Last year, the stage show adaptation of Wicked exploded into cinemas like a tornado from Kansas, winning two Oscars and earning over $750 million at the box office. Fast on its heels is part two, titled Wicked: For Good, which was filmed alongside the first. While the first film had a compelling story but poor visuals, the sequel is the opposite, with an awful story but good visuals. 

Some time after the events of the first film, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is a witch on the run, often raiding the humans who are using animals for work, and freeing them. Glinda (Ariana Grande) is a spokesperson for Oz, spreading word about how wicked the witch is, while also being engaged to her love, Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), a captain leading the search for Elphaba. Due to their father’s death, Nessa (Marissa Bode) is now the governor of Munchkinland, holding Boq (Ethan Slater) there with her, hoping he will fall in love with her in time. With the yellow brick road complete and the arrival of a mysterious farm girl called Dorothy, Elphaba must see the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and the nefarious Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) to persuade them to see things from her perspective.

It is a widely recognised fact that the second part of the Wicked stage show is not as good as the first. The best songs are in that initial part, and there is hardly any reference to the original The Wizard of Oz film, which allows the narrative more freedom to be creative. The problem with the story in this second part is that they feel the need to shoehorn the entire plot of The Wizard of Oz, but lack the courage to remake any scene of the story properly. There is an explanation of how the Tin Man and the Scarecrow are created, but the characters themselves feel so different from the versions of the Tin Man and Scarecrow we know from The Wizard of Oz — this Tin Man seems so violent and hateful, and this Scarecrow has love for the Witch. It’s an odd narrative that is burdened by this inclusion, and despite being a whole 30 minutes shorter, this film feels a lot longer than Part One. 

Director John M. Chu definitely took the advice from critics who called Part One an unattractive film, with a dull filter and unnecessary lens flares that obscure the stunning costume and production design. This time, the colours are vivid and the cinematography is more skilled, revealing all the magnificent scenery the film offers. Although they improved much of the animal CGI, there are two instances of terrible CGI or make-up involving a de-aged Goldblum and an unbelievably ugly Bailey, both of which completely take you out of the experience and make you cringe. Such moments should not occur in a film with such a large budget, and it is a major let-down.

Erivo’s performance is slightly weaker than in the first film; it’s as if playing evil is much more challenging for her than playing good, and the film relies on our belief that she can transform into this dark version of the Wicked Witch. Grande does a good job of maintaining that child-like quality in Glinda, a role that you can’t see anyone else embodying as perfectly as she does here. One poor performance that warrants mention is Yeoh, who delivers some of the worst line readings of the year and completely fails to bring any drama or physicality to her stiff portrayal of a villain. The rest of the cast are simply fine; it’s unclear why they made such a fuss over Colman Domingo being the Cowardly Lion, only to give him a single line in the entire film.

The songs are mediocre, especially the new ones they created just to secure extra Oscar nominations. They feel forced in and are written so obviously with the actress singing in mind, with Grande’s song sounding exactly as a Grande song should. It is unfortunate that the hits of ‘Defying Gravity’ and ‘Popular’ are in the first part, because this half is crying out for a hit song but fails to deliver anything on the same level of quality.

Creating an engaging conclusion was always going to be difficult given the weak subject matter, but Chu offers no imagination or creativity, making this feel like a rushed and unsatisfying ending. The two leads do their best to elevate the film, but it is hampered by a terrible performance from Yeoh and a poor script. Yes, the first film may have been pop-u-lar, but can its legacy survive this lacklustre finish?