While I enjoyed the first Wicked movie for its balance of the glamorous musical numbers and thematically potent storytelling, that gripping sensation is severely lessened in its sequel, Wicked: For Good. Sure, it’d be easy to write off the film for its lack of catchy songs and showy set pieces, but there’s a greater emptiness that doesn’t make the heart soar in this lavish production. Perhaps the first film set up so much that it was impossible to tie everything together in the backend, placing a rush job on topics of media manipulation, love affairs, and discrimination that splinters Oz.

The off nature is best personified through Glinda Upland (Ariana Grande), returning as royalty for working alongside the powerful manipulator Oz (Jeff Goldblum). Though concerned for the fate of her demonized green friend, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), Glinda’s spirits are still dazzled by her popularity and fame, entering the film with another glamorous musical as Bowen Yang fawns over her greatness. It’s hard to admire Glinda’s angelic allure when her friend is being hunted, as Elphaba wages a secret war against Oz’s efforts to enslave animals and reveal the truth about the fraud Oz. Her rebellion is constantly undermined by Oz’s right-hand propaganda expert, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), utilizing everything from pamphlets to the weather to make the public fear the green menace Oz has created.

There’s a lot on this movie’s plate, and it simply doesn’t have enough time to dig into much, especially the many romances that arrive inexplicably. Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is forced into a marriage with Glinda, even though his politics align more with Elphaba. He won’t have much of a chance to think about those feelings when Glinda rushes him into a wedding and Elphaba jumps right into bed with him amid a mildly seductive number. More complicated but given less oxygen is the crumbling relationship between the Munchkin guard Boq (Ethan Slater) and Munchkinland governor Nessa (Marissa Bode). Their romance is strained not only by Boq still having feelings for Glinda, but also by Nessa’s vindictive ego, which forces Boq to stay in her land against his will. Rarely does it feel like a conflicted series of complicated relationships, especially when all of them are bound by setting the stage for Oz lore.

Framed more as a side story than a prequel, it becomes hard to care about the friendship’s core focus when so much else is going on and is ignored. A topic that seems like it would take more precedence is the kidnapping and enslavement of the land’s talking animals, including Elphaba’s old bear nanny, Dulcibear (Sharon D. Clarke). Rarely does the film address much of the enslavement as a concern, nor the dangerous realm where the animals decided to escape when feeling unsafe in their own land. The current political climate of ICE raids and rising discrimination in America feels highly reflective in this element, which is treated more like an ornament in a lush musical, where the casting of Colman Domingo as the cowardly lion is more of an afterthought and a waste of a good actor.

This is a frustrating film for being so thematically light and visually heavy. There are some undeniably wondrous scenes, especially with Grande and Erivo delivering stellar performances in fantastical sequences. I especially dug the clever camera work, using reflections, for Glinda’s emotional number around her palace quarters. It’s a good-looking scene, but also one that carries some aggravation for Glinda’s slow realization that maybe she’s the bad guy as she darts around her spacious rooms in her most sparkly of dresses. The sheen is bright, but not blinding enough to shake off all the petering-out plotlines and the unsatisfying turn towards an unbreakable utilitarianism reform rather than revolution. Pay no attention to the revenge-fueled Tin Man and sorted family affairs behind the pink-and-green curtains! Instead, watch as Glinda and Elphaba have a whimsical dance number with Oz, the manipulator of their current problems, which are apparently put on hold while they cavort amid good-but-not-great music.

Wicked: For Good wants to do everything and ends up doing little, more distracted by its decadence than its darkness. The songs are not as memorable, the many plots resolve abruptly, and the whole presentation has a hollow quality, looking so beautiful and feeling so empty. I’m also tired of movies in which sacrifice and humiliation defeat authoritarians on this lacking mantra of “working within the system.” I don’t care if this is how it happened in the musical. This is an adaptation of a musical revision based on a novel revision. Revise further! For a story that wants to be about defying the odds, it sure spends a lot of time coloring inside the lines, albeit with the brightest hues of pink and green.

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