Wicked: For Good review: Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande return for a sensational conclusion
Pour one out for the doubters. When Universal announced director Jon M. Chu would be breaking the hit Broadway musical Wicked into two films, there was a lot of grumbling that this was a cash-grab decision that would not be justified in the storytelling.
Sure, 2024's Wicked had a terrific climax, ending with Elphaba's escape from Emerald City and the show's greatest song, "Defying Gravity." But how do you make Act 2, a wobblier construct with new characters and jarring reveals, work as its own movie? Chu shows us how with Wicked: For Good.
The screenplay, written by the Broadway show's book writer Winnie Holzman and screenwriter Dana Fox, smartly builds out elements glossed over in the bustling second act of the theatrical production. The film features dynamic action sequences, heavy-handed flashbacks, and two new songs, one for Academy Award nominee Cynthia Erivo and another for Academy Award nominee Ariana Grande-Butera (as she's credited). Now, some of this certainly plays as filler. But much of it bolsters Chu's cinematic vision of this reimagined Oz.
Once again the double act of Erivo and Grande sets a dizzyingly high bar, one that will thrill movie audiences and inspire generations of theater kids to defy gravity of their own.
Wicked: For Good paints a dystopia — but with brighter colors.
Critics of Chu's first Wicked (me included) jeered the toned-down colors of Emerald City and the plethora of poppies. For much of Wicked: For Good, he's course corrected — or color corrected — to better revel in the vibrant hues of Nathan Crowley's meticulous production design and Paul Tazewell's glistening costumes of Oz. Elphaba's black robes strike a sharper contrast in visuals and tone against the emerald of the Wizard's realm and the princessy pinks of Glinda's garb. As the film gets emotionally darker for its heroines, Chu gives over to the gray again, seemingly covering the film in a dull veil that frustratingly obscures the focus and faces of his stars. However, there are still many opportunities for them to stand out.
Wicked: For Good picks up with the not-so-wonderful Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) using enslaved, near-voiceless animals as beasts of burden to construct the Yellow Brick Road, while sneering human guards whip the critters without mercy. Naturally, Elphaba (Erivo) soars in, pulling off a superhero landing to free her fellow Ozians and scare off the violent guards, unavoidably feeding into the Wizard's smear campaign that has her as Oz's public enemy #1.
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Back in the glittering glory of Emerald City, Glinda (Grande-Butera) is a celebrated public figure being gifted her famous mechanized bubble, courtesy of a scowling Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). Such whimsical transport will help complete the masquerade that Glinda the Good (as she's been branded) possesses incredible magic. And to complete the picture, the Wizard and Morrible have plotted a marriage between their poster girl and their debonair Captain of the Guard Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey).
While Elphaba fights single-handedly for the freedom of animals and the overturning of the Wizard's regime of lies, she suffers the heartache of having lost her best friend, her beau, and her connection to her sister, Nessa (Marissa Bode). In For Good, she reconnects with each, making sparks and spells fly, resulting in the turns very familiar to fans of The Wizard of Oz.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera are spectacular in Wicked: For Good.
With the first film, Erivo was unconvincing as an insecure ingénue. Her strong physicality and booming vocals are better suited to Wicked's second half, where Elphaba has metaphorically found her voice. Here, Erivo channels a radiant intensity into every step, every lyric, and every glare.
Grande-Butera is her pitch-perfect foil. Where Elphaba's attitude reflects the darkness overtaking Oz, Glinda's bubbliness mirrors the citizens' blithe and oblivious attitude toward their Wizard dictator. In terms of balancing comedy and drama, Erivo and Grande-Butera work as a terrific team. Erivo broods and belts, while Grande-Butera bubbles and…also belts.
Even within the grimmer turns this sequel takes, Grande-Butera finds in-character moments for lightness and comedy. The "tap to bubble" bit teased in trailers is undeniable fun. But even as Glinda lays down heavy truths, Grande-Butera finds notes of "dumb blonde" bounciness that enrich without distracting.
When these two friends and foes face off in a physical fight, there's an emotional charge but a comic tone, as they fight not like powerful witches, but like frenemies ready to rip each other's hair out. (Think when Colin Firth and Hugh Grant fight in Bridget Jones's Diary.)
It almost goes without saying that both Erivo and Grande-Butera crush the vocals, not only for the well-known Wicked numbers, but also for the Elphaba song "No Place Like Home" and Glinda's "The Girl in the Bubble." However, neither song is as strong as those from the Broadway soundtrack.
Wicked: For Good goes surprisingly hard into the darkest turns.
Fans of Gregory Maguire's novel or the long-running Broadway musical that was born from it won't be surprised by the revealed origins of Dorothy and her Yellow Brick Road-trekking friends. However, they might still marvel at the costume and makeup transformations that bring these iconic figures to life anew. (Save for the Cowardly Lion, voiced by a theatrically trembling Colman Domingo, who is a fluffy CGI gesture.)
Ethan Slater brings a sharp viciousness to cursed Munchkin Boq, while his Nessa finds her inner wicked witch. As for Bailey, he is every inch the dashing hero when the script calls for it. But it's a love scene with Erivo that will have fans swooning — and likely launch untold crushes. (That Chu has this strapping man baring his chest hair and rocking some rolled-up shirt sleeves suggests the director understands female desire better than scads of his peers.) Even after a fateful transformation, Fiyero is a charmer. Simply put, Bailey is living up to his recently earned Sexiest Man Alive title — even when his vocal range seems strained by the demands of a duet opposite Erivo.
Elsewhere, Yeoh is satisfyingly snarling as the vicious Morrible. Goldblum is beguiling as the Wizard, but admittedly one-note, choosing to play the "corn-fed" villain as dedicatedly decorous even in the face of his darkest secrets. Fans of the comedic treasure that was the team-up of Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James will be disappointed, as their Pfannee and Shenshen appear in only one brief sequence. (They do get laughs though!) Overall, the ensemble is good as gold.
Where Wicked: For Good fumbles is in its insistence to look back. The new song numbers give the audience a deeper insight into the internal struggles of Elphaba and Glinda. The flashbacks, however, are indulgences. One features a small army of adorably dressed children in an insufferably simplistic explanation of why Glinda would lie to please people — as if that wasn't clear by this point in the story. The other flashback is more useful because the show has been split into two parts, so it's helpful in connecting a potentially lost thread. But this sequence also features a CGI de-aging that is distractingly poor. These moments highlight how Chu is struggling to pace the final chapter of his Wicked adaptation. But none ruin the fun, just the flow.
In the end, Wicked: For Good is sure to enthrall fans of the Broadway show, the first movie, and just about anyone who loves a splashy movie musical. Despite its faults, it's still good.
