‘Wicked: For Good’ review: Cynthia Erivo sparkles, but musical sequel fails to hit the high notes

Dir: Jon M. Chu. US. 2025. 137mins

Following hot on the heels of last year’s smash first chapter, Wicked: For Good repeats that film’s notable strengths and glaring flaws. Based on the popular Broadway musical, which reimagined The Wizard Of Oz from the perspective of the story’s good and evil witches, this sequel resolves the feud between friends Glinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) while wielding boisterous songs, opulent production design and oversized emotions. But ultimately director Jon M. Chu’s more-is-more approach has a numbing effect, the endless spectacle leaving little room for nuance, depth or genuine feeling.

The endless spectacle leaves little room for nuance, depth or genuine feeling

To be fair, these same hindrances affected the 2024 picture, and that had no discernible negative impact on its box office. Wicked brought in $757 million worldwide, and Universal has its sights set on comparable grosses for the sequel, which opens across most of the globe on November 21, almost exactly a year after part one. The first film won two Oscars and two Baftas, and the betting is that For Good will enjoy similar awards attention, with stars Erivo and Grande in particular generating significant buzz.

As For Good begins, Elphaba has been ostracised, labelled as an enemy of Oz and branded The Wicked Witch Of The West. Her former classmate and friend Glinda, dubbed Glinda The Good, hopes to work through back channels to restore Elphaba’s name, but Elphaba has been radicalised by the pernicious lies peddled by the so-called Wonderful Wizard Of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), and is determined to expose him as a scam artist and end his reign.

The Wicked musical, adapted from Gregory Maguire’s novel, became a cultural sensation in the early 2000s, challenging The Wizard Of Oz’s black-and-white notions of decency and wickedness. Last year’s film covered Act One of the musical, and For Good focuses on Act Two, including the show’s conclusion, which connects this story to the well-known tale of a young woman named Dorothy who finds herself in this magical land.

Stephen Schwartz’s sturdy songs provide a consistent spark to a sequel that often gets bogged down in the power struggles going on in Oz. The uptempo ‘Wonderful,’ in which The Wizard cynically explains to Elphaba about the public’s gullibility, and the Elphaba-Glinda ballad ‘For Good’ have catchy melodies and some clever lines. But these Wicked highlights feel like placeholders in a sequel that encompasses too many unmemorable characters, failing to locate the heartbreak between Elphaba and Glinda as they realise their destinies are sending them down different paths.

As in the first film, Erivo is For Good’s most compelling element. Playing the green-skinned witch who has felt like an outcast since childhood, the Grammy- and Tony-winning actress conveys both Elphaba’s anger and vulnerability, showing the audience how those adolescent wounds have never healed. She’s a striking presence but also a sympathetic one, with The Wicked Witch’s trademark black hat serving as a metaphorical crown of thorns for a character who eventually embraces the role of villain because the world has refused to see her any other way. Erivo doesn’t have a song as powerful as the first film’s ‘Defying Gravity’ here, but her ability to blend vocal technique and raw emotion remains impressive.

Unfortunately, Grande continues to be dwarfed by her co-star. The renowned pop star brings a sly shallowness to Glinda, who has been beautiful and popular her entire life and, therefore, hasn’t experienced many obstacles. But Grande fights an uphill battle to make her character’s torn loyalties resonate. On the one hand, Glinda cherishes her friend but, on the other, she’s so used to being beloved that idea of risking her social standing to rebel against Oz’s corruption makes her uncomfortable. Rather than externalising that inner conflict, Grande’s Good Witch comes across as indecisive and weak, greatly diminishing the stakes underlying the two women’s clash.

Chu once again does wizardly work, alongside production designer Nathan Crowley, to drape For Good in vivid colours and lavish looks. And costume designer Paul Tazewell dresses the characters in striking clothes that pay homage to the Judy Garland film. But all that relentless pizzazz becomes distracting when so many scenes are dramatically underpowered. Michelle Yeoh’s calculating Madame Morrible is a dull henchwoman to Goldblum’s mannered Wizard.

Even the charming Jonathan Bailey, whose gallant Fiyero is the object of both witches’ affections, seems tamped down by the film’s rampant sumptuousness. When he and Erivo duet on the touching love song ‘As Long As You’re Mine,’ For Good briefly gives the human drama space to breathe. Too often, though, this lacklustre sequel tries so hard to knock our ruby slippers off that it never conjures up the buoyant magic that has made The Wizard Of Oz endure.