This “emotionally high” sequel is “more engaging” than the first film

Grande really gets her moments to shine in this part and makes the most of them. She was always perfect in the role, giving Glenda the right little laugh and hair flip. She has a stronger narrative arc here as Glinda becomes disillusioned and disillusioned. When she sings the line “I couldn’t be happier,” cracks in the happy facade begin to appear. Erivo continues to establish Elphaba as being rightly determined to expose the wizard’s fraud and is also hurt by the way she’s been distorted, but that arc is more familiar now.

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At times, Cho gets close to Erivo and Grande’s faces as they sing, and these moments are among the most effective. But there’s also a lot of busy and noisy choreography, sometimes too much. When Glenda reflects on her life and sings The Girl in the Bubble, one of two new songs written for the film, the set design and actions almost drown out Grande’s poignant delivery as she wanders through her sparkling home. After a while, all the big Broadway groups in the movie start to sound the same.

Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Pudi), is now the ruler of Munchkinland. Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) interferes with the weather and plans to make Elphaba look bad. But no other character, not even Fiyero or Jeff Goldblum as the rogue wizard, really registers alongside the main characters. Amid the flying monkeys and spells that go horribly wrong, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion appear, while the plot of the Wizard of Oz unfolds in For Good. Dorothy is only seen from behind or in silhouette, but it’s quite amusing to hear Elphaba refer to her as “that farm girl.”

Elphaba also says: “Goodbye, Nyssa. I’m going to see the wizard.” Subtlety is not in this movie’s vocabulary. There is no thematic depth, despite some tricks in that direction. The false imagery that allows the Wizard to control Oz may seem like social commentary. This may be the case with Elphaba’s fight for animal rights. But they were just ideas that were dropped and overlooked, and were not fundamental enough to be important.

At its core, the film is an ode to eternal friendship. Her heart is drawing to a close when the witches are about to part ways again and Grande and Erivo sing for good. The camera captures each of them as they face each other, and of course finally pans around as they sing, “Because I knew you, I’m changed forever.” This movie is as sleek and shiny as Glenda’s lip gloss, but it may also be what many of its fans want.