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| Character poster of Glinda the Good Witch, played by Ariana Grande (left), and Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West, played by Cynthia Erivo (right) from ‘Wicked: For Good.’ Courtesy of Universal Pictures. |
Good evening, readers.
Tonight on the Cinematic Review-verse, I will be reviewing ‘Wicked: For Good.’ I enjoyed Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s lovely singing from the heart throughout the film, and I liked how Erivo’s character of Elphaba Thropp was once again conflicted about her mantle of the Wicked Witch of the West. However, I was thrown off by the plot twists and Easter eggs referring to the original Wizard of Oz film.
In ‘Wicked For Good,’ Elphaba and Glinda, played by Erivo and Grande, are taking on their respective roles as the Wicked Witch of the West and Good Witch. While trying to discover if either of them deserves true happiness, there’s also some mysteries involving their classmates from Shiz University, Madame Morrible, played by Michelle Yeoh, and the Wizard of Oz, played by Jeff Goldblum.
As you can imagine, the film took a darker tone as Elphaba embraced the Wicked life. Despite the black dress, dark magic, and the occasional iconic cackle throwback, I liked that Elphaba was not inherently evil and didn’t wish to cause any harm. She was like Magneto from X-Men and Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy.
For instance, when she crossed paths with her sister Nessarose, played by Marissa Bode, Elphaba cast a spell that briefly freed her from her paralysis. In times like that, the Witch’s heart and magic were in the right place, despite the wrong action.
As for Glinda, she had to do professional air-headed makeovers trying to convince people that the Land of Oz would be okay. She dressed in flashy, lovely dresses like Cinderella and tried to be good PR like Captain America.
As I said, I really liked Erivo and Grande’s singing. Erivo really sang her heart out in “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.” Grande did the same in “I Couldn’t Be Happier” and “The Girl in the Bubble.” They both were beautiful in crooning “For Good,” reflecting on how they brought out the best in each other. I also enjoyed the singing from Goldblum and how his, Grande, and Erivo’s characters briefly danced like “Ring Around the Rosie.”
I also liked Grande’s outfits, her slapstick fighting with Erivo’s character later on, the choreography, visual effects for the animals, and how John Powell and Stephen Schwartz’s scoring highlighted the tension and upbeat times throughout the film.
Despite the beautiful singing of the lead characters, I didn’t enjoy some plot twists that revealed Elphaba’s father and how some characters were transformed into the main animal characters from the original film. It threw me off a few times.
I give ‘Wicked: For Good’ an 8.5/10. I liked the music and character depth for the lead witches, but I didn’t like the plot changes. But don’t let me turn you away from watching it. Check out ‘Wicked: For Good’ in theaters now.
#TheCinematicReviewVerse
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