Wicked: For Good Review
Wicked: For Good (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Jon M. Chu, written by Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman and Gregory Maguire and starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Colman Domingo, Bower Yang, Bronwyn James, Aaron Teoh Guan Ti, Keala Settle, Sharon D. Clarke, Adam James, Scarlett Spears and Bethany Weaver.
Filmmaker Jon M. Chu brings the second half of the Wicked story to life in the mediocre and, at times, curiously bland, Wicked: For Good. There’s nothing wrong with the new movie that a couple of weeks of script polishing couldn’t help. However, as it plays now, it feels like those involved were making the film’s scenarios up as they went along in a haphazard fashion. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande get more creative this time out with their characterizations of Elphaba and Glinda, but the script does their performances injustices by offering one overwritten situation after another. Meanwhile, other cast members such as Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh are sadly not working up to their abilities. Still, the targeted audience for the movie may be more forgiving of the film’s flaws because of the heightened emotions that the movie displays, especially in its moving concluding sequences.
Picking up some years after the end of last year’s masterpiece, Wicked: Part 1, the new film is colorful and immerses the viewer in the land of Oz and beyond. This movie’s problem is that the supporting characters the movie re-establishes have lost their appeal. Jonathan Bailey, Goldblum and Yeoh’s roles are all seriously underdeveloped this time around. That’s not to say they had huge roles in the first picture, but they fit in like a glove. Here. they stand out more as distractions than as totally necessary catalysts to move the plot forward.
This movie’s basic problem is that it’s overdone and not in the way the first film was. Wicked: Part 1 was a delightful spectacle and maintained a definite vibe that encouraged positive energy. This time around, there’s a lot of negativity. Bailey’s Fiyero takes a new direction that some viewers may not warm up to. Marissa Bode, as Nessarose, Elphaba’s sister, doesn’t have to be such a frustrating character as she becomes in this film. Nessarose is more of a plot device than anything else. Ethan Slater is left with the underwritten Boq who is eventually turned into the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz.
Goldblum and Yeoh are anything but wonderful in these particular roles. Yeoh feels as if she’s reading her more prominent lines from cue cards at times. Goldblum should only be so lucky to have interesting lines like the ones Yeoh gets. Dulcibear (Sharon D. Clarke) is the most interesting minor character in the movie, yet is not given nearly enough screen time in this follow-up to a wonderful motion picture.
Colman Domingo plays the voice of the Cowardly Lion and Bethany Weaver plays Dorothy. Neither character stands out too much in this half-baked movie. That’s because the plot plays like a soap opera, complete with a torrid love affair between Elphaba and a key character who I won’t reveal in case it’s supposed to be a surprise.
To zero in on some poorly done sequences, one involves the supposed wedding of Glinda to Fiyero which is thwarted by wild animals. This is followed by a tornado that includes good visual effects, but leads to unsatisfying plot developments. This material is so overdone, it’s not even enjoyable to watch. Instead, it leaves viewers scratching their heads in wonder in regards to what happened to the magic that was so prominent in the first film.
Still, at the core of the movie is the bond between Glinda and Elphaba. There’s some wonder in hearing them perform the lyrics, “Because I Knew You,” on-screen. This movie runs hot and cold in its presentation of their relationship, though. Glinda cares deeply for Elphaba and vice versa. When they get to the scenes towards the end, their performances dictate how the viewer should feel as tears stream down the characters’ faces. It’s easy to get lost in the moment and cave in to feel the emotions that director Chu wants us to. It’s also easy to believe that the movie plays up its tears at the end in a way that feels slightly manipulative given the material that precedes it.
Erivo is, as always, a towering screen presence. Grande is the very definition of energetic given her work in the movie. As the younger Glinda, Scarlett Spears is also rather effective in just a few brief moments within the picture. There’s nothing wrong with the central performances. The problems are discovered when one realizes that this story didn’t have to be told this way. It could have and should have been a movie about Glinda and Elphaba, but the side characters give the movie a feel that it’s that much bigger than their relationship, but it really isn’t. It’s about the relationship at its very core. Imagine trying to make a Frozen movie about something other than Elsa and Anna when it’s really about Elsa and Anna. Now, you can see the point I’m trying to make.
There’s going to be a big crowd that goes to see Wicked: For Good. I think they’ll enjoy it on the most basic level, but would be very surprised if the stars get Oscar nominations again for the same roles they played last year. It’s not a total misfire. There are a lot of clever parallels the movie makes to the classic, The Wizard of Oz. Fans will adore that fact. Although you wouldn’t tell from all the tears shed on-screen, the movie is closest to the Tin Man of all the characters from the source material because it needed more heart and less chaotic plot twists to fully work as a successful film.
Rating: 6/10
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