"Wicked: For Good" is undoubtedly the movie of the week. Sure, there are plenty of new movies to stream this week, but none of them are following up on a movie adapted from a beloved stage musical based on a beloved book. They also aren't the second act of a movie that made over $758 million last year and earned 10 nominations (winning two) at this year's Academy Awards.
No, no other movie this week can claim to be the sequel to "Wicked," and that makes "Wicked: For Good" perhaps the movie of the year, let alone the movie of the week. Well, I've seen the movie for myself and I can officially declare ...
'Wicked: For Good' wants you to come for the musical numbers and not much else
For those of you who somehow aren't familiar with "Wicked," it's an alternate telling of "The Wizard of Oz." In this reimagining, the main character is Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West and rather than a mere villain, she's portrayed as a misunderstood protagonist, fighting to expose the evils of the "Wonderful" Wizard of Oz. She has a complicated relationship with her college roommate, Galinda, who becomes her friend and later her foil as Glinda the Good.
There's more I could go into, but to enjoy the "Wicked" movies, that's really all you need to know. That's because, while there are themes of unrequited love and the story is arguably an allegory for the dangers of fascist regimes, at its core, "Wicked" and "Wicked: For Good" are musicals. These movies are all about the catchy, earwormy musical numbers littered across the stage play's two acts, and showcase the talented singers brought in to bring those musical numbers to life.
On that front, "Wicked: For Good" inarguably succeeds. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are excellent are Elphaba and Glinda, respectively. They're phenomenal singers and deliver showstopping performances. Erivo in particular steals the show; this is undoubtedly her movie and she will absolutely secure an Oscar nomination for it. But Ariana Grande likely will secure an Oscar nomination as well, and is currently considered a frontrunner by many for Best Supporting Actress.
So what's bad about 'Wicked: For Good'?
That said, once you get past the performances of these two, as well as the Oscar-worthy set design and costuming, the movie notably gets weaker. I say this with all due respect to an actress I deeply admire, but Michelle Yeoh is a noticeably weak singer, at least when put in this cast of incredibly strong singers.
It's also worth mentioning that the two new musical numbers crafted for "Wicked: For Good" are the weakest of the songs, and it was noticeable even to me that they were additions to the story.
Speaking of the story, it starts to come apart in places, especially as the movie overlaps with "The Wizard of Oz." Now, I'll fully concede this may be due to the source material — I'll even concede that perhaps I misremember The Wizard of Oz — but plot holes start to emerge. The Tin Man is uncharacteristically angry; Fiyero’s transformation into the Scarecrow seems to come too late for Dorothy to run into him first; and we conveniently avoid having to see magic-less Glinda get the slippers off the Wicked Witch of the East and onto Dorothy.
The movie also rushes through things a bit, though again, this is potentially a fault of the source material. My colleague Rory Mellon was hoping that "Wicked: For Good" could fix the Broadway show's biggest problem: a rushed second act. Unfortunately, while the movie's pacing isn't an all-out sprint, it does admittedly breeze through its story at times.
Bottom line
To reiterate: this is a good movie. I'll even go as far as to say really good, and that's coming from someone ambivalent to the source material and with only a modest appreciation for the first movie.
For the record, I’d rate "Wicked" as being on par with “Wicked: For Good,” though perhaps I'd give the first film a nod for its superior story. So, yes, this is a flawed movie, but those flaws are largely irrelevant to the spectacle and the movie's musical elements, and that's all most people are going to care about anyway.
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