Wicked For Good
This one was very interesting to me because it was better, but also in some ways kind of worse than the first movie in different ways. The thing about is that the main ways in which I feel it was better was more from a similar feeling to watching a season finale of a show whereas the first movie served as the season leading up to the season finale that the second movie was. I would say that I feel I liked the music generally more than the second movie especially the song Wonderful which I honestly feel is my favorite song from the entirety of this musical. Defying Gravity is a great song and it works so well with how it’s done in the first movie, but I find that Wonderful I just like more as a song in itself and how it encapsulates the subtext, and commentary that the entire musical is going for.
The performances were also better than the second movie but again I feel they were so good from the building that the first movie did. Of course it makes sense since the emotional climax of the story was in the second movie so it allowed the actors and actresses to flex their abilities more. But one random thing I really like in this regard is with Jeff Goldblum’s performance in the song Wonderful. Now I’m not one to critique one’s singing ability but I think we can all agree his performance is definitely the least skilled in these movies but the beauty I find in that is that it works perfectly with his character and how the wizard doesn’t actually have any power and in this world where everyone can sing magnificently, it’s too fitting how the wizard is the only one who can’t sing on the same level.
I really like the commentary that is summed up by probably my favorite line from the previous mentioned song Wonderful when the wizard says how where he comes from people believe many things that are untrue and they call it history. It’s commonly said that if you don’t remember or even study history, then you are doomed to repeat it, but with this said, it almost creates a compelling argument for why to question the study of history because since history or the history books are always written by the victors then how much of it can you really believe is true? I know this line of thought goes dangerously into conspiracy theory territory, but when you see things such as the constant accusation of fake news, whenever things we see with our own eyes are being reported, you just can’t help, but wonder how much was exaggerated or hidden in the past that we will never know about. The story is such a mirror to reality and I like how the second movie was a little less on the nose with that which I like.
When I think of both these movies, I think of the Dune movies that came out in recent years and how one thing that I feel that made the second Dune movie so great was how it could be watched and followed and enjoyed without watching the first one, but I feel when it comes to Wicked you can’t say the same for the second movie. Now I don’t think this takes too much away from the second movie because either way I would recommend watching both of the movies in either the stories I mentioned here. But where the second movie takes it further as it does also rely on you to be pretty knowledgeable of what the Wizard of Oz story so for anyone going into watching it I would definitely recommend watching that movie as well. As the second Wicked movie will cut around the story of Wizard of Oz to kind of fill in the gaps it’s created. But in the end, it does a very successful job on modernizing the Wizard of Oz story in a very interesting way. So this is the main aspect I’d say I like better in the first movie but then again it gives a cliffhanger begging you to watch the second one.
Either way the story is definitely a great one worth telling and surpassed my expectations for it as well as with the music as well. It’s a fun but also devastating story at times and one I’d recommend to anyone interested in what these movies have to offer.