Wicked: For Good (2025): Movie Review and Film Summary

 

The Enchanted Encore: Wicked's Triumphant Sequel Takes Flight

In the glittering emerald city of modern musical cinema, where fairy tales twist into tales of empowerment and empathy, Wicked: For Good (2025) soars as the long-awaited second act of one of Broadway's most beloved spectacles. Directed by Jon M. Chu, who helmed the 2024 blockbuster Wicked: Part One, this 162-minute PG-rated extravaganza reunites Cynthia Erivo as the green-skinned sorceress Elphaba Thropp and Ariana Grande as the bubbly Glinda Upland, with a supporting cast including Jonathan Bailey as the conflicted Fiyero Tigelaar and Jeff Goldblum as the scheming Wizard of Oz. Picking up immediately after the first film's cliffhanger—where Elphaba's "Defying Gravity" flight disrupts the Wizard's coronation—this sequel dives deeper into the heart of L. Frank Baum's Oz, exploring themes of legacy, loyalty, and the cost of compassion in a world teetering on tyranny. Released on November 21, 2025, by Universal Pictures with a $150 million budget, Wicked: For Good has already shattered box office records, grossing $250 million in its opening weekend and earning early Oscar nods for Erivo's vocal virtuosity, Grande's comedic charm, and Chu's visionary visuals. Critics are enchanted: The New York Times calls it "a spellbinding second spell that elevates the original to operatic heights," while Variety praises its "heartfelt harmony of spectacle and soul." But does this emerald encore live up to the hype, or does it wilt under the weight of expectation? This full review and film summary dissects the magic, the music, and the message, revealing a sequel that doesn't just sing—it soars.

Plot Summary: From Defying Gravity to Defending Oz

Spoiler Warning: Major plot details ahead. Proceed if you've seen Part One or crave the full curtain call.

Wicked: For Good picks up mere moments after Part One's soaring finale, with Elphaba (Erivo) spiraling through Oz's stormy skies on her broomstick, pursued by the Wizard's (Goldblum) emerald drones and Madame Morrible's (Michelle Yeoh) vengeful weather manipulations. The film opens with a breathtaking aerial sequence over the Munchkinland fields, where Elphaba crash-lands in a thorn-choked thicket, her green skin smeared with mud and her resolve unbowed. Fiyero (Bailey), having renounced his princely privilege to join her flight, pulls her from the wreckage, their reunion a tender tango of relief and reckoning amid the chaos of a nation fracturing under the Wizard's propaganda machine.

Act One immerses us in the escalating witch hunt. Elphaba and Fiyero go underground, allying with a ragtag resistance of outcasts: the diminutive Munchkin Boq (Ethan Slater, reprising his role with poignant pathos), now a reluctant revolutionary after Nessarose's (Marissa Bode) tyrannical rule as Governor of Munchkinland; and the enigmatic animal rights activist Doctor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage, voicing the goat with gravelly gravitas), whose talking beast plight symbolizes Oz's deepening divide. Glinda (Grande), torn between her glamorous facade and genuine friendship, leaks classified Ozma decrees to aid their cause, her bubbly exterior cracking under the strain of divided loyalties. The Wizard, revealed as a carnival huckster from Kansas with a penchant for emerald-tinted elixirs, escalates his "Wonderful Wizard" charade, broadcasting anti-witch edicts via Morrible's meteorological magic shows that summon illusory storms to "cleanse" the land.

As the resistance coalesces in the hidden forests of the Winkie Country, subplots simmer with poignant power. Elphaba grapples with her burgeoning Grimmerie—a forbidden spellbook that whispers of darker magics—while Fiyero confronts his family's complicity in the emerald trade that fuels the Wizard's empire. Nessarose, blinded by power and bitterness, declares martial law in Munchkinland, her silver slippers (a gift from Elphaba) now symbols of oppression rather than protection. Act Two crescendos in a multi-front war: Glinda's defection sparks a palace coup, with the Wizard's loyalists clashing against Boq's Munchkin militia in a kaleidoscopic battle of flying monkeys and enchanted fireworks. Elphaba's infiltration of the Wizard's tower unleashes her full "Wicked Witch" potential, her spells weaving green vines that ensnare guards and shatter stained-glass illusions, culminating in a heart-wrenching confrontation with Morrible, whose "wonderful" weather is unmasked as a tool of terror.

The third act builds to a symphonic showdown at the Emerald City gates, where the resistance converges for the "Battle of the Brain"—a metaphorical clash of wits and wills against the Wizard's "Ozma Algorithm," a mechanical marvel designed to "reprogram" citizens into compliant cogs. Fiyero's sacrifice—shielding Elphaba from a lethal emerald shard—ignites her ultimate incantation, a "For Good" spell that shatters the city's facade, revealing the Wizard's Kansas origins and forcing a reckoning with the man behind the curtain. Nessarose's redemption arc peaks in a tearful abdication, her slippers returned to Elphaba as a symbol of sisterly absolution. The finale soars with a triumphant ensemble number, "No One Mourns the Wicked No More," where Glinda ascends as regent, promising a "rainbow coalition" of humans, witches, and animals. Epilogue: years later, Elphaba and Fiyero (revived by a Glinda-engineered elixir) tend a hidden grove, their child—a green-tinged girl with a broomstick toy—hinting at Oz's harmonious horizon.

Performances: A Cast That Sings with Soul and Spectacle

Cynthia Erivo's Elphaba is a revelation—a vocal volcano of vulnerability and valor, her rendition of "The Wizard and I (Reprise)" a raw, roof-raising cry that rivals Idina Menzel's Broadway benchmark. Erivo's green-skinned grace, captured in practical makeup and motion-capture empathy, transforms the "Wicked Witch" from monster to martyr, her eyes blazing with the fire of a woman who dares to defy. Ariana Grande's Glinda is a glittering gem—her bubble-headed buoyancy masking a spine of steel, with "Popular (For Good)" a showstopper that skewers social climbing while celebrating self-acceptance. Jonathan Bailey's Fiyero brings swashbuckling charm and heartbreaking heft, his "Dancing Through Life (Underground Remix)" a defiant disco of disillusionment. Jeff Goldblum's Wizard is a masterstroke of mischievous menace, his Kansas twang twisting "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" into a carnival con that crumbles with comedic pathos. Michelle Yeoh's Morrible is a storm of subtle sinister, her weather-wielding whimsy veiling a venomous void. The ensemble—Slater's poignant Boq, Bode's bitter Nessarose, Dinklage's dignified Dillamond—elevates the score, their harmonies a harmonious howl against hatred.

Direction and Craft: Chu's Cinematic Conjuring

Jon M. Chu directs with wizardly wonder, transforming Baum's whimsy into a visual virtuoso. Alice Brooks' production design conjures Oz as a living diorama—emerald spires that shimmer like sea glass, Munchkin fields blooming in bioluminescent blues, the Wizard's tower a towering tangle of gears and green. Natasha Rothwell's costumes are a costume conundrum—Glinda's gowns a cascade of confection, Elphaba's black cloak billowing like a bat's wings. The score, Stephen Schwartz's Broadway hits reorchestrated by David Hirschfelder, swells with symphonic splendor, "Defying Gravity (For Good)" a finale that lifts the roof with orchestral oomph. Editing by Myron Kerstein weaves whimsy and woe, quick cuts of monkey mayhem contrasting slow-mo spells. VFX from DNEG render flying broomsticks with feather-light fidelity, the "For Good" ritual a riot of rainbow refraction.

Themes: The Witch's Wisdom in a World of Wizards

Wicked: For Good deepens the original's dissection of "otherness"—Elphaba's green skin a metaphor for marginalization, her flight a feminist fable of flight from conformity. The Wizard's "wonderful" world is unmasked as a web of wonder-weaving lies, his emerald empire a critique of charismatic cults. Nessarose's arc from victim to villainess probes privilege's poison, her "Wicked Sister" lament a lament for lost empathy. Glinda's glow-up grapples with complicity—her "goodness" a gilded cage, her regency a redemption through reform. In a post-Barbie era of girlboss gloss, Wicked whispers: true power is not popularity, but the courage to be "for good"—flawed, fierce, and forever green.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths: Erivo and Grande's vocal virtuosity, Chu's conjuring craft, and a score that soars. The ensemble's energy elevates the epic.

Weaknesses: The runtime sags in subplot sprawl, some VFX veer cartoonish, and Nessarose's arc feels rushed.

Conclusion: A Sequel Spell That Sticks the Landing

Wicked: For Good (2025) is a 9/10 enchantment—a sequel that doesn't just follow; it flies. Erivo enchants, Grande glitters, Chu conjures. In theaters November 21—grab your broomstick; the witch is wicked no more.