“Wicked: For Good” is an underwhelming follow-up to 2024’s smash hit “Wicked,” 

2024’s “Wicked” followed the first act of Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz’s 2003 musical, “Wicked,” a loose adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s political satire novel of the same name.

“Wicked: For Good,” however, follows only Act 2, which is notorious within theatre circles for being underwhelming.

Indeed, this film was underwhelming, filled with mostly reprises. 

Adding two new songs, “No Place Like Home,” and, “The Girl in the Bubble” adds some padding, but could be easily skipped.

“For Good,” the song inspiring the title, is the strongest number, but not comparable to “Defying Gravity.”

Additionally, despite the nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime, the movie doesn’t build much more on certain plotlines than the original musical did.

The focus still ends up being mainly on the love triangle between Glinda, Elphaba, and Fiyero, in which Fiyero leaves Glinda for Elphaba at his own wedding, citing that he loves Elphaba as a person, rather than his love for Glinda, which was built on politics.

Meanwhile, the whole banning of animals plotline is still barely touched on and barely resolved, with the resolution being one scene at the end of Glinda allowing animals back into the city.

In terms of technical effects, the sets were all well-made and the action scenes were done well, but like the first film, the color grading is still rather dull.

Regardless, Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda both carry the film.

Both actresses are fantastic and by far the highlights of the film, both in terms of their musicality and acting skills.

Although this movie acts more as a basic alternative for those not wanting to pay the Broadway price, the performances from both Erivo and Grande breathe new life into the musical. It’s just a shame that within the sequel, not much else does that.