he Wicked Witch of the West has escaped. A yellow brick road is being constructed all across and through the villages and neighboring valleys. And warnings are spread about untrustworthy animals, all while enslaved ones are mistreated and used for hard labor. Fortunately, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) swoops in like Zorro to save the pitiable creatures from their torment, wreaking havoc against cruel soldiers. But the widespread propaganda has already worked; the green sorceress is thoroughly demonized (conversely propping up Glinda [Ariana Grande-Butera] as a source of optimism and goodness), making her mission to expose the fraudulent Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) a seemingly impossible task.

Music starts up right away, a combination of forgettable new lines and a mix of popular refrains from before, though it does a decent job of contributing to character motives and emotions; none of them are entirely irrelevant. Once again, the singers are excellent (except for Michelle Yeoh as press secretary Madame Morrible, who is terribly out of place), while the tunes are enjoyable but transitory. Save for the song that lends its chorus to the title of this sequel (boasting a nonsensical subtitle that is as obnoxious as the last “Mission: Impossible” entry, whose moniker similarly dispensed with the far more apt “Part II”), there really isn’t a noteworthy composition in this second chapter.

“Everyone loves you. That’s all you’ll ever need.” The themes remain potent, challenging the personas with real talent against deceivers, and having battles take place between those with genuine powers and those without, demonstrating the significance of influence – though this is a poorly defined component, as superhero-like abilities are never clearly explained, tending to manifest as random spells with flimsy rules imagined on-the-spot. As a result, magic arises when it’s needed and subsides when it isn’t – bad writing for any sci-fi/fantasy storytelling. Yet it’s all as colorful and effervescent as before, with a decent sense of adventure and far too much middling CG.

Other timely topics include discrimination, travel lockdowns, the warping of facts with lies, and the control of media narratives, paralleling endlessly-relevant, current political machinations. Oz overflows with hatred, intolerance, jealousy, and selfishness, making everyone unhappy, with the song “Wonderful” line-for-line spelling out the problems with Ozians (humans) as they easily fall prey to the psychological paths of least resistance and revel in their extreme unintelligence. But even with sincere, relatable ideas, this sequel is noticeably drawn-out and overlong, reenforcing the notion that it really didn’t need to be divided into two separate films (an event that, when stitched together, will result in a 5-hour marathon to test the patiences of even the most devoted fans).

This follow-up does get to delve into some of the cleverer aspects of integrating iconic Oz imagery and happenings into a behind-the-scenes type of vision, however, particularly with the inceptions of a tin man and a cowardly lion, along with mixing in sparkling shoes and a falling house, often supplemented with effective humor. But though it’s gifted the more interesting story concoctions, it certainly has the less momentous musical numbers. By the finale – which is a light letdown, considering the previous picture began at the end, allowing many outcomes to be known – “Wicked: For Good” still manages to be mostly satisfying, thwarting the sillier sequences (such as a love triangle that never feels believable or even fitting in this PG-rated-universe) with a powerful, cinematic friendship that works surprisingly well on the big screen.

– Mike Massie