★★★★☆
Whether you’re a young girl in a sparkly pink Glinda dress, a college student, or an adult, Wicked: For Good has a message worth hearing.
Glinda (Ariana Grande) struggles with authenticity and the pressure to please others, while Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) learns that people’s need to believe she is wicked has nothing to do with her true identity.
“They need someone to be wicked—so that you can be good,” Elphaba says.
There was initial skepticism surrounding the two new additions to the soundtrack, “No Place Like Home” and “The Girl in the Bubble.” Erivo and Grande each were awarded a ballad for the second movie. The songs were incorporated well into the film, but the lyricism—especially of “The Girl in the Bubble”—seemed simplified and overly reliant on clichés.
“For the girl in the bubble / The pink shiny bubble / It’s time for her bubble to pop,” Grande sings.
All of the original Broadway songs echo one another musically, creating a cohesive soundtrack. These two songs did not achieve that same unity. That said, some moviegoers who are unfamiliar with the original soundtrack may not hear the difference.
Often, when a sequel is released, the question is whether it is better or worse than the first film. But with Wicked, the movies function as a pair. In fact, on the day before Wicked: For Good premiered, theaters offered a double feature of both films, separated by a brief intermission—an experience that spanned 5 hours and 13 minutes.
Wicked: For Good includes several nostalgic flashbacks to the first movie, reminding the audience of Elphaba’s relationships with Glinda and Fiyero during their years at school. It also reveals Easter eggs planted in the first film, such as the identity of the cloaked figure riding the horse in its opening scene.
While the sequel may not have as many iconic songs as the first movie—“What is this Feeling?,” “Popular,” and “Defying Gravity,” to name a few—the way the plot reveals its connections to The Wizard of Oz movie is just as exciting for longtime fans of the Broadway musical as for viewers who are new to the story.
The final song of the film is a heartwarming duet between Grande and Erivo entitled “For Good.” As demonstrated in the first film, the two actresses’ voices blend in a mesmerizing fashion that makes the songs all the more powerful.
“I’ve heard it said / That people come into our lives / For a reason / Bringing something we must learn, “ Glinda sings. “And we are led / To those who help us most to grow / If we let them / And we can help them in return.”
Wicked: For Good is a must-watch—supplemented with the wizard’s (Jeff Goldblum) comedic timing, Jonathan Bailey’s presence (until he is transformed into straw), and songs that will make you wish you knew how to sing.
