With musical numbers from the original Broadway production and some new songs – most likely to capture awards rather than hearts – the only good thing about this almost two-and-a-half-hour movie was getting up and getting a drink refill after it ended. 

Some may recognize this movie from its source material, the 2003 Broadway musical, which, in turn, is loosely adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Although the musical is based on Maguire’s novel, it takes its own direction with the storyline and character development. 

Set in the enchanted world of Oz, it centers on the unexpected bond between Elphaba–the future Wicked Witch of the West–and Glinda, the glamorous and self-important Good Witch. Together, they confront political turmoil, personal aspirations and evolving ideas about what it truly means to be good or evil.

Wicked offers a fresh take on the familiar universe from L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz and presents the story through the experiences of Elphaba and Glinda. The 1939 movie featuring Judy Garland is itself a widely recognized adaptation of Baum’s original book.

This movie, directed by Jon M. Chu, recounts the musical's second act, which was underwhelming compared to the first. 

In the first part, the film ended on a high note – literally – with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) singing Defying Gravity, getting up in other characters' faces, showing that with her newfound powers, she can turn Oz into something other than an authoritarian regime. 

In Wicked: For Good, we are left melancholy. Sure, the story ends on a happy note, but there wasn’t the same flair; it was like watching paint dry during scenes that were supposed to be intriguing and influential. 

One of the only scenes worth watching was Glinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba fighting after Dorothy’s house is dropped on Elphaba’s sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode). Their playful banter and wand-fighting were funny. The scenes about grief and Glinda’s compliance in the death of Nessarose made the mundane scenes before seem like history. 

The movie’s pacing was off, jumping from scene to scene without providing the audience with context needed to understand. Why did songs stop and add unnecessary dialogue in parts that didn’t need it? Why did we jump from Fiyero (Johnathan Bailey) being the beaten up for siding with Elphaba, to Elphaba singing No Good Deed – arguably one of the only good performed songs in the movie, to the back of a random scarecrow walking down the Yellow Brick Road? 

Are audiences supposed to understand that Fiyero is the scarecrow from a couple of seconds of him hanging off a post in a field? We are finally introduced to his reveal as the scarecrow – a scary reveal, but interesting to say the least. 

Glinda’s parts in the film weren’t as flashy and flamboyant as the first, and Grande’s take wasn’t reminiscent of her Kristin Chenoweth (Broadway’s first Glinda), Cat Valentine-esque (a character Grande played in the Nickelodeon TV show Victorious) performance she had in the first. Maybe it was because the second act is more somber, but something was missing.

The same can be said for Erivo and her portrayal of Elphaba. Erivo is a Broadway legend with a Tony Award, but with that range and acting chops, Elphaba and her characteristics fell flat. She stood around singing, with the only movement coming from the camera pans. It doesn’t seem like she’s made for the screen, but only the stage.

While Wicked offers this fresh take on an older story, the movie adaptation of the award-winning Broadway show isn’t fresh. It is flat-out boring, dragging its feet through long scenes that should burst with energy and relying too heavily on spectacle rather than giving the characters room to breathe.