Let's start here: Wicked For Good is a film that should not exist. Not just because it's not a very good film, but more broadly speaking, it just shouldn't be a thing. In adapting the stage musical (which itself is an adaptation of a novel by Gregory Maguire), the decision was made at some point to split the movie version into two parts, aligned with the first and second acts of the stage production. This poses several issues, not the least of which is the sour taste the news left in my (and plenty others') mouth, smacking as it does of a shameless cash grab by Universal Studios and everyone in the film's revenue waterfall. (At time of writing, Wicked for Good is expected to rake in $150M at the box office on opening weekend, so there's a lot to go around.)
The bigger issue, though, is that Wicked's second act is, on stage, a whirlwind of plot points that are simply meant to zip us through a sort of Wizard of Oz origin story as we get a chance to see Elphaba come to the inevitable conclusion on her path of "wickedness," giving in to what everyone else already believes about her and giving the people of Oz their much-reviled villain. It works as a solid conclusion to the show because you've just sat through the first half and are immersed in this whimsical if a bit kooky story. Plunking audiences back down into the story a year after the first act appeared on screen is a bit jarring, to say the least.
Continuity is thankfully not an issue, because filmmaker Jon M. Chu shot both films concurrently, capturing the whole story at once and then editing it into two films. The on-screen duo of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande-Butera (as she's credited on screen) as Glinda is again the best thing the film has going for it, but these two generational talents are working with such underdeveloped material they're practically doing acting CPR throughout the film's two-hour-plus runtime. At one point, Glinda is inserted into a musical number she's not included in for the stage production, as if Chu knows having Grande on screen as much as possible is his one saving grace. Indeed, she is oddly charming throughout here, finding moments of levity and personality in a film that does not readily present them.
Original creators of the show Stephen Schwartz (music and lyrics) and Winnie Holzman (book) are credited with the updates to this adaptation as well (Dana Fox again also gets screenplay credit as well), and the team is tapped to add in a few new numbers to help drive home the narrative. Unfortunately, "No Place Like Home" and "Girl in the Bubble" are so redundant and reductive, there's likely a reason these numbers never found their way into the stage production; they're entirely unnecessary except for a Best Original Song Oscars grab (but then again, I'm aware I started this screed by announcing that the film as a whole is also unnecessary, so...here we are).
There's plenty more that doesn't work here, including what's supposed to be a steamy moment between Elphaba and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey, newly minted as People's Sexiest Man Alive) who are finally getting their moment to connect as lovers; in an insanely weird directing choice, Chu has Elphaba welcome Fiyero back to her hideout and begin a song about how much she wants him by...walking away from him. Talk about bursting a bubble. Or the fact that no fewer than three different characters offer the emotionally moving line, "Go...now!" to someone fleeing from some new danger; it's corny the first time. It's odd the second time. By the third, I think I actually laughed out loud.
Lest you think I'm trying to dissuade you from seeing the film (honestly, I'm not—I'd be thrilled to hear what you think after seeing it!), Wicked for Good at least offers another couple of hours of eye-popping costumes and "set design" (in quotes because it's essentially all green-screen, making it hard to appreciate the magic of the movies over the magic of...computers). The film versions turn Wicked's steam-punk-meets-fairy-tale aesthetic up to eleven with all its curved lines and industrial accents, odd-ball hemlines and hairlines. If you're in it for the eye-candy, there's definitely a lot of that.
In all honesty, I've never actually been a huge fan of Wicked on stage; though several of the songs are knockouts in the American musical theater cannon, the plot has always been flawed and there are copious cringe moments in the lyrics (my personal favorite: "I ask forgiveness for the things I've done you blame me for"?! Really? Isn't that what blame is?!). The show's early and extreme success can largely be attributed to the other two generational talents who originated the roles of Elphaba and Glinda, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, respectively. And don't even get me started on the book as source material, a gruesome and dark work that reads more like angry manifesto than fairy tale. So it's no huge surprise that this latest adaptation of this story is not great either, but surely not for lack of trying for something grander.
Would just one, consolidated film have been better? Probably. I, for one, don't need to see either film again, or revisit the stage show, honestly. But I will keep the Original Broadway Cast album in my saved playlists, because no ill-conceived adaptation can ever take away what Defying Gravity gives us.
Wicked For Good is now in theaters.
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