Wicked: For Good – Film Review
by Fran Winston

Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Colman Domingo, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum

In cinemas November 21

It was painfully obvious to anyone familiar with Wicked the Musical that splitting the movie adaptations into two parts was a huge mistake. Exactly one year ago, in my review of the first part, I wrote: “It all feels a bit self-indulgent. I genuinely see no reason why they couldn’t have created a spectacle and still told the whole story in one part. “

This second instalment has only reinforced that belief for me. The second act of the stage musical – which is basically this film – is around 55-60 minutes. This film comes in at a whopping 137 minutes, meaning they have more than doubled the running time.

In total, Director Jon M. Chu has turned a 150-minute stage experience into 297 minutes of film. Which means lots of padding (and the odd flashback) as there is only so much expansion of a world you can do. It all feels excessive and unwarranted.

This picks up exactly after the end of the first movie, so if you haven’t seen that, you will be at somewhat of a loss. Elphaba (Erivo) is persona non grata and now known as the Wicked Witch of the West, even though she is actually a misunderstood activist fighting for the animals (honestly, you will be so lost if you didn’t see part one!)

Meanwhile, her former friend, the “good witch” Glinda Upland (Grande), is now the Wizard’s spokesperson and is engaged to Elphaba’s former amore Fiyero Tigelaar (Bailey), now Captain of the Wizard’s Guard. There is also a Dorothy-shaped spanner in the works as the young girl from Kansas arrives in Oz.

Herein lies this film’s (and the musicals) biggest problem. Dorothy has been immortalised for generations by the magnificent 1939 MGM musical starring Judy Garland. While she is always seen from behind or in shadow, the spirit of that film lingers. This only serves to enhance some of the key changes made for the musical, which don’t work with Oz mythology (in Gregory Maguire’s original source material, Frank L Baum’s original stories are respected and acknowledged, and the plot works within that world).

The Dorothy issue aside, this lacks the momentum of part one, which benefited from the show-stopping Defying Gravity finale. The second act has some good songs, but nothing on a par with that, and it really needed a big number to engage the viewer.

Also, many of the intrinsic messages of the story, including the underlying politics, get lost or feel like an afterthought here. They are central to the source material, and in the musical, they are still fresh in your mind after Act One. Here, it is just something in the background, which isn’t really addressed, as the focus is on the hunt for Elphaba.

Despite its very extensive running time, it all feels a bit “rushed” in terms of wrapping up the story. It is not a stretch to say this franchise peaked too soon. It looks fabulous, but (even for a fantasy film) it has an enormous amount of plot holes that are impossible to ignore, and it feels far less dynamic than part one.