
Ariana Grande stars in Wicked: For Good, and the movie clearly centers around her character. While the first Wicked film focused on Elphaba, this sequel shines a light on her best friend, Glinda, portraying her as the seemingly perfect, yet secretly vulnerable, good witch used to control the population as Oz descends into a fearful dictatorship. Fans of the stage musical wondered how the story would work split into two films, as the second half of the play feels less complete on its own – it’s faster-paced, more disjointed, and relies heavily on events from the first half and references to the original Wizard of Oz. However, director Jon M. Chu has successfully made it work. Wicked: For Good is shorter than the first movie and, though it has less grand spectacle, it’s a surprisingly emotional and nuanced film. The audience in my theater was openly crying by the end, according to critic Bilge Ebiri of Vulture.