This November, I sat for the first showing of Wicked: For Good at our local theater. After becoming obsessed (again) over the musical after Wicked: Part One, I was really excited to see where Wicked: For Good was going. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. Act one of Wicked, the musical, does most of the heavy lifting, while Act two has pacing issues and too much of a change in character motives. I was really looking forward to seeing that fixed in the movie adaptation, and it was! So! Close! Having already seen the musical, I kept comparing it to the stage version, and in some parts it excelled, while others felt lackluster. At least the stage version has an excuse, while this one doesn’t.
The acting from Jonathan Bailey, Cynthia Erivo, and Jeff Goldblum really shines in this movie. I loved seeing them once again in their roles. I loved their connection, and when Fiyero held the gun to Glinda’s head? Peak Cinema. But I wish we saw more of Fiyero, and showed why he cared about the animals rather than just realizing it was the good thing to do. Ariana Grande’s Glinda was a very striking difference from the first movie, with way less comedic relief this time around. Her being more compliant with the wizard was also a little confusing, but not Ariana’s choice. She finally made ‘Wonderful’ bearable to listen to, though. I wish that Grande were a little less mopey than she was, and that’s really what made me not resonate with her Glinda. Ethan Slater and Marissa Bode were also amazing, but I wish Bode had more pent-up anger and more wickedness. Going in, I was wondering how they would fit an actual disabled person going into a role that, her main changing point, is gaining the ability to walk, but I think they did it in a respectable way. Michelle Yeoh, oh Michelle Yeoh. Why did Jon M. Chu desperately need her as Morrible? I will never know! Her acting was subpar, although her manipulative voice was good. I’ll give her that. Her singing, though… definitely was unneeded.
The connection between the actors definitely made this movie what it was (except Michelle, unfortunately), and without this pack of a connected cast, this movie would not have had the emotional impact that it did on me. With Erivo and Grande being absolute powerhouses with their vocals, I felt immersed in their relationships with each other and with the rest of the cast. It was natural seeing them together, as if it was meant for them. It almost made me forget the terrible pacing!
The pacing was a major issue in this movie. This is an issue in the musical as well, and I really wanted to see how they would fix it. They didn’t. I would rather have had Wicked: For Good to also be three hours long in order to fix the pacing slightly. The beginning was fine, with a couple of questions about the time skip, but it wasn’t terrible. The characters were all getting respectable screen time, but sometimes it would be like ‘oh this happened too btw’. It wasn’t until around ‘Wonderful’ where I felt like there was just so much going on I couldn’t keep track of it all, with all the characters, but especially Elphaba and Glinda switching up so much. One minute, they hated each other; the next, they didn’t, and the little explanation wasn’t doing the heavy lifting it needed to. It also felt like Glinda was overly complicit with the wizard, and then saying she hated it all was very hypocritical.
The singing and choreography in the first movie felt like a contrast to all the action, but in this case, the choreography was more of just making characters go to their next location to progress the story. Especially before and after ‘No Good Deed’, we saw Dorothy leave, and then suddenly she’s already at the Emerald City. Or even Elphaba having emotional moments with Fiyero and Glinda, respectively, and then getting back into her political movement. Characters were getting thrown around, feeling as if it truly were a stage with moving scenes- and not in a good way.
With the pacing issues, some scenes, such as the two new original songs, and all the flashbacks could have been completely scrapped, and instead had scenes to attempt to fix the pacing. The Glinda flashbacks were unnecessary, as we already knew everything we saw and didn’t do much to help her character. The Wizard/Elphaba’s flashbacks felt like Jon M. Chu personally coming down from a bubble and calling me dumb. We didn’t need it to be nailed into our heads that, oh, wow, he is Elphaba’s dad! It was already obvious. But I did enjoy the addition of the wizard’s reaction, as it wasn’t shown in the musical. The CGI they used for his younger face was downright shameful, though. The two new songs were really just hammering home, once again, that Elphaba is good and Glinda is misunderstood. We understand that already.
The most welcome new scenes, in my opinion, are after ‘For Good’. Not only did the shot of both of them divided by the door absolutely destroy me, but I did enjoy the wizard scenes- except the flashbacks- and I enjoyed that the ending was sort of up to interpretation. Did Elphaba let Glinda know she was still alive through the Grimmerie? Did Glinda become magical? was is just Dorothy’s shoes??? It’s all up to you!
One of my biggest gripes, both in the first movie and in the second, was the nonsensical revisions to make the songs more film-like. ‘Thank Goodness’ & ‘The Wicked Witch of the East’ got muddled, confusing, and disappointing. Especially with WWOTE, having Bode talk-sing with no real emotion behind it. Although the acting was powerful, the singing fell flat. The additional scenes in ‘Wonderful’ and ‘For Good’, however, enhanced the songs but also left me unsatisfied without hearing them all at once. Listening to them after the movie definitely satisfied my itch, though. They also got rid of the Glinda & Elphaba transition in ‘No Good Deed’, which is a personal favorite of mine, and it broke my heart! Let Elphaba scream FIYERROOOO!!!
The new songs are okay. I’ve seen a lot of people hating on ‘The Girl in the Bubble’, which is valid, but it wasn’t as terrible as they make it out to be. Just honestly forgettable. We didn’t need Glinda’s child reflection in the bubble, though. just feels a little cheap. ‘No Place Like Home’ suffers the same fate as ‘The Girl in the Bubble’, once again being forgettable. It sets up Elphaba’s connection with nature & the animals, but it doesn’t lead up to anything more. The same thing happens with her hideout being in the woods and her having Dr. D’s glasses. In the end, Glinda is the one to truly help the animals (of course, with the influence & push from Elphaba), and I wish there was one final remnant of Elphaba to the animals, Glinda, or to Dr., designed to have a satisfying symbolic ending about her connection to nature.
I’ve seen complaints about the sets and the cinematography, which isn’t really my specialty, but I can understand to a certain extent. Personally, I felt as if the sets were true to Oz (except No Good Deed, where the heck were we?), and the chaoticness of them felt understandable. ‘Wonderful’ stood out to me, probably my favorite coloring and set, unlike everyone else on the internet. I was really thrown off by Glinda’s room; it was very out of character, giving really Modern and not Oz at all. And all the lights, in every SINGLE shot… unnecessary. But I only realized after reading other reviews. Elphaba’s room, and the forest in general, were gorgeous, though. The wedding scene was absolutely insane, and all the overview shots of the Emerald City as well. Really sad they didn’t add Nessa’s legs in the house, or the spiral from the brick road (I know, I know, they couldn’t get the rights….)
The nods to The Wizard of Oz were even more welcome in Part Two than in Part One, as I noticed many more- both serious and playful. I’ve actually never watched The Wizard of Oz (oops?), but I know enough about Wicked and the general story to acknowledge them. It was interesting to compare both timelines, making jokes about Dorothy sitting in the cellar while Elphaba and Glinda are singing what is practically a love ballad. I love how they kept Dorothy faceless, and I loved both Fiyero and Boq’s transformation scenes, ESPECIALLY Fiyero! Although they got rid of my favorite transition through that transformation, seeing him beat up and ragged was really interesting. Wicked may be some sort of fanfiction to The Wizard of Oz, but besides some weird pacing issues, Wicked: For Good does a good job at combining the two, showing how wicked is the true story while The Wizard of Oz is just the wizard’s propaganda. That will always be so interesting to me!
I did actually enjoy Wicked: Part Two. Going in already knowing everything that happened definitely helped my case, as I already knew the story they were attempting to build. Having a prior connection to the movie and characters + drooling over Jonathan Bailey. But even with my prior knowledge, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time to see how Jon M. Chu took each of the characters and made them his own. Some changes were 100% welcome, while others, as you can tell, definitely weren’t. The stark contrast from Wicked: Part One was completely welcome in my opinion, though, as I’m actually one of the few people who doesn’t like all the comedic relief, because at its core it’s a political movie. Except my fav comedic relief Bowen. Love you Bowen.
Wicked: For Good stayed true to form, showing that the first act will forever be better- and that both parts need to be seen back to back. I’m hoping on my second watch I can go into the theatre with lower expectations and be changed for good.
