Not the kind of Oz story wide-eyed kids are humming “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” about, Wicked: For Good is also not the disaster some fans have been quietly dreading. It’s big, shiny, emotional, and sincere, but also uneven, overstuffed, and a little too in love with its own spectacle.
This second chapter picks up after the cliffhanger of the first film. Elphaba is now fully branded the “Wicked Witch,” Glinda has floated into the role of Oz’s official golden girl, and the Wizard’s carefully staged “truth” has more followers than facts. The movie is really about the fracture between these two women and whether their friendship can survive lies, politics, and fear. That’s the core, but the film surrounds it with so much plot that it can be hard to see.
The good news: if you’re here for the vocals, you’re safe. Cynthia Erivo sings like she could shatter the Emerald City skyline, and Ariana Grande brings shimmering pop polish and surprising emotional bite. Whenever the movie calms down long enough to let them just stand there and sing, it clicks. The big duets land, the emotional solos do what they’re meant to do, and you can feel the Broadway bones still holding the whole thing together.
Visually, the film doubles down on the first installment’s “everything and the kitchen sink” approach. Emerald City is a swirl of bubbles, steampunk, and an emerald-green fantasy; skies look hand-painted; costumes are huge, glittering, and sometimes hilariously impractical. It’s all very impressive…and a bit exhausting. Scenes that should feel intimate are sometimes buried under piles of CGI, extras, and swirling camera moves, like the movie is afraid you’ll get bored if anything stays still for more than ten seconds.
Where the movie genuinely shines is in its smaller moments. When the noise drops and it’s just Elphaba and Glinda dealing with hurt feelings, jealousy, loyalty, and regret, the film finally breathes. Their chemistry sells the idea that this relationship, more than broomsticks, bubbles, or talking animals, is what really defines Oz. You just wish the story trusted that enough to sit with it longer.
Parents wondering about tone: this is darker than a typical kids’ musical but nowhere near nightmare territory. There’s some menace, mob energy, and emotional intensity, but it stays within mainstream family-movie limits. Think “heavy themes with sparkles” rather than “trauma with tunes.”
For die-hard Wicked fans, For Good will likely be a must-see: the songs are there, the world is there, and the emotions are mostly there. For casual viewers, it’s more of a mixed bag, glorious in moments, bloated in others, and not quite as magical as the build-up promised.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
“The friendship flies; the rest sometimes just circles the castle.”
