Wicked: For Good dazzles in darker hues, but can't match the first film's magic

Wicked: For Good works, just softer-more ache than awe. Erivo and Grande carry it as Oz turns darker and the songs swap spectacle for heart.

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'Wicked: For Good' is good, but doesn't cast as strong a spell as the first film

Walking back into Oz, you can feel it right away: the sparkle's still there, just softer. "Wicked: For Good" is the second half of the story, and it wears heavier shoes. It's good-often very good-but it doesn't quite give you that first-film jolt.

Director Jon M. Chu (movies and tv series) returns and keeps the Broadway bones intact. This chapter leans into grief, guilt, and politics, with songs that serve the story more than they stop it. You get fewer goosebump moments, more lingering ones.

Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo (movies and tv series)) is underground and uninvited, determined to expose the Wizard (movies and tv series)'s con. Glinda (Ariana Grande (movies and tv series)) is front-and-center, smiling for the crowds and selling a message she's trying to believe. Their friendship-once fizzy at Shiz-now feels fragile, pulled by power and fear. And yes, the film tips its hat to The Wizard of Oz (movies and tv series) often, though a few nods land like puzzle pieces from a different box.

Erivo remains a force. Her voice cuts, sure, but it's the quiet seconds before she sings that tell you where Elphaba's heart is. Grande gets more room this time, and she uses it-there's humor when she needs it, but she also lets Glinda's mask slip in ways that feel honest. Together, they carry the film when the plot turns a little mechanical.

The music trades fireworks for feeling. Stephen Schwartz (movies and tv series) adds two new numbers-"The Girl (movies and tv series) in the Bubble" stands out, the kind of song you hum on the way out; "No Place Like Home" is solid, if less sticky. The big, belt-it-to-the-rafters spectacle from the first film doesn't really return, and that's by design. You may miss it anyway.

Visually, Oz still shimmers in pastels, but the show-stealers are the costumes and sets. They're tactile-beaded, feathered, oversized. Glinda's Art Deco apartment is a swoon: all curves and glass, like a champagne bubble you could live inside. It's the sort of detail that gives the movie texture even when the narrative treads familiar ground.

The themes go darker: propaganda, control, and the cost of choosing the "right" side when the truth is inconvenient. The film says what it needs to say without turning into a lecture. Maybe it's just timing, but those scenes hit a little differently now.

Wicked: For Good is Good, but Doesnt Cast as Strong a Spell as First Film

Here's the bottom line if you cover this beat: fans who know Act Two from the stage won't feel blindsided. The movie's more intimate than explosive, more ache than awe. It might not outshine the first film, but it still finds the heart of Elphaba and Glinda-and holds it steady.