WICKED: FOR GOOD (2025)

 

Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) returns to wreak more righteous mayhem. 

Just got back from WICKED: FOR GOOD. 

 

I was entertained, but I felt it was definitely the weaker of the two films, with the stakes and characters having been firmly established in the first installment, while the second film is basically a final act that's been padded out to 137 minutes. I did not see the Broadway version, but I'm guessing that show was about three hours max, excluding intermission, so translating it to the screen in two films totaling close to five hours was doomed to feel bloated with filler. I found the second film to be more of a case of racing to the narrative finish line than actually engrossing the audience. All of its plot threads wrap up rather abruptly, especially Glinda's banishment of the Wizard and the imprisonment of Madame Morrible, which leads me to ask if she could rid Oz of those villains with such relative ease, what took her so fucking long to get there?

 

Was it bad, No. Does it pale in comparison to its livelier and more fun first half. Absolutely, but it's still worth seeing. I loved the production design and the performances, plus to say nothing of the seamless flying sequences, and Cynthia Erivo exuded major presence as Elphaba. When Glinda slapped her, the entire Bay Ridge audience let out a collective "Oooooooh..." as if to note how ill-advised it is for a palm-colored person to strike a black woman, even if said black woman happens to be green.

 

Worth seeing, especially if you can score a discount matinee. Also there are some theaters that are screening both films back to back. I don't know how well that will work from the audience's POV, as the falloff from the first film is considerable, though your mileage may vary. And in my opinion, when it comes to films ancillary to the classic 1939 THE WIZARD OF OZ, by far the best of the lot is 1985's RETURN TO OZ, which remembers in no uncertain terms that the Oz of the novels is a place that is simultaneously fantastically wondrous, but is also downright terrifying. Give that one a watch if you never saw it.

 

 Poster for the theatrical release.