Elphaba and Glinda’s lives are about to be changed for good.
On Tuesday, reviews were released for part two of the screen adaptation of the classic Broadway show, Wicked, which flies into theaters Friday. The musical’s story centers on an unexpected friendship between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande). While much of the first film, released in November 2024, takes place at Shiz University, Wicked ends similarly to the Broadway musical’s act one, as viewers see Elphaba and Glinda go in different directions during the closing tune, “Defying Gravity.” The film was a massive hit with audiences, grossing more than $758 million at the global box office, and with critics, earning two Academy Awards for best costume design and production design.
The second film, Wicked: For Good, has also gotten off to a strong start, with overall positive reviews. It also earned a 97 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a critics score of 71 percent, with some viewers even declaring it to be better than the first. However, despite some less-than-stellar reactions so far, one thing is for sure: the cast’s performances are among the movie’s biggest strengths, with Grande’s in particular drawing discussion and having Oscar buzz. As it follows, Grande becomes “Glinda the Good” and falls under the Wizard’s (Jeff Goldblum) manipulation, while Elphaba, now a fugitive, is forced to embrace her reputation as the “Wicked Witch of the West.”
At the New York City premiere Monday night, Wicked: For Good‘s director Jon M. Chu told The Hollywood Reporter what went into the decision to add two new songs to this film. “Movie one is pretty set. You have a lot of songs all packed in there, and it’s supposed to be sort of structured in a fairy tale way. In movie two, all bets are off. The fairy tale is shattered,” Chu said. “So, we had to dig into these characters very deeply. [And ask:] ‘What does it feel like to make a choice? What is the aftermath? What are the consequences?’ And so, all that stuff is meaty — it was either going to be scenes or a song.”
Below, read what critics are saying about Wicked: For Good.
The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic David Rooney praised Grande’s performance as being the standout of the movie. “Grande has been acting since she was a kid, and her quiet moments of introspection, anxiety or sadness show tender depths, as does her loyalty to Elphaba,” he wrote before adding how the film has “leveled the playing field” by making Glinda’s role as complex as Elphaba’s is in the Broadway show, partly due to Stephen Schwartz’s song, “The Girl in the Bubble.” Rooney writes, “Glinda’s song provides intimate access in a moment of personal crisis, as she takes an honest look at her priorities and privilege while locating her moral compass. Grande floods it with so much feeling that it humanizes and enriches the character and, by extension, the whole movie.”
Rooney went on to describe how emotional the follow-up is. “When Erivo and Grande, toward the end of For Good, ease into that stirring title song and soar into gorgeous harmonies celebrating the reciprocal rewards of love and support, the young women in the row behind me at a recent press screening started sniffling and sobbing, their tears then flowing on and off through the entire final act,” he wrote.
Vulture‘s Bilge Ebiri compared the strengths of Wicked: For Good to Wicked. “Interestingly, this time around, director Chu seems less interested in staging epic sequences and choreographing ambitious dance sequences, opting instead for an old-school intimacy with his musical numbers — less West Side Story, more Meet Me in St. Louis. And even though their pop-cultural status requires them to be divas, the two stars are actually better suited to minor keys; they’re more balladeers than belters,” he wrote. “All this not only keeps Wicked: For Good from feeling like a rehash, but it also fills out the drama. It would be silly to call this new movie quiet — it’s so totally not — but it is altogether more somber, more focused, more human than the first film. And it brings the Wicked cycle to a surprisingly satisfying conclusion, at least for now.”
BBC‘s Caryn James stated that For Good is even more enjoyable than its predecessor, writing, “Let’s be clear: the Wicked films are the definition of preaching to the choir. They aren’t likely to win over anyone sceptical of candy-coloured spectacle and overt sentimentality presented in Broadway show-stopping fashion. Wicked is what it is. But if you’re fine with that, this latest instalment is more captivating than the last and enjoyable to watch throughout.”
However, the Associated Press’ had a conflicting take. “There’s more Cynthia Erivo, more Ariana Grande and more soaring soliloquies. For most Wicked fans, more is good. But for those of us who felt — what’s a non-wicked way to say this? — mildly waterboarded, in pink and green, by Wicked, For Good doesn’t offer much relief. There is, to be sure, great talent on display in these films, particularly in the case of Erivo. But For Good, like its predecessor, often feels more like a Production than a movie, with characters shuffled on and offstage with Oz-like orchestration,” he wrote, before later adding, “I rarely found myself lifted into a movie world, but rather sat watching it — sometimes with admiration, rarely with delight — from the mezzanine,” then mentioning that its momentum “is owed significantly to its stars.”
USA Today‘s Brian Truitt, wrote, “For Good is all that and a pack of flying monkeys. (Yes, they’re back!) Plus an insidiously wacky Goldblum, a PG romantic encounter, a teensy bit of body horror, and a pair of very in-demand shoes. Even with an overcomplicated ending and a couple of character development nitpicks, you couldn’t ask for a more Wicked closer.”
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