More of the Same, Only Not as Good

(011126) Wicked for Good will please some fans of the play and some fans of last years prequel (depending on your point of view) Wicked Part One, but unfortunately it's ultimately a mixed bag that only works at best half the time. Although it has some lovely sequences that are on a par with the best scenes in Part One, this film overall feels ill-conceived and less fresh than the first. The play and both films are aimed at the whole family, although a novel for adults by Gregory Maguire inspired all of them. The Wicked Universe is a re-imagining of L. Frank Baum’s original Wizard of Oz novel and the MGM film adaptation "The Wizard of Oz". In many ways it is reminiscent of Marvel’s What if series to the extent that the subtitle of this movie could have been: "What If the opposite of everything in the1939 MGM musical were true?"

The Producers were so convinced that the first film would be a hit that they shot the second film at the same time as the first one, just like Avengers: Endgame. They were apparently correct, as the original film is the highest-grossing musical adaptation. Wicked for Good has been both a box-office success and a minor awards-season success. So far, the film has grossed over $500 million and has been nominated for several major awards. It earned Golden Globe nods for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, as well as Best Performance by a Female Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, and Best Song. But one of the most glaring snubs at the Golden Globes was the film’s absence from the all-important Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy category, especially considering that so few top-notch comedies or musicals were released this year.

This sequel/continuation (again depending on your point of view) is based on the second act of the immensely popular stage play. This act has generally been seen as the weaker of the two that made up the stage production. A common criticism of the source material which the makers should have been aware of but have done little to improve on. Here the film seems more bloated and drawn out making it feel much longer than its predecessor, even though it's running time is 23 minutes shorter than Wicked Part One. If they were going to add nothing new or fleshed out to the proceedings then the filmmakers should have quit while they were ahead.

The films title refers to the pivotal musical number: “For Good,” which is about how Galinda and Ephania completely changed each other forever through their friendship. But throughout the film, Galinda still remains mostly noble, while her friend is still as glib and selfish as before. Frankly, I don’t see how either one has evolved much. Galinda is popularly known as "Glinda the Good". She is not that good, and Elphaba, known as the "Wicked Witch", but she is not very wicked. By making everything gray rather than black and white, this film, like the first, pushes a kind of moral relativism and suggests we should question all notions of good and evil. While this philosophy was thought-provoking and refreshing when de Montaigne wrote his classic essay, “Of Cannibals,” it is now overused and trite when used here. At this point, I just want to see a family film with a clear-cut, morally pure character that you can root for.

Elphaba is wrongly seen as a villain by the people of Oz, even though she fearlessly fights to help all the animals who lost their voices that are being oppressed. She has also vowed to get revenge on the Wizard of Oz, who is the true villain of the film. As portrayed by Goldblum, he is a huckster politician who scapegoats the weak and blames them for all the problems in Oz. This is supposed to make the audience see parallels with how the Trump Administration scapegoates immigrants, but the film’s social criticism is neither particularly compelling nor particularly original. They tried something like this in the second season of HBO's Peacemaker, and it ultimately hurt the season.

Both Wicked films were directed by Jon M.Chu, one of the more promising young Asian American filmmakers. Along with the first Wicked, he also made Crazy Rich Asians (2017), which remains his best film, although Wicked Part One was pretty entertaining. This sequel brings back all the significant characters from the first film. The impressive cast once again includes Cynthia Erivo (Pinocchio and Harriet) as Elphaba, the pop star Ariana Grande as Galinda, Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere all at Once) as Madame Morrible, and Jeff Goldblum (The Fly and Jurassic Park) as the Wizard of Oz. Coleman Domingo has a bizarre cameo as the cowardly lion. Erivo and Grand are still very good and used well here, almost good enough to carry the film. But aside from the two female leads, most of the cast is wasted.

It is particularly distressing to watch the talented Michael Yeoh play such a generic cookie-cutter villain. In her homeland, she was probably the most important and talented female action star, appearing in cult classics such as Police Story 3, The Heroic Trio, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. One of her best films is, of course, the classic Everything Everywhere all at Once. Here, the film fails to make good use of her unique talents, and she plays a character that dozens of actresses could have portrayed just as well. Her role here is also smaller and less well developed than in the first film.

At the start, things are looking up for Glinda the Good. She lives in a fancy palace, and the entire population of Oz seems to love her. As the first film establishes, she knows that her former friend, Elphaba, is innocent and was framed by the Wizard. But if she helped Elphaba in any way, she would risk her popularity and her mutually beneficial alliance with the Wizard. Glinda is supposed to be sympathetic, but it is hard to like her when she never lifts a finger to help her friend. We are supposed to think she plans to help if she ever becomes the queen.

She is also engaged to her longtime love, Fiyero. It is going to be an arranged marriage done for publicity-the groom never even proposed. Like this year’s Snow White, this film eliminates most of the potential romance so that the females can come off as more self-efficient or empowered. The problem with this emancipation is it leaves the movie with no emotional payoff. Although there is genuine positive feeling between Glinda and Fiyero, there is a stronger love between Fiyero and Elphaba. Fiyero strains the friendship between the two when he runs off with Elphaba during an animal rebellion/stampede, which interrupts his wedding. I was not at all pleased with how the triangle was resolved. Feminist revisions of traditional myths or folk tales can work (such as the poetry book Conversations with Friendly Demons and Tainted Saints by Nina Cowrin) if they are clever or insightful. There is little cleverness about this film.

While the film was passable, it seems they only had enough good ideas and songs for one and a half movies, so to grab the audience’s attention, they packed most of the best stuff in the first film. While Wicked for Good is never terrible, it is frequently uninspired and seems to exist only to keep milking the cash cow. It might be improved if the better parts from this film are combined with with Wicked Part One and made into one excellent three-hour "Ultimate Edition" of the movie. Get to work internet community, there's an on-line movie waiting to be born.