NOW IN THEATERS! It’s been a year since director Jopn M. Chu’s Wicked: Part One came to theaters, giving us the world’s longest intermission. The lobby lights are flashing, so let’s head back to our seats for the second act, Wicked: For Good.
Following the basic structure of the musical, we pick up with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) on the run from the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), and an army of flying monkeys. Elphaba’s on a mission to expose the Wizard as a fraud with no magical abilities and restore the animals to their rightful place as citizens of Oz.
Meanwhile, Glinda (Ariana Grande) and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) are keeping up appearances and hoping to reunite with Elphaba one day. Glinda is now the spokesperson for good, providing safety to the people against Elphaba, who is wreaking havoc and preventing the yellow brick road from being completed. Our heroes try in vain to get the truth of Elphaba’s innocence to the people, and soon the Wizard uses a little girl and her three friends to kill Elphaba by throwing water on her. It all ends in one final battle, and Glinda is forced to watch the injustice against her bestest friend in all of Oz.
If you’re familiar with the play, you know exactly how the story plays out. It includes all the songs, plus one extra song for both Elphaba and Glinda. If you read my review of Wicked: Part One, you know that I called it pretty great. I loved the film, the added story, and the song-and-dance numbers. Wicked: For Good is not as great. In fact, you pretty much watch it merely for the sake of resolution.
Ariana Grande is Glinda in WICKED FOR GOOD, directed by Jon M. Chu.
“Our heroes try in vain to get the truth of Elphaba’s innocence to the people…”
I’ll start with the good. I liked that part two dealt with the subject of animal prejudice. It’s addressed in here, whereas it’s almost non-existent in the stage musical. Also, where the film succeeds is when it follows the musical. Chu stages “As Long As You’re Mine” and “For Good” beautifully. Again, it’s not so hard when you have a musical that’s run for two decades to draw from. Grande and Erivo still prove they were the right choices for the roles, and we get a lot more Jeff Goldblum.
Unlike the first film, the added material doesn’t really enhance anything. The two new songs, “There’s No Place Like Home” and “The Girl in the Bubble,” are throwaways. They are clearly added to get a Best Song nomination (which they might not), and there’s very little depth or emotion in either the lyrics or the music. Also, the attempt to follow The Wizard of Oz movie is hit-or-miss throughout the film.
The biggest problem with Wicked: For Good is that the first one pulled us into Oz from the opening number. Then we move on to Shiz, and as we watch, we become students of the school ourselves. All that led to three or four fantastic song-and-dance numbers. None of that happens in the sequel. There’s only one song-and-dance number, and all the supporting characters we loved from the first film are barely in the story. It’s all been whittled down to five main characters. What was once a large epic is now a small film.
It’s not that I disliked Wicked: For Good, but it’s nowhere near the pomp and circumstance we got in the first. It all feels good enough, which also feels disappointing at the same time.
"…what was once a large epic is now a small film."
