Wicked: For Good Review: Jon Chu's Epic Musical Closes in Grand Fashion

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In 2024, director Jon Chu took audiences on a magical trip to Oz with Wicked, the long-gestating adaptation of the Broadway hit. As I said in my initial review last year, "Chu hearkens back to the MGM bombast of the late-1930s with full-scale choreography, opulent practical sets and exquisite costumes (shout-out to costume designer Paul Tazewell) that will delight. Everything about this movie is a feast for the eyes and multiple viewings will only enhance that."

But audiences, particularly those with the original show living in their mind, wondered how he'd stick the landing. Wicked: For Good has the runtime of the entire show itself, leading to fears of filler and an aimless direction. The issues I knew I had with For Good going in were certainly there: the first hour is where the majority of that additional content is found and splitting the movie into two pieces means this one is the Serious feature. But once the movie finds the yellow brick road back to the musical–essentially the second hour–it's just as magical as you'd expect it to be.

Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) remains on the run, demonized by the Ozians as the Wicked Witch of the West. In the hopes of distracting from that, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) demands Glinda (Ariana Grande) get married to her reluctant partner, Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). Elphaba is determined to expose the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), but is starting to become demoralized by everyone's desire to remain complacent.

Wicked: For Good's problems are the results of being two distinct features. Screenwriters Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox understand the hard part is over in terms of crafting the world and characters and now audiences have to live in it. Wicked: For Good starts in medias res, with the Yellow Brick Road being built on the backs of enslaved animals who can no longer speak. The Ozians are continuously distracted by happy moments, particularly crafted by the so-called "Glinda the Good" who only wants to bring in happiness and positivity. It's a world that is far darker than what audiences saw in the last film, even if it holds themes we're seeing on the daily.

Where the Wizard lacks power, so does Glinda. She travels by bubble purely to make people believe she is magical. And yet Glinda doesn't do this out of malicious intent. A filler flashback to a young Glinda marks the day she realizes she doesn't have any power, during her birthday party as she attempts to use a magic wand and takes credit for producing a rainbow. As her mother says, "Everyone loves you. That's all you'll ever need." It's clear that Glinda desperately wants to have something special and compensates by being a source of light to the Ozians.

The first half is Oz-frontloaded, with the need to lay out where everyone is from the first film. It's remarkable to think throughout that the two movies were filmed concurrently, with the actors having to switch from their idealistic early days to their more dour older years. But because of this it can leave Erivo dropping in in fits and starts. The narrative is front loaded to give Grande more to do. Her rendition of "Thank Goodness," a signature song for the character in the back half of the show isn't given the time it deserves so a new song, "The Girl in the Bubble" is added. Erivo also gets a new song, "No Place Like Home." Both are standard ballads that are pleasant in the moment but lack the grandiosity of the original songs so they do stick out.

Erivo and Grande are still impeccable. Their characters have gone their separate ways but there are glimpses of their closeness. Glinda is one of the few to still refer to Elphaba by her name. Bailey is solid but is generally relegated to staring off into the middle distance. He only comes alive in the musical performance of "As Long as You're Mine," the song that brings the second half of the movie to thrilling life. Production designer Nathan Crowley does an utterly breathtaking job taking the dark forest and turning it into Elphaba's inner sanctum.

Erivo is often left to speechify, in the hopes of banding the animals together with her. She hits a wall so often that it's remarkable it takes her over an hour to decide against helping. Her rendition of "No Good Deed" is utterly captivating and one of For Good's highlights. As flying monkeys swirl around her, Erivo builds up the moment. It's a moment that truly works on the big screen. But this is quickly resolved as the story moves swiftly to its conclusion, understanding that that first hour has eaten up a lot of time. So by the time the characters are finally united, in a rendition of "For Good" that leaves you sobbing, it's a bit jarring how many emotions Elphaba has breathlessly gone through.

There are several competing threads alongside Glinda and Elphaba, specifically how to resolve the storyline of Elphaba's half-sister, Nessarose (Marisa Bode). The Broadway show fell into ableism with Nessa becoming magically cured, something the crew of this movie had said from the beginning they'd change. Bode is still great and gets an opportunity to have an intense scene opposite Erivo. But while Nessarose's storyline doesn't fall into the magical cure trope, it's still not 100% perfectly executed, and considering where her plot line ends it moves things away from "oof, that's ableist" to "meh, that happened."

Wicked: For Good sticks the landing as best as it can. When Erivo and Grande are finally together, it does leave "a handprint on your heart" even if everything leading up to it is just drawing that out. The final image is one that sticks with you, even if you have critiques of the movie. Maybe because I tempered my expectations, this worked and kept me enthralled the entire time. Just understand you have an hour to wait for the good stuff.

Wicked: For Good is in theaters Friday.

Grade: B-

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