Wicked: For Good (2025)

Was there anything more anticipated by general audiences this year than the next part of Wicked? Well, maybe, but the first part was surprisingly good, a three-hour musical that somehow only told half the story, a big budget extravaganza that went all-out and seemed like the sort of movie that should be that bombastic. So really, the second installment, filmed at the same time as the first, that should be able to satisfy audiences, right?

All I know is, as I said to my girlfriend as we were leaving the theater, I would listen to Cynthia Erivo sing the McDonald’s menu. If nothing else, I would get some great singing.

It’s been a year since Elphaba (Erivo) has defied gravity, and the Wizard’s (Jeff Goldblum) propaganda, ably assisted by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and a less-than-willing Glinda (Ariana Grande -Butera), has effectively labeled Elphaba as “Wicked” to the rest of the human population of Oz. Glinda knows this is wrong, but she can’t really say no to praise and thinks it may be possible to work with the Wizard and still do some good. Elphaba, meanwhile, just wants to expose the Wizard’s lies and allow the talking Animals to come back to Oz.

But the thing is, Elphaba is only one person, and the Wizard with Morrible (who seems more like the real villain here given how absent-minded Goldblum’s Wizard seems to be) are very good at manipulating people. Sure, Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is firmly in Elphaba’s corner, but that’s about it. With heartbreak coming for just about all of the major characters, plus a little girl from Kansas suddenly landing in Munchkinland, Elphaba may have her work cut out for her if she is going to make a difference in the world.

So, here’s my first thought as I watched the movie: how is it the shorter second part feels more bloated than the longer first part? I had heard from friends that the best songs are in part one, but that wasn’t it. The plot for the first act or two seems to bounce around, like it has places to be and doesn’t have time to let the story progress in any meaningful way. Say what you will about the three-hour original, but it had good pacing. And while Grande-Butera does a good job as Glinda, the movie focuses more on her than Elphaba at times, and Glinda is just not as interesting a character as Elphaba. In the meantime, we get origin stories for the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, Elphaba’s sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) comes across as rather awful, and everyone wants to blame Elphaba for their problems.

That said, the movie comes to life when Glinda and Elphaba share the screen. The two actresses and their characters play off each other well, and they both have great singing voices. The problem is, for large chunks of screentime, the two are separated. There are good individual moments, but overall, I think the movie works best when they’re together. In the end, Wicked: For Good just doesn’t hold up as well as the first part. Maybe it really should have just been one movie after all

Grade: C+