The 2003 musical Wicked is a classic, but it’s also undeniably a front-loaded play. Act I’s songs are far more memorable. More importantly, its plotting and character development are more propulsive. The second act has some great stuff in it, but it can feel overlong and overstuffed in comparison.
Wicked‘s two-part film adaptation, which includes 2024’s Wicked and 2025’s Wicked: For Good, adapt Act I and II respectively. They are slavishly faithful, as one would need to be given the “obsessulated” fan base. Unfortunately, that means For Good winds up with a lot of the same problems as its source material, making you wish director Jon M. Chu had chosen revision over fidelity.
When For Good begins, the world of Oz has grown considerably darker, with the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum, going full ham) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh, flatter than day-old beer) tightening their grip on the land and further subjugating its animal population.
Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) has been smeared as the “Wicked Witch” after disavowing their brutish reign and now lives as an outcast. Glinda (Ariana Grande) has become “Glinda the Good” after agreeing to work for the Wizard as a sort of publicist/influencer. Yet as the Wizard’s brutality grows, she becomes increasingly uneasy. She also remains hopelessly besotted with Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero, despite him clearly pining for Elphaba instead.
What thankfully hasn’t changed is Chu’s flair for real sets and ornate costumes. The big opening number, “Thank Goodness/I Couldn’t Be Happier,” is a testament to the craft of his department heads. They create a tactile Munchkin village that evokes the original Wizard of Oz but with far greater scope.
The previous Wicked revolved around Elphaba and Glinda’s budding friendship amidst rising fascism and concluded with their eventual rupture over the Wizard’s tactics. In the sequel, the characters must deal with the fallout and decide whether our choices or our society shape us into who we are. “Are people born wicked, or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” Glinda asks, underlining this concern.
Elphaba has spent a lifetime trying to do the right thing. But after being cast out merely for standing up for Oz’s animals, she wonders if there’s any point to further resistance or if she should embrace her vilification. Glinda must decide if accommodating the Wizard has compromised her or if her moral corruption has always been a part of who she is.
While these are valid themes, For Good routinely gets bogged down in storylines that fail to advance the plot. Consider Elphaba’s romantic relationship with Fiyero. When the Gale Force captain pursues her, it forces Glinda and Elphaba back into a tedious rivalry.
Perhaps you wouldn’t mind so much if the relationship worked on its own merits. While both are powerhouse performers, Erivo and Bailey have little chemistry. Their duet also exposes Chu’s directorial limitations. While the director delivered strong, kinetic numbers in the first Wicked, he seems adrift with a moodier piece like “As Long as You’re Mine.”
Similarly, the need to connect Wicked to the original Wizard of Oz stymies For Good’s momentum. Elphaba’s struggle to use her magic, uh, well, for good inadvertently leads to the transformation of certain characters into the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. While the makeup and costuming of each are technically amazing, their value to the story is dubious.
These developments are intended to further Elphaba’s disillusionment with goodness, emphasizing that disaster will always occur no matter how good her intentions. The problem is the first film already made this point. Elphaba’s punishment following her defiance of the Wizard already proved that “no good deed goes unpunished.” We don’t need another round of misery for our favorite, green-skinned sorcerer or the histrionic, CGI-laden rendition of “No Good Deed” that immediately follows.
The film is on surer footing when it comes to Glinda. Flashbacks dig deeper into whether her complicity with the Wizard is rooted in political expediency or childhood insecurity. Chu also rises to the challenge of depicting this tension visually. In the song “The Girl in the Bubble,” he follows Glinda throughout her quarters and encircled by its geography. It effectively conveys someone who has become trapped in a bubble of their own self-delusion.
For Good‘s problems are particularly galling because of how good the film is when it returns to Glinda and Elphaba. As the film reaches its climax, the two characters reunite to find an off-ramp from the identities they’ve been pushed into. They sing the title song, and it will almost certainly destroy you. It features some of the most emotional acting I’ve seen in a while. On top of that, it takes what makes Wicked so special and pushes it forward.
In the end, Wicked is about how people come “into our lives for a reason” and “leave a handprint on [our] hearts.” The first film showed how these people help us discover our best selves. For Good adds to that by showing how they can remind us of our goodness when the world tries to take it away.
Erivo and Grande articulate this theme so powerfully you will be left not only in a puddle of your own tears but also wistful. You can imagine how much better For Good would have been if it had focused more squarely on this singular emotional truth and tabled all the lore-building, love triangles and other nonsense. Like its protagonists, the film eventually remembers what matters. While that doesn’t undo the mistakes made along the way, it at least lets the film temporarily defy their gravity.
