You sit down in the theater, popcorn and candy in hand, ready for a magical motion picture. The lights dim and the universal logo plays followed by music; Wicked: For Good begins.
Wicked: For Good is the sequel to the musical-turned-major-motion picture about the life of the Wicked Witch of the West from the fictional world of Oz. The movie depicts complex friendships and relationships as it follows two best friends who are not allowed to be friends by the bounds of society.
One strength of the movie was it did a good job of establishing plot points from the first movie and how they are affecting characters in the second movie. For example, in one of the opening scenes, Elphaba comes flying into Munchkinland trying to send a message but is prevented by Madame Morrible, who in the previous movie was on the wizards side as one of the main villains.
The film also did a great job of accurately stylizing the characters, with a mix of original costumes and some that replicated the musical that the film is based on. These costumes help the audience be drawn into the magical world and get invested in the characters. After characters transformed into their final forms, the costumes became even better because they were realistic.
The movie also did a good job at having moments of silence where the characters had a chance to react to important things. This helped to play into the emotional motifs of the movie as well as told the story without saying anything.
One example of this is at the end of the film, when Glinda and Elphaba will never see each other again, there is a moment where Elphaba looks back and it is silent. It was a good way to wrap up the film and the friendship of the two.
However, this movie also had its faults. The biggest one being chemistry between Elphaba and Fiyero. Throughout the two movies, the romantic storyline between Elphaba and Fiyero is supposed to be apparent. However, the two had no romantic chemistry and it heavily brought down the energy of some of the songs.
Not only did it affect the song they shared, but it also affected the song “No Good Deed,” which is a song about how Elphaba’s good deeds end up nowhere. Fiyero is supposed to be an amplifying factor in the song due to the fact Elphaba cannot save his life. But since the two had very little chemistry, it felt fake and pulled the magic away for a bit.
Even though there were times when the movies felt very magical, there were times when that “magic” could have used some adjusting. For example, the film flashed back to the story that Glinda told in the first movie and Glinda breaks the fourth wall by looking at the camera and saying “wait.” This really caused the magic to fizzle out and it was towards the end of the film when it was needed most.
Overall, this movie was worth watching and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to have a magical experience. The movie was good but had some flaws that made it hard to watch at times. I would give this film a 9/10.
