'Wicked: For Good' Is A Bummer

'Wicked: For Good' is a movie that was in a weird spot. 

To sort out some of the mechanics, lets start with the play. It's 2hr 45min long and the most common complaint is that the second act isn't nearly as good as the first. Universal made the choice to split this adaptation into two parts, corresponding with the acts. This is maybe to give more time for the story but also, more likely, to seriously cash in on the IP. But that means that a 2hr 45min play is now stretched across over a 4+ hour runntime. 

So, if you're Universal and director Jon M. Chu, how do you approach Wicked 2? Do you make a big swing and try to fix what people don't like about the play? Or, after the financial success and cultural impact of the first movie, do you just play it safe? Well, the answer for them seems to be the latter. This movie stuck to the formula, even though it wasn't well liked, and didn't try to make any changes. As a result, the movie is not very good, which shouldn't be a shocker!  

What works about this movie is what worked in the first. Grande and Erivo, despite all their weird, off-the-court bullshit, are born for these roles. Any time they are on screen together or singing, it rocks. The costumes and practical stuff is all great and the music is good. What doesn't work from the first movie (CGI, color grading) ALSO doesn't work in this one. But now, there are new problems. The supporting cast is given nothing to work with, the songs in this half are Tee ball compared to the major leagues in 'Defying Gravity', and the story really goes off the rails. 

Obviously the draw of this movie is the alternate view on 'The Wizard of Oz'. That worked fine in 'Wicked', where the two movies don't really intersect. In this movie, the paths cross around the end of the first act and stuff goes off the rails after that. The two stories are just on totally different frequencies and don't compliment each other in the way that they should. And I get that this is essentially a fan fiction but it's not like this is for some nothing IP. It's the Wizard of Oz. That's THE movie! 

So, not as good as the first movie but who cares. This is making a trillion dollars and thats good for the industry.