WARNING: This article contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for both “Wicked” movies. This also contains many made-up Ozian words used in the movie. Don’t worry, we do know how to spell gratitude.
I think I’m one of only a few theater kids who feels neutral on “Wicked.” It’s… fine? I’ve seen it on stage a few times, at least twice, and it was enjoyable both times, but not groundbreaking for me. By the second time, I was thinking “Ok, that was fun, I don’t think I need to see Wicked again. I’m Wicked-ed out.”
And then the movie came out.
I watched “Wicked: Part I” last year as our school (and country, honestly) was transformed by pink and green outfits and the godforsaken “Defying Gravity” riff everyone and their mom tried to do for Tik Tok. Part I was honestly more impressive than I was expecting. Did I agree with my peers on what made it thrillifying? No. My main complaint with “Wicked” in general is that the first half’s music is not interesting to me. I know, I know, hot take. And I don’t mean how the songs are performed – the actors nailed it – just the composition and writing. Plus, many parts of the story also make me raise an eyebrow. And Elphaba’s always the only character I like or care about at all. That said, I went into “Wicked Part II: For Good” with an open mind and optimistic attitude.
Let’s break it down.
I liked it better than Part 1.
Everything that was good about the first movie was equally good in the second, but also not the same. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s vocals were appropriately hyped; both of them have exquisite voices. And fine, I’ll admit it, I liked the songs slightly better in Part II than in Part I. The visual effects, as far as I could tell, weren’t rushed and felt beautifully natural. I was shaking in my boots thinking about how they were going to do the flying monkeys, and was pleasantly surprised that they and the rest of the animals were not nightmare fuel and in fact were well done. Based on patterns I picked up in many movies, I firmly believe that the more practical effects are used, the better the CGI is. So, Director Jon M. Chu, you have my deepest gratitution for leaning into your creativity and planting what seems like hundreds of acres of tulips, among other things.
As a film snob, the cinematography, acting, costumes, cinematography, sets, and cinematography all blew me away. Especially the cinematography, in case that wasn’t clear. It was a moodier and darker film than the first movie; story-tone wise and cinematography wise. Alice Brooks, who was the head cinematographer for both movies and is one of my new idols, absolutely nailed it. It was those tiny details that made the movie for me: how Glinda’s pinks, even her apartment walls, looked so much more muted until the last scenes. How even though the slippers are silver as homage to the book, they sometimes looked ruby when they caught light. How, as explained in a “Wicked: For Good” official Youtube channel interview with Brooks, Glinda’s always lit by the sun rising or shining on her, while Elphaba’s always in the sunset or shadows, even if it’s the way another character is positioned to block the sunlight on her. And the use of shapes, with most of Oz utilizing perfect circles and Elphaba breaking through with sharp angles and triangles like her hat – a million chef’s kisses.
As much as I’m about to criticise the characters, I’m deeply impressed by all the actors. Note: Cynthia Erivo has her own paragraph, so stick with me. Ariana Grande threw herself into this role and truly speaks, moves, and becomes the character she made. She’s a joy to watch. Jonathan Bailey portrayed the many sides of Fiyero beautifully; the cocky, confident prince we see in the first movie, and the more vulnerable, caring man/scarecrow we see in the second. Jeff Goldblum captures the whimsy and deception of the wizard to a T, and is getting far too much hate. I’ve loved his work before and love it now, including the singing. Everyone decided “A Sentimental Man” in Part I was horrendible and haven’t given Goldblum another chance. I think he’s really good, especially in “Wonderful.” Leave him alone. Ethan Slater was breaking my heart in this movie. The Boq villain arc needs to be studied, although I was terrified he was going to cleave Nessa with his ax when he was yelling at her as the Tin Man. Marissa Bode genuinely scared me; she captured Nessa’s desperation for control so hauntingly, especially when she’s around Boq. The manipulation was intoxicating and impressively portrayed. And of course, acting goddess Michelle Yeoh – aka Madam Morrible – aka Wicked Witch if you flip it upside down – perfectly walks that line of elegantly authoritative and about to murder Glinda just to shut her up.
Now, the one and only, Cynthia Erivo. Holy Oz can she sing; as if that wasn’t obvious. “No Good Deed” is the only song from Broadway’s “Wicked” that I was attached to enough to put on my theater playlist. I didn’t have a doubt in my mind that her version would be spectacular, and I guessed correctly. The energy and emotion she put into that song blew me out of the water; instant favorite song. I also love all the different sides Erivo brings to Elphaba. There’s a moment in the opening scene where Elphaba shows up to fight with the guards. She’s backlit, her black cape is like nine feet long and billowing around her, and she’s floating down as this menacing void that’s just radiating power. She captures your focus like nothing else, and then literally surfs away on her broom like a badass. But Elphaba also has a lot of soft moments in this film that Erivo clearly handled with so much care and really made you feel her sorrow, and for the first time in the Wicked movies, Elphaba’s anguishing rage at her world. It’s unforgettable.
Here’s the thing. And boy oh boy, will I get hate for this. Glinda was never a good friend to Elphaba until the very end. When she’s first introduced arriving at Shiz, it’s established that Galinda is charismatic, adored by most people she meets, but also materialistic, self absorbed, and judgy. At her worst in the first film, she literally bullies Elphaba and encourages other students to single her out. See, if there was a better character arc, I wouldn’t mind this start. Characters changing for better or worse is kind of the point of a story. But Galinda consistently does the bare minimum as a friend. Look: she does that cute dance with Elphy at the Ozdust dance to apologize for humiliating her, they make amends, and we’re supposed to believe that this is the start of their legendary friendship. However, allow me to remind you how the rest of the first movie went down:
Galinda tries convincing Elphy to change her personality and “Galindafy” her wardrobe so her social awkwardness doesn’t reflect back onto her. She barely listens when Elphaba speaks. When she does, she tries pressuring Elphy into spilling very personal information and shuts down, playing victim when Elphy hesitates. She makes every single important moment for Elphaba about her, between announcing her “progressive” name change while everyone’s seeing Elphy off to the Emerald City, and of course hijacking said Emerald City trip at the last minute and crashing Elphaba’s private meeting with the wizard that she’s waited her whole life for. Oh, and not defending Elphaba to the guards trying to arrest her. Sure, very healthy friendship.
It’s good that Glinda doesn’t learn her entire lesson in the first movie. I love a good, paced out redemption arc. But Part II rolls around, with some amount of years passing between the two movies, and Glinda suddenly really cares about Elphaba again. She desperately wants to see her again and protect her from the government. But I don’t buy that she cares this much when she seemed set on taking over Elphaba’s life when they were in school. Their push-pull, I love you, I hate you, relationship in “For Good” would’ve been so much more meaningful to me if Glinda acted like she respected Elphaba at all in Part I. I get very annoyed with the amount of merchandise and fan art and instagram posts about once-in-a-lifetime friendships, featuring phrases like “you’re the Elphaba to my Glinda” or vise-versa. It makes me want to scream “How do you not think this is toxic?” Maybe I’d appreciate it if I only saw “For Good”, where their relationship pulled on way more heartstrings and was more compelling to me. But I can’t get over the events in Part I, and it just bled into how I viewed Part II.
That’s my biggest complaint, but there were a few elements I was wishing for that I didn’t see.
It wasn’t fair to give Glinda the power of the grimerie? One could argue (and one will argue, I will) that nobody should be able to use it and they should destroy that damned book already because it only caused trouble. But particularly Glinda? Her keeping her good reputation with Oz was already too much mercy for me, especially compared to everything Elphaba sacrificed. I would’ve preferred Glinda having to admit her lies to Oz for the sake of her character development. But simply handing her the power to read that wretched clump of paper, and giving her real magic is just another consequence of her lies she can now avoid.
The Cowardly Lion and Boq as the Tin Man – the Tin Boq if you will – should’ve had some sort of closure. As someone who cares about Elphaba and knows she didn’t mean to hurt either of them, I would’ve liked to see them forgive her. But even if they stayed mad at her, what are they going to do now? Especially Boq. Will he hold a grudge against Glinda for her role in his downfall? Will he go after her for it? Did he ever figure out that Fiyero was the scarecrow? Did he “gain a heart” after all like he did in the Wizard of Oz, because it wasn’t looking good for him when his last scene was rallying a crowd to kill Elphaba.
The poppy field plotline getting scrapped was disappointing. This doesn’t bother me that much since they can’t make everything line up perfectly with the Wizard of Oz film. I’m just a little sad they gave the poppies attention in the first movie and not the second. It would’ve been really satisfying foreshadowing.
I have a lot of questions about the plot too. Most of them are about Fiyero.
Why was Fiyero brainless as the scarecrow? Sure, he was decidedly lazy in Part I, but he had a character arc and put in the work to help Elphaba. The Tin Man and Cowardly Lion both had backwards development that made them become heartless or lack courage. Fiyero didn’t have that. Did he get his brains bashed out when the guards jumped him? That’s pretty dark.
How did Fiyaro end up in the military? There were some amount of years in between the first and second movie, but his personality almost completely changed. First film Fiyero was carefree, slightly immature, and didn’t give a shiz about discipline. How do you go from that to the general of the national military? Even if he only enlisted to find Elphaba, I can’t believe he would actually earn such a high rank that fast (or at all).
Why put Glinda in power? The Wizard needed a witch and a motivating public figure, that’s fine. But why take a magicless Glinda when Madam Morrible is available, magical, almost as powerful as Elphaba (plus has decades of experience on her), and has proven to be unwaveringly devoted to the Wizard? Sounds easier than training Glinda to be Oz’s sweetheart, faking her magic to the whole country, and not even knowing where her loyalties lie yet.
When did Fiyero and Elphaba make the plan to fake her death? Because she seemed pretty confident he was dead, yet not too surprised when she popped out of the trap door. And Fiyero was with Dorothy for the whole third act of the movie.
And this has been making me insane. When Fiyero first switched sides in the Wizard’s tower and left with Elphaba, I assumed he just hopped on her broom and flew away with her. Was that not the only way to leave? Because WHY DIDN’T ELPHABA JUST MAKE ROOM FOR HIM TO FLY OFF WITH HER WHEN THEY GOT AMBUSHED AT DOROTHY’S HOUSE??? I got very moodified with how fast the pair gave up and Fiyero told her to just go without him. Was she not levitating them in her house one song ago? Was there not a legion of flying monkeys there to carry Fiyaro back if it comes to it? Or could Elphaba simply have let him ride on the broom like before? I get that he had to turn into the scarecrow for the plot, but there could’ve been something more complicated to get him away from Elphaba. Fiyero and Elphaba gave up way too fast.
Last thing, this isn’t really a plot question, I just need to know for my own peace of mind… did anyone else think that Scarecrow Fiyero looked like Ryan Renolds? No? Just me? Ok.
“Wicked: For Good” isn’t without its flaws, but it’s also not defined by them. I think I finally understand the hype. The tagline for the film was “You will be changed,” and I admit it, I was. Go rejoycify for me now, bitter theater people. I’d happily rewatch “Wicked: For Good”. I can’t say I’d mind getting lost in the world of Oz again. I might even get on TikTok and totally butcher that “Defying Gravity” rift.
