The first one was a candy-colored slog, but 'Wicked: For Good' is pleasantly sour

At last, “Wicked: For Good” reveals the mechanics down Glinda’s bubble. It’s not magic. It’s technological wizardry engineered by the antheral down the curtain himself to person the Munchkins that Glinda, charismatic but haplessly unskilled, has supernatural talents. To usage the parlance of his property secretary, the gimmick is simply a “vehicular spherical globe.”

“The wand truly sells it,” says conniving Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). Likewise, aft 2024’s narratively dreary “Wicked,” returning manager Jon M. Chu persuades america to travel backmost to Oz for this smarter, sprightlier follow-up that’s each astir the pageantry of propaganda.

In this Oz, representation is everything and the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) is the spin-master. “Once folks bargain into your blarney, it’s the happening they’ll astir clasp connected to,” helium croons successful a playfully retro ditty whose balloon creation and squawking horns allude to Charlie Chaplin successful “The Great Dictator” and “Cabaret’s” Joel Grey (who coincidentally played the Wizard relation connected Broadway).

The publication by Dana Fox and archetypal Broadway playwright Winnie Holzman follows the operation of the 2003 signifier musical, itself an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 caller “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.” Consider the interruption betwixt films a year-long intermission betwixt acts. The archetypal installment was each tedious set-up. The 2nd has a assemblage count.

To concisely recap the archetypal “Wicked,” Glinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the aboriginal Wicked Witch, were erstwhile assemblage roommates. Glinda is charming and popular; Elphaba, a green-skinned outcast with paranormal powers, is embraced lone by her moony sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode), the impulsive Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) and, gradually, the perky, pink-clad Glinda. Now vaguely older, the girls person go figureheads for opposing sides, with Glinda an Emerald City influencer and Elphaba an carnal rights activist: the lime-colored embodiment of Greenpeace.

Erivo is simply a large endowment with lungs similar duplicate airplane engines and a surface beingness of axenic steel. The past movie suffered owed to her strength; she was simply excessively overmuch pistillate to play an insecure young student. Broadway productions tin formed Elphabas implicit 30. (Idina Menzel was 32 erstwhile she originated the role.) But onscreen — particularly successful the close-ups Chu enjoys — there’s nary spell connected Earth, implicit oregon nether the rainbow, that could person maine Erivo is simply a pigtailed wallflower. That’s arsenic fantastical of a request arsenic Sidney Lumet’s 1978 “The Wiz” insisting that the large diva Diana Ross’s Dorothy was a tense nelly who’d ne'er been southbound of Harlem’s 125th Street.

Thankfully, Erivo’s maturity present works since her quality is wiser and much cynical — though it’s inactive goofy to spot her skateboarding connected a broomstick. In her introduction, she swoops implicit the poppy fields to escaped the enslaved oxen forced to physique the Yellow Brick Road. (The cattle are treated truthful horrendously that astatine slightest 1 kid successful each theatre volition pledge to spell vegetarian.)

Later, Erivo’s Elphaba adjacent enjoys a nighttime of big shenanigans with Bailey’s Prince Fiyero. Their emotion country starts awkwardly. The actors don’t person overmuch chemistry and they’re some wearing 2 tons of costumes. Yet, by sheer unit of will, Chu strong-arms the country into a blase tryst that conscionable happens to instrumentality spot successful a tree. As they sing the ballad “As Long arsenic You’re Mine,” reworked to dependable a spot sleazier, similar thing Sharon Stone would person skulked astir to successful a ’90s thriller, Elphaba slips retired of her frilled achromatic gown and Fiyero strips disconnected his subject loop and suspenders. By the greeting after, the brace yet negociate to enactment up 1 smooch with a spot of heat.

The existent emotion story, however, remains betwixt Elphaba and Glinda. To the script’s credit, their enslaved is strained but ne'er snapped — their relationship has an admirable elasticity. Both privation what’s champion for each different and for Oz. Alas, they can’t hold connected however to get it: fisticuffs oregon flattery.

Elphaba, a combatant toughened by a beingness of cruel, hard luck, wants to tackle the tyrannical Wizard head-on and exposure him arsenic a phony who props up his clout by convincing the Ozians (yes, Ozians) to subjugate talking animals. By contrast, toxically naive Glinda is convinced that everyone could beryllium benignant if she drizzled them with honey. At its core, “For Good” asks if it’s it amended to archer the disfigured information oregon enactment a beauteous look connected things. Intriguingly, it leans toward the latter.

With her butterfly lashes and hairsbreadth bleached an unnatural shadiness of news-anchor blonde, Grande couldn’t look much artificial. Yet, the phony look suits her — Glinda is burdened by being the blessed look of the Wizard’s regime. Grande has practiced doing this benignant of lovable ditz since her teen years connected Nickelodeon and I’m not definite if she tin play immoderate different benignant of part. But she’s marvelously comic here, making her Glinda astatine erstwhile profoundly sincere and uproariously shallow. When she and Elphaba brawl, Grande hurl-plops onto her rival similar a cupcake successful a nutrient fight. When bereft, she adjacent manages to sadly tip-tap her tiny feet up a staircase.

That song, a caller fig called “The Girl successful the Bubble,” is staged successful 1 whirling tracking shot. The CG is excessively synthetic to beryllium genuinely impressive, but you person to respect cinematographer Alice Brooks’ ambition to assemblage much razzle-dazzle into a movie wherever adjacent the inheritance characters are costumed similar haute couture lily pads. Often, the camera is excessively untethered from its surroundings to instrumentality successful the details oregon the emotions. Swooshing and circling dizzily astir the actors, it deserves to person its tripod rusted to the ground.

The static shots person genuine impact, similar a motionless representation of Glinda and Elphaba singing connected other sides of a wall, each letting their bravery driblet erstwhile they deliberation they can’t beryllium seen. Equally bully is simply a agelong instrumentality that stays connected Glinda’s teary look as, conscionable down her and retired of focus, the Wizard and Morrible hatch an assassination crippled involving a twister.

Despite knowing the house-crush is inevitable, you inactive can’t rather judge the movie volition spell done with it — particularly since the publication has already sensitively adjusted 1 character’s fate. To spare the PG audience, Chu has swapped retired the curling corpse feet for a infinitesimal of mourning. Each decease oregon disfigurement lands with a splat. The scarecrow scenes are klutzy; the uncover of the Tin Man plays similar a spoof of Jack Nicholson successful “The Shining.” Yet, these invited sour jolts support things from getting excessively sugar-sweet.

“For Good” is simply a worthwhile instrumentality to Oz. The other scenes and rejiggered duets warrant the moving clip (even if the 160-minute magnitude of the archetypal movie remains unforgivable). The different recently added song, “No Place Like Home,” empowers Erivo to crook Judy Garland’s celebrated enactment into a radicalized governmental anthem. “Think however you’ll grieve for each you’ll permission behind,” she sings to a herd of otters, koalas, flamingos, giraffes, bunnies and kangaroos fleeing Oz for the information of the Yellow Brick Underground Railroad. I was moved. The beasts weren’t.

We ne'er spot the look of this film’s Dorothy, but down her back, the heroine is either treated arsenic exasperating (“It’s conscionable that 1 roadworthy the full time,” Glinda trills impatiently) oregon moronic (“That mulish workplace girl,” Elphaba sneers). Judge Dorothy by her actions and she’s 1 portion governmental pawn, 1 portion the heedless sociopath described successful that infamous TV listing blurb who “kills the archetypal idiosyncratic she meets and past teams up with 3 strangers to termination again.”

Children who spot this movie earlier the 1939 classical whitethorn ne'er forgive Dorothy. Maybe there’s nary going location aft all.