even though they may be the weakest singers of the ensemble. And Colman Domingo’s voice performance as Brrr the Cowardly Lion? If you’re expecting a lot from the inclusion of the “Wizard of Oz” characters, including Dorothy (whose face we never see), then leave those expectations at the door as Chu’s film is stuck in a rough place where it must include these characters in order to advance the plot forward and make viewers understand how “Wicked” plays into “The Wizard Of Oz” but also does not want it to distract and detract from the story he’s telling between Elphaba and Glinda. The result is another adaptation choice, drawn directly from the source material, and, while inevitable, it can’t help but feel awkward in its inclusion.
One area, though, where “Wicked: For Good” once again shines is in its crafts. With the pleasure of another feature film, the costume and production design can expand. Sets like Elphaba’s hiding place in the forest, Glinda’s extravagant wedding (which Chu seems to have lifted almost directly from “Crazy Rich Asians“), and the bright and colorful Munkinland are all wonderful to look at. The soundscape feels as grand as ever with several musical numbers generating goosebumps and the cyclone carrying Dorothy’s house to Oz standing out for its intensity. The makeup work by Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier (prosthetics) is truly fantastic (especially on the Tin Man), and even Alice Brooks’ much criticized cinematography from the first film seems to have added more shadows and depth this time around outside of the daylight scenes that take place in the Munchkinland courtyard, with one physical encounter between Elphaba and Glinda being the worst offender.
No matter how many times — no matter who plays the parts, no matter what language it is performed in — when played correctly, the story of “Wicked” will always work because it moves people, and the same can be said of both feature films Chu has given to the world. There is something so bittersweet about two girls who grow up together and are forced to walk down opposing paths by the powers that be, but ultimately find their way back to each other and bring out the best in each other to exact change for good. There is something gorgeously captivating about having that one person in life who truly sees you and believes in you when no one else does. While “Wicked: For Good” may inherently be weaker compared to “Wicked,” taken as a whole, it’s hard to see how fans couldn’t be happier with what Erivo, Grande, Chu, the rest of the cast, and his team have pulled off. “Wicked: For Good” is a lovely ode to the beauty of female friendship, the spirit of individuality, the power of goodness in the face of authoritarianism, and the influence one true friend can have on an individual to grow into their full potential.
