Wicked stans, musical theatre diehards and anyone tempted to drop the word ‘goosify’ into conversation should add about 12 more stars to the above rating, skip my thoughts and settle in for two-and-a-half more hours of Elphaba and Glinda belting out anthems of empowerment, while Jonathan Bailey’s gallant army officer Fiyero suffers a crisis of conscience in the background.
Still here? Well, whisper it but the concluding part of John M Chu’s musical epic will be a disappointment for anyone who hasn’t already sipped the green-and-pink Kool-Aid. Rather than an elegant dash for the finish line, Wicked: For Good magnifies the shortcomings of the stage musical’s underpowered second half with sluggish pacing, awkward scenes and storytelling that packs all the visceral punch of Glinda’s bubble machine.
Where the first movie had urgency and peril to propel it forward – not to mention a host of bona fide bangers – part 2 is more of a wheelspin downhill. Once again, Wicked’s kingdom of Oz is a luridly over-designed world (were we too harsh on Oz: The Great and Powerful?) where human fondant fancy Glinda the Good (Ariane Grande) is torn between loyalty to the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and love for old pal Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo, a powerhouse again).
The storytelling packs all the visceral punch of Glinda’s bubble machine
The witch, having broomsticked away at the end of Wicked, is deep into her Ewok era, living in the trees to hide from Oz’s troops and flying monkeys. Goldblum is his usual cheerily mercurial self, but the Wizard cuts a mostly detached figure in the story: disappearing for stretches and seemingly in no massive hurry to find the powerful witch he’s carefully vilified. His pogrom against Oz’s talking animals, a touching dynamic on the stage, is more half-heartedly depicted here.
Michelle Yeoh brings curdled cynicism as the scheming Madame Morrible, whose weather spell that delivers Dorothy to Oz is part of a highly complicated scheme to flush out Elphaba. An early sequence shows animal slave labour being used to construct the Yellow Brick road – dark new context for this famous Hollywood landmark – but the political subtext is fleeting. Dorothy, seen only in profile or from behind, stalks through the second half of the film like a wraith.
Part of the problem is the flatness of the world, the lack of any texture or detail given to the Ozians who have been taught to hate Elphaba. The supporting characters are a thinner bunch, with old Shiz University pals Pfannee (Bowen Yang) and ShenShen (Bronwyn James) sidelined, and the dynamic between Nessarose Thropp (Marissa Bode) and Boq (Ethan Slater) handled cursorily.
Still, while the songbook is depleted, Cynthia Erivo and Ariane Grande’s lungs are in full effect. There’s a mighty rendition of No Good Deed and a couple of new tunes from Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz. Ultimately, though, there’s not enough story to fuel a three-hour musical stretched across nearly five hours. What once was brisk and bright becomes a bit of a slog. Fans will be obsessified; everyone else, ossified.
In cinema worldwide Nov 21.