Wicked: For Good

The stakes are raised in this emotionally stirring conclusion to the stage musical adaptation, and what this second half lacks in the comedy and playfulness of the first instalment, it more than makes up for with its character payoffs and (surprisingly nuanced) themes.

Premise:  Following the events the first film, Glinda (Ariana Grande) has been given the public persona of “the Good Witch” by the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), as part of their propaganda campaign against Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), who has been labelled “the Wicked Witch of the West” following her decision to rebel against the Wizard’s discriminatory and authoritarian regime.

Review:

As I mentioned in my review of Wicked (Part One), I’ve never seen the Wicked stage production, and so I had no idea where the storyline was going to go in this concluding chapter of the big screen adaptation.  I should also add that I don’t have any particular affection for the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz (I appreciate it on an intellectual level for its place in movie history, but it was never a favourite movie of mine because, even as a child, I found it very dated) - which is to say that I don’t consider that I was necessarily predisposed to liking either of the Wicked films (and in fact, I was very sceptical about them before I saw Wicked (Part One)).  I’m also not a huge fan of what I would call “traditional” musicals as a genre...

With all that in mind – I have to say that I loved Wicked: For Good, and I thought it brought the two-part film adaptation to a fantastic conclusion.  After I enjoyed the first film so much, I was expecting (or hoping!) to enjoy the second film as well – but what I wasn’t expecting was how different (but equally good) the second instalment would be.

“…a story of rebellion, insurrection, oppression & the power of propaganda…”

Whereas Wicked (Part One) is, for the most part, very playful and often laugh-out-loud funny (thanks in large part to Ariana Grande‘s comedic performance), Wicked: For Good has a much more serious tone – but this isn’t a criticism, it’s a reflection of how the second half of the story really ups the stakes, not just for Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda, but for Oz as a whole.  The movie opens with a scene of deforestation and forced animal labour as the Wizard’s (Jeff Goldblum) plan to centralise his power through the building of the Yellow Brick Road is implemented, which sets the tone for the rest of the movie.  This story isn’t a repeat of the childhood rivalry from the first film – it's a story of rebellion, insurrection, oppression and the power of propaganda to win the hearts and minds of the public.

Some of my favourite songs from the first film (“What Is This Feeling?”, “Popular” and “Dancing Through Life”) were fun and playful – but nearly all of the songs in this second half pack much more of an emotional punch.  The title song – “For Good” – is the emotional highpoint of the film and lives up to the hype, but I also loved the song “The Girl in the Bubble”, which is one of two new songs written by original stage show composer Stephen Schwartz for this movie – not only is it a (much needed) insight into Glinda’ emotional state of mind at that point in the film, but director Jon M. Chu’s filming of the number is probably my favourite bit of musical choreography in the film.  The film also makes good use of reprises of songs and musical motifs from the first film, this time with added poignancy or with darker undertones.

“…completely changes the way you look at ‘The Wizard of Oz’…”

It’s precisely because we spent so much time in the first film with the characters – not just Elphaba and Glinda, but also Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), Nessarose (Marissa Bode) and Boq (Ethan Slater) – that their storylines have the emotional impact that they have in the concluding chapter.  I know many people were originally cynical about the decision to split the movie adaptation into two films when it was first announced, but in hindsight, it was 100% the right decision, because it allowed for greater character development in the first film, which in turn resulted in greater emotional impact in the second film.

I really don’t want to say too much about the plot developments in the second film, just in case you (like me) had managed to avoid all spoilers and are going into Wicked: For Good without knowing where it’s going – but I will say that I was very happy with the way in which this film weaves into the events we’re already familiar with from 1939’s The Wizard of Oz.  There is a little bit of retconning involved, and a couple of events don’t happen exactly the way that they do in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, but for the most part, Wicked: For Good completely changes the way in which you look at The Wizard of Oz by altering the context and meaning of key events.

“…a lot of nuance goes into the character development…”

Thematically, Wicked: For Good has even more for audiences to get their teeth into than Wicked (Part One), and anyone who dismisses this as just ‘fairytale nonsense’ is doing the story a huge disservice.  While the film remains entirely accessible to even very young audience members, older children will perhaps take more from the story of a rebellious freedom fighter than they will from the more storybook elements, while adults have plenty of allegory and subtext to digest.  Again, avoiding specific spoilers, not only does this film continue the exploration of discrimination, prejudice and ‘othering’ for political advantage that the first film touched on, but it also has some (sadly very accurate) things to say about the power of propaganda in terms of cementing people’s beliefs to such an extent that they can’t then question those beliefs without calling into question their entire identity.  It doesn’t take a huge leap to draw real world parallels with a conman charlatan who uses the power of propaganda to promise the world and create an unquestioning cult of personality around him...

But one of the other strengths of this film is the nuance that goes into the character development, so that no one is just one thing.  At the start of the film, Glinda is arguably in a morally compromised position, despite her desire to do good, and as the film progresses, Elphaba’s moral compass is also pushed to its limits (with the excellent song “No Good Deed”).  Michelle Yeoh gets a chance to show there’s more to Madame Morrible than perhaps we first thought, and even the Wizard himself is not reduced to a one-dimensional caricature, and when he protests “I’m not a bad man”, the tragedy is that the audience knows he believes what he's saying.

“…gave me everything I could have hoped for…”

With its fantastic cast, emotive musical numbers, cleverly retconning plot, and politically potent themes, Wicked: For Good gave me everything I could have hoped for from the second half of this adaptation, and brings the characters’ stories to an emotionally satisfying conclusion.