RECENTLY VIEWED: WICKED FOR GOOD

No spoilers here! I had the oprttunity to see an early showing of part 2 of the Wicked saga last night, and it was truly an experience! Wicked: For Good (also known as Wicked: Part Two) is a 2025 American musical fantasy film directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. The sequel to Wicked (2024), it adapts the second act of the 2003 stage musical by Stephen Schwartz and Holzman, which was loosely based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel, a reimagining of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation. Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum return from the first film, with Colman Domingo joining the cast. Set in the Land of Oz before and during the events of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the film explores the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda as they embrace their new identities as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

Universal Pictures and Marc Platt, who both produced the stage musical, announced the film adaptation in 2012. After a long development and multiple delays, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chu was hired to direct, with Erivo and Grande cast in 2021. The adaptation was split into two parts to avoid omitting plot points and further develop the characters. Principal photography on both films began in December 2022 in England, was interrupted in July 2023 by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, and resumed and concluded in January 2024.

Wicked: For Good premiered at the Suhai Music Hall in São Paulo, Brazil on November 4, 2025, and is scheduled for release in the United States on November 21. The film received mixed reviews from critics. I feel the critics are too hard on the film. The first film had the better songs, but the story on part two was darker and a lot better I feel. There are a couple of plot holes and questions I had, but they were minor and did not take away from my viewing of the moving. Ariana and Cynthia were outstanding, and Jeff Goldblum was a scene stealer. So it was another great trip down the yellow brick road...

MY RATING: 9 out of 10