As I have previously stated, when I first saw the stage musical Wicked, I wasn’t particularly impressed. I enjoyed the first act, but its second act is when it began to crumble under the weight of its ambition. It was overstuffed, rushed, woefully underdeveloped and felt like I was getting slapped back and forth due to the tonal whiplash. Needless to say it soured my view of the musical. So with the film adaptation, I was curious as to what changes they would make. For Act One, they stick closely to the original material. Which became a curse rather than a comfort as they simply stretched the act by more than an hour without adding anything that would have helped it flow more naturally on the silver screen. I wasn’t that impressed and the Wicked fandom made sure that my opinion wasn’t acceptable. Now going into the second act, titled For Good, I was curious as to what changes they would make as the second act is notoriously messy. Needless to say, Wicked: For Good can’t escape the flaws of its musical.
Five years after defying the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), now demonized as the Wicked Witch of the West, lives in exile in the Ozian forest, while Glinda (Ariana Grande) 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 will need to reunite with Glinda to transform herself and all of Oz, for good.
From the opening moments of Wicked: For Good, you can sense that something is not right. The magic feels muted, the pacing is jarring, and the songs never land with the force they should. Even with the brighter color grading, there is an emptiness at the center of it all. Everyone knows what is missing, but few are willing to say it out of fear of provoking the Wicked fandom. Wicked: For Good lacks a cohesive narrative, just like the stage musical. As Elphaba flies across Oz, the film cannot decide what story it wants to tell. It reaches for its own identity while trying to balance the darker themes of Gregory Maguire’s novel and the much lighter 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. In trying to satisfy all three at once, the film loses its grip and tumbles into narrative confusion as it never finds its footing.
With the musical being split into two films, I hoped the adaptation would take the opportunity to refine the structural problems that have long plagued Act Two. To the film credit, it does make an effort to deepen the save the animal subplot, which was entirely abandoned in the musical. Yet, the familiar overstuffed, underdeveloped, and rushed nature of that act are still present, even with the luxury of an extra hour and two additional songs. So again, I found myself scratching my head and thinking that a scene might have made sense if it had simply been given more room to breathe. Furthermore, the musical numbers offer no relief. Most are incredibly weak as they lack the emotional or narrative force needed to ground the film, with No Good Deeds standing as the lone exception. So as the audience around me wiped away their tears, I remained unmoved by what was happening on screen, as the film never earned the emotional resonance it was trying to display.
Yet, even with these frustrations, I have to acknowledge where Wicked: For Good succeeds, particularly in its crafts. Now that the color grading finally embraces actual color, the film’s costume and production design can finally be appreciated in full. The soft pastels and the luminous sweeps of the Yellow Brick Road give the film the kind of technicolor vibrancy it has been sorely missing. The performances, with the exception of Michelle Yeoh, are strong. Cynthia Erivo is the one actor who seems to have fully captured her character, grounding the film whenever she is on screen. Ariana Grande delivers a respectable performance, but she never quite captures Glinda’s sophistication, and the camera’s fixation of her noticeable ribcage, became an unwanted distraction and concern.
In the end Wicked: For Good feels like a film caught between obligation and aspiration. It reaches for the stars, but it never earns them as it is weighed down by the same problems that have long plagued the stage musical. There are moments of beauty and craft, with a handful of great performances that can cut through the noise. However, the film ultimately struggles to justify its existence as the concluding chapter of a two-part adaptation. Instead of defying gravity, it fails to leave the ground as it barely hops through its narrative uncertainty. A reminder that even the most beloved properties can falter when their inherent flaws are unaddressed.
My Rating: C
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