I like to tell the story of a school trip to Broadway where I listened to all the hits I had never even heard of, let alone seen. But there was definitely a highlight Wicked: amazing, Tony winner The Wizard of Oz a reinvention that has left those among us, the most musically wealthy, giddy with excitement.
So when we came to the most amazing moment of all – the evil witch Elphaba flew off the stage and sang the main track, Defying gravitysimultaneously completing the preliminaryThe Wizard of Oz a backstory that made her evil and conveyed to the audience her cathartic self-acceptance right before the curtain closed—I was shocked.
So shocked that I stood up, walked out and waited outside. And I waited. Until 10 minutes later my classmates came out to find me and tell me that it wasn't actually over yet. It was just an intermission.
Despite having listened to all the songs that any casual fan might be vaguely aware of, and despite having seen the most technically impressive and finale-worthy moment in the scene's modern history, somehow there was still a whole hour Wicked go.
It's an obstacle that Jon M. Chu's feature film adaptation now also has to contend with: a problem inherent to the musical since its adaptation from Gregory Maguire's gritty political book into Winnie Holtzman's seriously intense Broadway play. The first half contains not only all the fun, but also almost all the truly exciting parts of the story.
WATCH | Wicked: For Good trailer:
IN Evil: Part 1, which hit theaters last year, giving stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande a meaty and focused first half, introducing and largely resolving themes of innate goodness, self-determination and resistance to fascism.
But it resumes in Evil: For good with a narrative that feels more like wink-and-nod fan fiction than an interesting, self-contained story.
That doesn't mean the long-awaited sequel to the first film, nominated for an Oscar in 2024, is a disappointment. At least it's not disgusting. It's more or less competent, backed by undeniably incredible singing and framed by a charmingly fantastic set.
Return to action
Shortly after the aforementioned jaw-dropping moment, we already delved into the story of Elphaba (Erivo) when For good picks up.
She is already alienated from the exclusive Ozian boarding school where she had hoped to find acceptance. She's already faced with the plight of civil rights issues for talking animals, forced out of their position in society by the fickle and mysterious Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum).
She had already struggled and then found friendship with the crazy “good witch” Glinda (Grande). She has already decided to fight the two-faced fraudster wizard in order to correct the mistakes that the leader of the dictatorial regime is secretly inciting throughout the country.
And most importantly, the central theme of the story was set and consolidated: that very year 1939. The Wizard of Oz the supposed villain was actually a misunderstood martyr willing to embrace hatred in order to thanklessly save the world.
It is clear that the performances from the first part have been transferred. Erivo once again demonstrates her incredible vocal abilities – perhaps the best of all modern film musical performers. You can practically feel how each attempt brings her closer and closer to Oscar, which see her reach her well-deserved EGOT status, winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.
And Grande delivers perhaps the most captivatingly layered performance of any actor cast as Glinda. She had to simultaneously balance her character's ditzy, air-headed persona while crooning emotionally conflicted, technically challenging and genuinely funny lyrics, and this time around her already nearly impossible task became even more difficult – and therefore, more impressive.
If you need proof, just watch Michelle Yeoh struggle to do the same with her uninterestingly campy Madame Morrible. It's a flat, creepy performance perhaps rivaled only by the creepy CGI animals that instantly date the production every time they rear their unrealistic, useless heads.
These are actually symptoms of where Evil: For good cannot improve on source material that already provides little benefit.
Frankly, a musical will never offer the same suspension of disbelief or the forgivably and magically grandiose feelings that a stage play naturally imbues. The imagination required to assemble in one's mind the comparatively meager effects, costumes and live setting of a theatrical production into a believable real and living world is such an effective mental exercise that it literally The concept of the “fourth wall” was born.
On the contrary, no matter how fantastic the story, the camera lens will always do more to emphasize the reality – and therefore (as well as unfortunately, obsessed with realism Dear Evan Hansen) try to highlight what might have been forgivably ridiculous in the musical's original milieu. But, nevertheless, there are other advantages.
This point of view is also not that difficult to prove. Winner in the category “Best Film” Oliver!the camera becomes part of the musical numbers, which fundamentally changes what's interesting about those numbers.. Despite the fact that the action takes place in a cramped and dark attic, there are Dutch camera angles and deliberately abrupt changes in angles. for I would do anything turn a static dance stage into an energetic and unforgettable experience.
IN The Sound of Musicwide perspectives and picturesque sections allow Do Re Mi both inextricably root history in its Austrian setting highlighting the playful innocence of childhood, not to mention allowing the intricate puppet sequences Lonely shepherd take place at all.
Even Lubrication spectators make their way through Shake Shack with Danny and Sandy in You're the one I want – that is, before the car takes off into the sky.
Lack of novelty
But even more than the first part, Evil: For good almost completely avoids standard routines, big choreography or extensive routines. Instead, Chu seems hell-bent on isolating his performers in clunky CGI sets rather than using them to explore and interact with the world he's created, or doing jarring, extended close-ups of live performances. Lion King-esque talking quadrupeds.
In fact, there is probably only one scene in the entire film that could be generously described as a choreography number. And it ends abruptly to give Bowen Yang a chance to joke about his follicles.
This is in addition to the disadvantages inherent in Wickedfrom the very beginning: a post-intermission storyline that essentially serves as an epilogue to itself. While the earlier half is much more focused on the original character-based story, the second half is much more concerned with its sometimes trivial, semi-plausible connections to the source text.
And as interesting as it might be to find out why the Cowardly Lion was so cowardly or why anyone even cared about those slippers, jumping from the East of Oz to the West to connect all the dots hinders the story more than it helps it. This becomes even more apparent when you consider that the film is not just separated by a 20-minute intermission, but by a year-long break for an entirely separate film.
And this is also on top of a tone made decidedly more youthful for moviegoers. Although catering to a younger crowd (which is never an entirely bad thing) serves an additional purpose here. While teaching children to question authority, distrust propaganda, and have compassion for the oppressed is rarely a bad idea, Evil: For good teaching General Alpha these lessons is now clearly welcome.
But given the fact that those lessons were already learned in the first half – along with all the best songs – it's still hard to justify returning to the theater for more.
