By Jackson TOYON

A little over a year ago, director Jon M. Chu and Universal Pictures brought the beloved stage musical “Wicked,” based on a 1995 novel of the same name, to the silver screen. It reframes the classic “Wizard of Oz” tale, telling the Wicked Witch’s side of the story and expanding on the events that led up to her eventual melting by Dorothy. The first film, covering the first part of the two-act stage play, received widespread praise from critics and audiences alike. Taking the world in a veritable storm of pink and green, its led with shared strong chemistry and commanded spectacular musical set pieces. However, the second act of the play is something of a different beast – trickier to adapt to film and carrying a different tone. Having had the pleasure of seeing the stage production myself, I had high hopes for this continuation.

It has been five years since Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) became known as the Wicked Witch of the West, defying the ostensible Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and soaring off in a triumphant blaze of musical glory. Elphaba has continued her crusade in the name of animal rights, staging brief offensives to free animals or causing chaos and disappearing to her hideout in the forest just as the flying monkeys are sent to stop her. At the same time, her best and only friend Glinda (Ariana Grande), who chose not to follow her initial departure, is living in the palace of the Emerald City. Propped up as the public-facing hand and spokesperson of the Wizard, she has become engaged to Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), who is now serving as the captain of the guard tasked with capturing the Wicked Witch. They couldn’t be happier – if you believe what Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), the Wizard’s true source of magic, would tell you. But trouble is brewing – Fiyero does not truly return Glinda’s feelings, animals are fleeing Oz, and a familiar Kansas farm girl enters the fray as Elphaba seeks to depose the charlatan she once believed in.

Still on display in this film is the stellar work of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in their roles and the impressive cinematic design elements that brought the world to life last time. The sets are still excellent, the costumes are still wonderful and Grande even gets a bit more time to shine than she was given in the previous film. Our leads still deliver exceptional singing performances, even if most of the songs are not quite as memorable as many of the songs are in the first. There are not as many large, well-choreographed dance numbers in this entry. Particularly deserving of praise are the songs “No Good Deed,” and “For Good,” as well as an original song made for this movie, “No Place Like Home.”

Unfortunately, “Wicked: For Good” is not without some notable shortcomings. Act 2 is considered by many play watchers to be lesser than Act 1 – the source material was adapted accurately; however, adapting a weaker story still results in a weaker movie. The more serious and somber tone is a departure from the levity and upbeat performances that many praised as part of the first movie. It often feels stretched out – new scenes have been added that are not in the play. While a couple are impactful, most of them feel like they’re only there to pad out the runtime and justify its existence as a 2-plus hour sequel. Michelle Yeoh gives a disappointingly flat performance and the film generally lacks the exhilaration and overall “oomph” that the first film had in spades. It doesn’t quite manage to sweep one away in the manner its predecessor did.

Though it falls short of the first film’s potency, that doesn’t necessarily make it bad. Act 2 of the play was always going to be harder to translate to the big screen and eventually this film proved that to be the case. It’s certainly still worth watching for the design aspects and musical performances, which remain strong as ever. This return to Oz is messier than the first one but the characters and emotional beats still save it from being a misfire. The music and visuals continue to defy gravity, even if the story lands a little light.

Rated PG.