Part II, the dark and dramatic sequel to Wicked that continues to outdo the musical

The first film of Evil (2024) was a blast. Its continuation is what remains after the fireworks have burned, destroying the happiness of ounce on your way.

Wicked: Part II It’s not a sequel, but the second act of a story that remained unfinished in November last year when adapting the musical of the same name by Broadwaydoubling its length.

When the previous film arrived in Spanish cinemas, what had not yet been released in our country was its theatrical version. But in 12 months there is time for a lot to happen, and I ended up in the theater watching Evil with very high expectations after enjoying its adaptation.

Everyone talked about his horrors secondalthough I didn’t understand these criticisms until I returned to Evil for the third time with his new film. I suppose that seeing the whole is not the same as seeing half, nor seeing the work as seeing the film. And this is actually the bad half.

Wicked: Part drama

The second act of Evil It’s not weak because it has worse songs or less variety than the first, but because of the way they are transferred to the big screen.

Evil set the bar very high in 2024offering a musical fun, bright, full of memorable characters, who danced on sets behind which there were magical production design.

Wicked: Part II It is unable to compete in this area because it does not offer the great new features at a scenographic level that I assumed in my brief reflections on what the film should include to surpass the first, and that is why I did not mention them.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande They fly over the same places, although they now have a different appearance, while the new scenarios that are incorporated are more compact, less spectacular. We no longer have a big Shiz University admire for the first time, a Emerald City reinvented since the times of The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Instead, it appears that Much more resources were invested in CGIwell, we can make a Noah’s ark with all the animals that appear in this new edition, while scenes from Elfaba flying through the air.

At the same time, the film also acquires a more introspective and less choral tone as it moves towards the outcome of the plot that had already been anticipated since the end of the previous film.

There are no longer choreographies full of extras dancing on mobile stages where things happen on each side of the screen. Instead, they almost always present individual numbers or with few people involvedincluding the two new songs created exclusively for the film, which don’t help speed the whole thing along.

Nor does its opening section contribute to this, in which appearances of Elphaba visiting Glindafor the Magician and your sister Nessa They become almost clonal and seem to distance the character from his development.

However, it is the narrative conflict that forces a slower overall pace and a much darker tone in the feature film. Gone are the saturated costumes and sets, where the darkness and sadness of the characters now reign in a film that It went from being a musical comedy to becoming a musical drama.

Little hits, little mistakes (with spoilers from the end of Wicked: Part II)

Nessa was always in a wheelchair because of the plot. Of course: holding Elphaba responsible for her not being able to walk. Therefore, in the musical, the Wicked Witch of the West He uses his magic to make him get out of his chair, giving him a reason to be happy.

The film, on the other hand, does not reinforce the stigmatization of being in a wheelchair that this argument supports, and allows its character to have another reason for happiness in the memory of a dance, without walking becoming a kind of liberation.

Perhaps this is the most significant and grateful change in the film, but its screenwriters were unable to give their protagonist a worthy ending, as they wanted to remain faithful to the original musical.

That Elphaba decides to spend the rest of her life in a desolate desert beyond the borders of Oz with the only company of her boyfriend instead of wanting to find a way to reintegrate into society, it’s terrible.

Not because I chose Fiyero instead of Glinda – that too – but for the message it conveys and that surpassed even Disney: you need nothing more than romantic love in your life to feel fulfilled.

Wicked: Part II opens in theaters on Friday, November 21stbut it is a film that is not very pleasant to watch alone, as I pointed out at the beginning of the text. If you haven’t seen the previous tape yet, The most interesting thing would be to watch a double sessionwhich would offer you the closest experience to the original musical, and would also be cheaper and more spectacular.