Wicked: For Good

It's no secret that the final act of Wicked on stage can't compare to the opening act. The great news for fans is that the fleshed out second act on film is a triumph, offering no let down from last year's first installment.

WICKED: FOR GOOD is a powerhouse finale and sure to be a massive blockbuster this holiday season.

Director Jon M. Chu and his returning creative team start the film off with a fast paced pursuit of Elpheba, months after she flew off at the end of the first film. She's a one woman force against the Wizard and his plans for Oz and she's not a big fan of that yellow brick road!

Cleverly weaving in far more of the OG Dorothy/Wizard of Oz story than the play, all the pieces of that familiar story flavor the expanded second half. As good as Cynthia Erivo is as Elpheba (and she's terrific), Ariana Grande nearly steals the majority of the movie as Glinda.

This chapter provides a much larger character arc for Grande to execute and she does so perfectly, hitting every punch line and tragic note with equal commitment.

Glinda has taken on a PR role for the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum, quirky shine at full beam) and relishes her role, making the citizens of Oz happy. But she's torn as her newly betrothed Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is appointed head of the guard that's assigned to track down the "wicked witch", Elpheba.

Every time that Grande and Erivo share the screen, the film lifts of to another level.

As many times as we've seen the stage musical, all the plot points here around Elpheba's sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) and the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow seem so much more powerful on film.

Knowing there were less songs in Act Two, original composer Stephen Schwartz has composed two new, full length songs for the film adaption.

Elpheba's mission anthem "No Place Like Home" is good, if a little heavy handed in the visual execution around it. But Grande's "The Girl in the Bubble" is powerful. Chu also manages to shoot the entire song with a clever series of camera tricks that visually stun.

All your (and our) favorite songs are here and are brilliantly realized with a massive symphony orchestra and sets that knock your eyes out. Chu stuffs every frame of every scene with a level of production design and detail that startles.

"Wonderful" is expanded in all the right ways, bringing a nice comedic flair from Goldblum that's needed, with the darkness that haunts this half of the story.

"As Long As Your Mine" is everything you want it to be and then some.

Erivo's "No Good Deed" provides the "blow the doors off" Defying Gravity moment to this half of the story and it left our sold out audience jaw dropped. Big applause after that last note soars.

The film's conclusion is incredibly satisfying, with Erivo and Grande tearing your heart out with the title song. As for the final couple minutes, Chu and company have taken the ending of the stage version into the stratosphere.

What an incredible ending. Ignore the perpetual complainers online complaining that the film is "so much darker than the first half"....yeah, we know that.

I've seen comments like, "I dont know why they had to make a sequel..." Um, yeah, they split the stage musical in two halves, this isn't a sequel.

Are there things to complain about? Maybe one. I feel like the only miscast role is Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible. She's fine, but I was suddenly thinking of Pierce Brosnan in "Mamma Mia" when she had a couple singing lines here....

It's a minor flat note buried deep in the power of Bailey, Erivo and Grande nailing every moment they are on screen.

Ethan Slater is really good here as Boq too, in the much darker portion of his story.

If you finish this film and are hungry for more of Chu's vision on film, check out his criminally under seen film adaption of "In The Heights", its excellent.

If you're an older viewer like me (what? who's old!?) there's a stunning wedding that serves up the most opulent nuptials since Harris and Redgrave stolled down the aisle in 1967's musical blockbuster, "Camelot".

I feel like we all got lucky with this cast, writing team and director. This could have gone wrong in so many ways, but they have all elevated the material for the big screen. Speaking of big screens, we saw an early preview in Dolby Cinema and I highly recommend that experience, as you'll feel every orchestra crescendo and spell as it rumbles the theater. How about that tornado scene!!!

Sure to be the most successful screen adaption of a Broadway musical and the biggest global opening for a movie musical of all time, part two delivers on all the promises of the first installment, equaling the original in every way.

I predict Oscar nominations aplenty and for as much as I doubted Grande going in, she earned what is sure to be a Best Actress nomination for her trials as Glinda this time out.

Enjoy your turkey, have a great time with the family and then go see this film on the biggest screen you can find.

But bring your Kleenex, you're going to need 'em.

Just like the first chapter, WICKED: FOR GOOD gets an A+.