Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked: For Good” is a spectacle. It is to be seen like fireworks on the Fourth of July. Glinda’s dresses are filmy cotton candy delights and her transparent bubble mobile lets us gaze at her dreamy pink-hued superficially perfect life as the spokesperson for the deceitful Wizard of Oz. But behind the scenes, Glinda (Ariana Grande) has an identifiable conflicted spirit.
The life of Elphaba, the persecuted, demeaned, ostracized opposite to celebrated, beautiful Galinda, sets up the comparison of some of the ultimate yin and yang questions about good and evil.
What will always lurk for the older audience is a memory of seeing “The Wizard of Oz” with Judy Garland and all the memorable songs like “Over the Rainbow” and “Ding-Dong the Witch is Dead” written by Harold Arlen (music) and lyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg (lyrics). We keep trying to enmesh that story with Chu’s two “Wicked” films. It’s a hard sell.
But what I loved most about “Wicked: For Good” are the life-like talking animals. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), aka The Wicked Witch of the West, champions their rights while the Wizard restricts them and the Munchkins with brutal oppressive bigotry. When questioned about his motives, the Wizard innocently exclaims: “I just tell people what they want to hear!”
Replete with characterizations of the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) similar to Donald Trump, Chu shows an audience a world dangerously ruled by a dictator who is actually the brainless Scarecrow, the heartless Tin Woodman and cowardly lion all mixed into one.
In case you haven’t read it before, I also love the thoughtful tribute to Elphaba, which is something like an anagram of the author, Lyman Frank Baum, of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (1900) that Gregory Maguire, the author of “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” (1995) concocted.
Despite lacking depth in Glinda’s and Elphaba’s mutual attraction for Fiyero [he’s good-looking and self-confident – but what else attracts true love?] and not enough time with the endearing animals, “Wicked: For Good,” with a budget of $150 million, has so far reaped more than $518.4 million in box office sales which proves that spectacle without hit songs and developed characterization still sells.
The Fast Version: “Wicked for Good” is a spectacle film.
It entertains through fantasy eye candy.
Credits
Director: Jon M. Chu
Screenplay: Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox / Based on Wicked by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman and Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Producers: Marc Platt and David Stone
Cast: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Michelle Yeah and Jeff Goldblum
Cinematography: Alice Brooks
Editor: Myron Kerstein
Music: John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
Release in US: November 21, 2025
Budget: $150 million
Box Office: $518.4 million
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