Arguably the most anticipated film, Wicked: For Good, has transformed individuals across the globe and I “for good”. With just less than two and a half hours of run time, For Good brings back their audience from last year’s hit movie, Wicked (Part 1). In this second adaptation, For Good continues to be an artistic expression for crucial, imperative themes that reflect what’s going on in our world today through catchy songs and plenty of character growth.
Continuing to star Cynthia Erivo as Elpahaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, For Good follows the plot of the second act of the original broadway musical, exploring the power dynamics between Elpahaba and the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) as well as the consistent political propaganda. Elphaba and Glinda’s relationship is smote as they attempt to fight the system from two opposing positions. Through their attempts, they realize that they could not accomplish their own goals without each other, and they need each other to succeed.
Truthfully, For Good wasn’t as good as Part 1 — which was to be expected, act 1 of the original musical is often considered to be the better act. Though, in act 2, it does get deeper with darker themes which adds and contrasts to the story that was built in act 1, or Wicked (Part 1).
Being the star of the movie, Erivo continues to portray Elphaba exceptionally well. She encapsulates what being “wicked” truly means when being faced with tyrannical oppression and government propaganda.
While Wicked focused more on Elphaba’s story on how she became known as the “Wicked Witch of the West”, Wicked: For Good is more of the retelling of the classic Wizard of Oz. The story is fast paced and unfortunately skips what could have been considered as essential plot points to the story, such as Boq’s (Ethan Slater) character development as the Tin Man.
Given Slater’s past projects, like The Spongebob Musical, audiences were unsure of how he might do as the Tin Man. To everyone’s surprise, his performance was debatably one of the best. His ability to portray the Tin Man’s revenge and hatred for Elphaba and the character’s terror was extraordinary.
Alongside the audience’s surprise, Jon M. Chu made the executive decision to add two new original songs: No Place Like Home and Girl in the Bubble. Both songs have received mixed reviews but neither of them are bad lyrically nor musically. The main thing that may be putting some off is because they are either die-hard Broadway fans or because they don’t exactly fit well into the story.
The songs themselves don’t exactly do as much for the story as many of the other songs, but they do serve the purpose of further pushing Elphaba and Glinda’s characters. No Place Like Home encapsulates Elphaba’s true agenda of wanting to save Oz from its oppressive, lying wizard despite the fact they all hate her. Girl in the Bubble is Glinda’s coming-of-age song where she finally abandons the life she has been privileged.
Though Wicked: Part 1 was better in terms of enjoyability, Wicked: For Good was most definitely worth the year’s wait. Erivo and Grande, amongst other cast members, did well in telling the retelling of the Wizard of Oz, and it is definitely a movie worth winning an Oscar.
