“Wicked: For Good” Can’t Cast a Compelling Spell
It takes confidence to look at a long-running Broadway musical and decide to nearly double its length for a movie adaptation. Yes, this is about Wicked, as just about everything has been for the last few weeks. Its sequel, Wicked: For Good, has reached theaters and is taking audiences down the yellow brick road to an Oz that even the most casual fan will recognize. And it’s time for the chapter of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good to be closed.
For Good picks up at an indeterminate time after the events of Wicked. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is on the run, public enemy number one of Oz. Glinda (Ariana Grande) has become a spokesperson for the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). She’s also engaged to Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). Glinda has everything she ever dreamed of, but she’s not happy. As Elphaba and Glinda find themselves on opposite ends of a war that’s raging throughout Oz, a newcomer from Kansas crashes into the middle of it all, forever altering the paths of this pink and green duo.
Historically, the second act of a musical is where things go off the rails or there’s a massive tonal shift. Wicked the stage show is a bit of an example of this. Ever wonder why all the songs that transcended the show are from the first act? People have struggled with the second act as long as it’s been in existence, and the idea that a full 2.25 hours would be dedicated to taking another stab at the way this story unfolds is potentially intriguing. If act one is about Elphaba discovering her powers, act two is about Glinda realizing the world around her isn’t as pretty and pink as she believes it to be. Even though we saw glimmers of the scales falling away from Glinda’s eyes at the end of Wicked, it still takes all of Wicked: For Good for the realization to hit her. On stage, it’s an hour. On screen, it’s two hours and fifteen minutes. The film stretches this journey, so it feels like we’re just treading water as the same issues arise over and over again. Elphaba returns to see Glinda, who promises the Wizard isn’t that bad and tells her that she should stop fighting. Then Fiyero shows up and lets Elphaba escape, while Glinda still can’t understand why her best friend doesn’t want to be complicit in a fascist regime.
Speaking of said fascist regime, it’s nearly impossible to watch Wicked without drawing connections to society today. The thesis of the second film is that a crowd needs someone to hate and someone to believe in, but who those people are doesn’t matter. There’s a shockingly flippant nature to the way Glinda, Fiyero, and, most confusingly, Elphaba, believe conflicts can be solved. Elphaba thinks one small gesture from the Wizard is enough to fix all that he has wrought? Also, remember the way animals were treated in the first film? Don’t worry, Wicked: For Good isn’t too concerned with that anymore either.
It’s more than a little disheartening to see a movie like this capture the attention and the imagination of younger audiences (the PG rating certainly helps) but not take the opportunity to offer some wisdom and compassion. Life experiences, meeting people who are different, and questioning authority can shake the foundation of what people believe is true, and that can be scary. But there is great strength in admitting you were wrong and becoming more open-minded. That’s the magic of Wicked and Glinda, but all this is only explored for about fifteen minutes, barely making an impact. If Holes was able to teach an entire generation about the prison industrial complex, For Good should be able to make the point that fascism is bad.
It will be interesting to see how For Good is received outside the bubble of critics. Many people became fans of Wicked through the first film, which, for all its hints of deeper themes, plays like a comedy. For Good does not. It’s a much more muddled story with goals that are harder to parse out and songs that are memorable. Two of the new songs stick out like sore thumbs, far too poppy and modern to match the existing selections. Grande is still a powerhouse, and Glinda is a role she was born to play. Erivo has a little less to work with this go-round, spending much of her time scowling. It’s undeniable that their duet of “For Good” is the jewel of the film, despite director Jon M. Chu’s distracting camera work. “For Good” isn’t merely the culmination of the characters’ stories, it’s also Erivo and Grande, theater kids at heart, singing a song they’ve likely been dreaming of performing for decades. It’s a goosebumps-inducing moment, but one that’s powerless against the rest of Wicked: For Good.
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