Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” made over $750 million at the box office. It won two Academy Awards, for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. And if the existence of the limited edition “Wicked” embossed Le Creuset Dutch ovens priced at $450 is any indication, it probably moved a lot of merchandise. The first “Wicked” was popular, critically acclaimed and everyone made a lot of money. Good for them. I’d say “get your bag,” but the $998 Roots x Wicked Small Banff Bags are already sold out.
So I think it’s fair to say the decision to split the feature film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, based on Gregory Maguire’s novel “Wicked,” into two separate films was smart. It’s smart because Universal Pictures is going to make a heck of a lot more money. It’s also smart because the second half, “Wicked: For Good,” is quite bad. Sitting on a subpar sequel for a year while the first half accumulates goodwill and countless millions in merch sales was a solid business strategy, even though the wait made “Wicked: For Good” all the more disappointing.
In the first half of “Wicked,” Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) meet at boarding school, become fast rivals and then become close friends. When they finally meet the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), they’re shocked to discover he’s a charlatan, and that he needs Elphaba — who, unlike the Wizard, actually is magical — to transform Oz into the racist, authoritarian dystopia of his dreams. “Wicked” concludes with Elphaba defying gravity and, more importantly, defying fascism — even though she’s labeled “wicked” for her troubles.
“Wicked: For Good” skips ahead a bit. Glinda now works for the Wizard as his chief propagandist. The handsome Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), who loves Elphaba, is engaged to Glinda but hunting Elphaba like Tommy Lee Jones in “The Fugitive,” if Tommy Lee Jones secretly thought Harrison Ford was hot. Meanwhile, Elphaba tries to sabotage the development of the Yellow Brick Road and mend fences with her sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), but she’s extremely bad at both those things.
It’s an epic set-up for an epic conclusion. Unfortunately, we’re not allowed to have one. “Wicked: For Good” is hamstrung by its own premise, specifically that it takes place before and concurrently with “The Wizard of Oz.” So the story ties itself in knots to set up the arrival of Dorothy, and the origins of the Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and Tin Man. Their journey to meet the Wizard, get their wishes granted, and kill the Wicked Witch of the West must take place, as foretold by L. Frank Baum’s novels and the classic 1939 movie. This somehow takes up a lot of screen time even though it almost entirely takes place in the background. Worse, it barely relates to the story we actually care about, the one taking place between Elphaba and Glinda, and it prevents that story from reaching a satisfying conclusion.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are powerhouse performers; they deserved their Oscar nominations for the first half of “Wicked” and they’re still belting their songs like walking, talking, bright green and bright pink dynamos. But their songs in “Wicked: For Good” don’t have the same whimsy, or the same drama, or any catchiness to speak of. The love song between Elphaba and Fiyero, in which they confess their romantic feelings, couldn’t have more “just friends” energy if they were also watching the 2005 romantic comedy “Just Friends” on DVD. The less said about the new songs, the better (suffice it to say, as underwhelming as most of the original numbers are, the new additions whelm less).
If the songs were bangers, we might have been too distracted to poke at “Wicked: For Good’s” brittle structure. The more “Wicked: For Good” transforms into “The Wizard of Oz” the less it makes sense. Why would the Cowardly Lion, voiced by Colman Domingo (don’t get excited, he only has a handful of lines), ask the Wizard for courage, if the Wizard famously hates talking animals — like the Cowardly Lion — and throws them all in cages? If he’s cowardly, and he is, it’s the last thing he’d ever do.
Why does the Wizard ask Dorothy to bring him Elphaba’s broomstick, since “Wicked” reveals Elphaba’s greatest power is in her spellbook, which she stole from the Wizard, and we’ve clearly established that’s what the Wizard really wants? It’s only because that’s what he did in the 1939 movie, not because this new movie made any attempt to explain his shift in focus.
How did Dorothy run into the Scarecrow in the first place, when this movie makes it extremely clear — based on timing and geography — that there’s no way he could have been in Dorothy’s path? The movie gives that one a big ol’ shrug too.
Then there’s poor Elphaba, who sacrificed so much to become a revolutionary, but she’s not allowed to accomplish anything, because the story can only end one way. All that effort, all that suffering, and yet it’s almost like the only thing that mattered, according to “Wicked: For Good,” is that she inspired a rich blonde woman to become an ally. Whoop-de-doo. How inspiring.
“Wicked: For Good” is, of course, an adaptation of pre-existing material, which has a lot of the same problems. But that’s an explanation, not an excuse. The filmmakers didn’t fix those problems, so they’re the film’s problems now. The first “Wicked” worked as a movie. “Wicked: For Good” collapses because it doesn’t, either as a standalone film or as the second half of another. It’s rushing to the finish line, desperately cramming in all the elements it’s obligated to cram in, rarely making an effort to justify those newer plot developments and character turns. And it sure as heck doesn’t dramatize them convincingly.
There hasn’t been a pre-planned “Part Two” this disappointing since the second half of Andy Muschietti’s “It.” At least nobody projectile vomits on Jeff Goldblum to the tune of Juice Newton’s “Angel of the Morning.” Then again, that would have been more memorable. Anyway, we’ll always have the first half of “Wicked” to look back on fondly. Until we remember how it ends.
“Wicked: For Good” flies into theaters on Friday.
