‘WICKED: FOR GOOD’ Review: A Bewitching Conclusion to a Subversive Showstopper That Improves On The Stage Musical

Courtney Howard // Film Critic

WICKED: FOR GOOD

Rated PG, 2 hour and 18 minutes

Directed by: Jon M. Chu

Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Scarlett Spears

WICKED: FOR GOOD isn’t a sequel, despite being the second part of a story, nor does it suffer from any hint of sequelitis. The decision to bifurcate the musical stage show at its intermission into two spectacle-driven films winds up working to the concluding chapter’s benefit, adding two new songs for its chanteuses to angelically warble as well as making the source material’s profundity soar in this tumultuous era we’re living in. Every tactile detail in its craftsmanship, from the wardrobe textures to the foundational stonework on the Yellow Brick Road, is rapturous, enchanting and spellbinding. Teeming with earned moments, enlightening evolutions and heartening amounts of inspiration, director Jon M. Chu’s conjoined features will be cherished for years and generations to come.

It’s been many years (“12 tide turns,” to be exact as we’re told before Universal’s globe logo even finishes its rotation) since the land of Oz’s campaign to discredit Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) began. The Wonderful Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and his press secretary Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) have been obfuscating the truth to strike fear into the hearts and minds of Emerald City citizens, rebranding her as “The Wicked Witch of the West.” The rumors of Elphaba’s alleged evilness have even spread to her homeland of Munchkinland, whose current governor, younger sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode), is feeling the stress of answering for her sister’s disorderly actions. 

Elphaba, however, has managed to stay the course, fighting on behalf of the demonized, persecuted and enslaved animals. She hopes to free them, reunite the kingdom, and bring peace between human and animal kind for good. Her former crush Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) and former bestie Glinda (Ariana Grande) have assumed roles in the Wizard’s cabinet as, respectively, the Commander of the Gale Force Army and the public-facing poster gal for all things good. Yet both have ulterior motives for taking their positions; Fiyero’s there to secretly protect the fugitive Elphaba and Glinda’s holding out hope she’ll finally receive the real magical powers she’s desperately wanted since she was a child (Scarlett Spears). But when the actual evil forces conspire and scheme to stop Elphaba, dragging new souls into Oz’s tumultuous affair, everything changes.

Chu – along with adapting writers Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox (working from author Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked” novel, in addition to Holzman’s musical book and L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz” characters) – has made this second part ring in a more resounding key. It houses progressive sentiments on speaking truth to power and compelling arcs, not solely for its leading ladies, but also Nessarose and Boq’s (Ethan Slater) unfurling relationship. The inclusion of Dorothy and Toto is handled with creatively inventive verve, cleverly capturing that little farm girl’s presence so as not to distract from the main story at hand. Pacing comes at a quick clip, keeping plot and character development clean-lined, if perhaps a bit too lean.

Similar to Chu’s WICKED: PART 1, costume and production design are dazzling, earning top marks. Nathan Crowley’s lavishly detailed locations remain a breathtaking focal point. We get a snapshot of who all these characters are from the environments they inhabit, like Elphaba’s cozy nest in the forest, Glinda’s pastel-pink art-deco pad lined with soft velvet and cherry blossoms, the Wizard’s workshop (where practical visual effects take center stage) and Madame Morrible’s office (where Glinda comes to a reckoning, sitting on a pile of propaganda she helped propagate).

Costume designer Paul Tazewell takes the witches’ wardrobe to the next level. Since there’s been a time progression and Elphaba’s been hiding in the wild, her garments show wear and tear with tattered, fraying edges. Glinda’s dreamy, voluminous gowns have a million tulle layers reflecting the layers her character uncovers within herself in this second act. Iridescent colors mimic her longstanding bubble motif and signature globular transport. 

Erivo and Grande genuinely deliver the goods. The nuanced vulnerability they bring to these fully lived-in characters envelops our eyes, ears and emotions. Their heart-swelling duet “For Good” garners tears. Narratively, WICKED: PART 1 focused its lens on Elphaba and her devastating realizations about the Wizard’s world, but FOR GOOD’s eye is trained on Glinda’s maturation and her inevitable bubble-bursting identity shift. While this second act is still very much reliant on the ladies’ friendship informing each other’s arcs, the scales tip towards it being Grande’s showcase for not just her comedic skills, but also her dramatic chops.

That’s not to say Erivo is relegated to the background. She’s fully in the forefront of the mounting energy and action, working her magic in numbers like “No Good Deed,” which hits us in our chest, and “As Long As You’re Mine,” in which she conducts serious heat with Bailey – their voices comingling in synthy 80s-sounding bliss. That the pair share scorching hot chemistry in such a heteronormative, schoolgirl-esque fantasy sequence is a thing of beauty and celebration.

“No Place Like Home,” Elphaba’s resonant, resistance-inspiring mission statement in song form, and “Girl In The Bubble,” Glinda’s soul-stirring, self-reflective ballad that marks a pivotal change, are brilliant new additions to the world of WICKED, innovatively taking phrases from THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) and making them wholly unique, melody-enhanced entities. They slot right into the proceedings as if they were always there in the 2^nd act of the stage show. Erivo infuses her rousing solo with a semi-melancholic glint. Grande perfectly modulates her solo’s lyrics, pressing and pulling back on the swelling symphonics, plucking our heartstrings in the process.

Though, by leaps and bounds, Chu and company markedly improve upon the stage show, they’re unfortunately still hamstrung by a few elements in the source material. Considering Elphaba’s magic is all-powerful, it makes no sense why she doesn’t wipe out the guards who are harming Fiyero. Having the Flying Monkeys leave to protect her and not stay to protect him is a creative choice necessitated by continuity with THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939). Madame Morrible’s magic comes into question at the end, as she doesn’t utilize it when she easily could. Plus the Wizard’s ultimate decision in the finale feels like it negates what he sings about so eloquently in “Wonderful” – that his rube constituents buy whole stock into his flim-flam – and kinda lets him off the hook.

Despite the blights (and, yes, we can still criticize the films we love), FOR GOOD is an entertaining, inspired feast for the senses. Its meaningful impact looms large with all its radical commentary on political corruption, closed borders and dispelling the binary notion of good versus evil. It’s well-worth the journey back to the wonderful world of Oz.

Grade: B+

WICKED: FOR GOOD opens on November 21.