Pleasant but doesn’t soar
Film critic Jason Evans is here to tell you everything you need to know about movies in less time than it takes to tap your heels three times. His reviews are exactly 100 words long (99 is too short while 101 is just excessive). Here is his 100-word review of Wicked: For Good.
The Premise: Part Two of the film adaptation of the Broadway
musical finds the Wicked Witch Elphaba (Cythia Erivo) trying to expose the lies
of the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and also rescue Oz’s animals from a life of
servitude. Meanwhile, Glinda (Ariana Grande) is now a celebrity throughout the
land as the Good Witch. She wants to do what Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh)
asks of her but is conflicted because she knows Elphaba is being wronged. Can
the two of them team up with Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) to bring the truth to the
Kingdom of Oz? Oh, and don’t look now but a young girl in a blue and white
checked dress is arriving to stroll down the yellow brick road. The film is directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, Wicked).
The 100-Words: Grande and especially Erivo again soar -- both
in hitting their notes and bringing emotion to the screen -- but the finale of
the Wicked story falls short of part one. The songs are less memorable and the new
ones added here seem unnecessary. The first film was focused on the bond of friendship,
but this one spends most of its energy putting pieces in place to service the
original 1939 Oz movie. This isn’t a bad movie, not by a long stretch, but
feels plodding at times and misses the surprises and emotions that made the
first so beloved.
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