Wicked: For Good (PG)
Cast: Ethan Slater, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Cynthia Erivo, Marissa BodeGenre: Musical
Author(s): Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox
Director: Jon M Chu
Release Date: 21/11/2025
Running Time: 137mins
Country: US
Year: 2025
Elphaba is living in exile in the Ozian woods as the Wicked Witch of the West and is determined to expose the treachery of The Wizard. Meanwhile, Glinda has been anointed the epitome of goodness by Madame Morrible and she travels around Oz offering comfort and joy ahead of her wedding to Prince Fiyero. The conflict between former Shiz University roommates Elphaba and Glinda threatens to tear Oz apart until a girl from Kansas crash-lands their Technicolour wonderland.
LondonNet Film Review
Wicked: For Good (PG) Film Review from LondonNet
The first part of Jon M Chu’s swankified film version of the blockbuster stage musical, based loosely on Gregory Maguire’s novel, concluded with Cynthia Erivo’s rousing battle cry from Defying Gravity echoing in our ears, lighting a fuse on the war for the hearts and minds of Oz. In Wicked: For Good, it has been 12 time turns since Elphaba (Erivo) – unfairly misnomered as the Wicked Witch because of her visible otherness and formidable magical powers – escaped the clutches of the fraudulent Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). The green-skinned protector of silenced animals lives in exile in the Ozian woods, plotting audacious acts of protest such as disrupting the construction of the yellow brick road linking the Emerald City to Munchkinland…
Valiant deeds are cruelly distorted by Morrible’s rival spell-casting to paint Elphaba as the villain while Shiz University roommate Glinda (Ariana Grande-Butera) is anointed the epitome of goodness. She travels around Oz offering comfort and joy ahead of a publicity fuelled wedding to Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), who still secretly holds a torch for Elphaba but must hunt her down in his new position as captain of the guards. An innocent girl from Kansas gatecrashes this Technicolour wonderland and the Governor of Munchkinland, Nessarose Thropp (Marissa Bode), and suitor Boq Woodsman (Ethan Slater) are collateral damage.
I was obsessulated, as Glinda might trill, with the first part of Wicked and the heavenly union of Chu’s electrifying direction, powerhouse performances from Erivo and Grande-Butera, Oscar-winning production and costume design, Stephen Schwartz’s music and lyrics and thoughtful script additions from Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox.
On stage, the two acts of Wicked are horribly imbalanced in terms of storytelling content, character development and running time. The same fate befalls Chu’s visually ravishing films and Part II, subtitled in honour of a melancholic duet between Elphaba and Glinda, repeats the feat of adding more than an hour of screen time yet somehow feels rushed and inelegant compared to its crowd-pleasing predecessor. Wicked: Not Quite As Good would be more fitting. Barnstorming song and dance sequences don’t gain the same dizzying altitude the second time around the Emerald City, even with the irresistible screen pairing of Erivo and Grande-Butera and more jaw-dropping technical artistry.
Two new songs written by Schwartz for the screen – No Place Like Home performed by Elphaba and The Girl In The Bubble sung by Glinda – are beautifully delivered but neither lodges securely in my memory. Returning to Madame Morrible’s disparaging quip to Shiz University students in the first film – “We have nothing but the highest hopes, for some of you!” – I sincerely hoped Wicked: For Good could resist gravity’s pull and soar where the stage version couldn’t. Chu and brilliant creative collaborators come thrillingly close for extended periods but no amount of spell-casting from the ancient Grimmerie or cinematic wizardry can obscure the inescapable reality that the best has been and gone.
– Jo Planter
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London Cinemas Showing Wicked: For Good
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