I have been a massive fan of Wicked ever since I saw it on Broadway when I was a child, so you can only imagine my excitement when I found out that there was not one, but two movies coming out. The first one was a fantastic movie, and it did a great job of staying true to the original Broadway musical. Wicked: For Good is a movie I have been excited about since it was announced last year. I literally had a countdown app on my phone for the release day. My hopes for this movie were extremely high, and my expectations were met. Honestly, it wasn’t as good as the first one, but it was definitely still amazing.
Let’s start with my favorite part of the movie: the visuals. The CGI and color use were amazing. I loved how colorful the movie was; it was like there was an explosion of vibrant color on the screen, and it really drew the watcher in. I loved the way they used colors to tell a story within a story; it was very creative and something I wish more movies would do. With a movie like Wicked, which is full of talking animals, there is bound to be quite a bit of special effects. In my personal opinion, this was some of the best CGI I have ever seen. They did a great job of making it realistic without being cheesy.
Secondly, I would like to applaud the choreography and musical aspect of this movie. At first, I was nervous they wouldn’t do the original musical justice because of how amazing the choreography and singing were; however, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo did a fantastic job with their powerful vocals and fun choreography. Both Ariana and Cynthia have amazing, powerful singing voices that literally will give anybody chills. Not only are they both extremely talented singers, but they are fantastic actors who become so engrossed in their roles that you almost forget you are watching a movie at some points in the film.
Now, let’s discuss the acting. The entire cast did a phenomenal job throughout this movie franchise. I specifically enjoyed the performance Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, and Michelle Yeoh did, such an amazing job of becoming their character, causing the viewer to almost forget they are celebrities playing the role. Out of all these actors, I personally think that Cynthia had the most Oscar worthy performance, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were nominated for one because of this role.
One criticism I have is that it isn’t as good as the first one. The first movie felt more well thought out, and did an overall better job of telling the story. I literally have nothing negative to say about the first movie. The second movie did not seem as well thought out and, honestly, it seemed to be a bit rushed at points, like they wanted to film it and produce it as quickly as possible. This left some holes in the story.
Somehow, it was very similar, but also completely different from the first movie. The second movie was much darker and had heavier themes to it, such as discrimination and abuse. One other thing I noticed that I wasn’t a huge fan of was that they had to cut out quite a bit of the original story, and there were some plot holes that were left, but that’s expected when it comes to condensing down a movie. I think the movie would have been quite a bit smoother if they had added some essential elements that they chose to leave out.
So, the question is, do I think this movie was worth the hype? Yes and no. Yes, because it was a fantastic musical that I definitely will be watching again. There were so many aspects of this movie that I did enjoy, and overall it was great to watch. No, because I don’t think it lived up to the first movie. It wasn’t nearly as good and there were so many plot holes left in the story.
If I had to rate this movie, I would give it 4/5 stars. This was a fantastic movie — though there were some things they could have improved on, overall, I don’t have many critiques. I recommend seeing it, especially if you were a fan of the first one. You won’t be disappointed!