jograki said:
As much as I love Michelle Yeoh, she was miscast as Madame Morrible. The role needed someone who could sing and lean into the character's eccentricity and that is not at all what we got.
I'll admit I've had a bias against Cynthia Erivo since her involvement in the drama surrounding The Great Comet closing on Broadway, but I tried to give her a fair chance because she has a great voice She had some strong moments in Part 1, especially during the Ozdust scene, but I think her performance in this one fell flat. This is a darker movie where a lot of emotions are involved, and I felt like she was so wooden and just gave continuous blank stares. I love "As Long As You're Mine," but this one did not hit and I feel like she showed zero chemistry with Jonathan Bailey. "No Good Deed" needed way more emotion than she delivered. Just overall so disappointing.
When the project was first announced, I had hoped Emmy Raver-Lampman would be cast given her experience as a past Elphaba and her recent crossover success with Umbrella Academy. Look up her "No Good Deed" on YouTube.
Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater were amazing in their respective roles. I've been a fan of Ethan since SpongeBob the Musical. It was awesome to see his character development, with a shy and timid Boq in Part 1 and the way he nailed that rage in the witch hunter scene.
Overall I still enjoyed For Good. Movie musicals can really be tricky but I think this mostly worked for Wicked fans.
I agree with most of this. I'm not quite ready to say Erivo was wooden, but some of the direction for this (and mostly her scenes) was so weird.
For example, I thought the staging during As Long as You're Mine was so
awkward. They're singing about how they finally can be together, but she kinda wanders off to put on a cardigan, and when he's singing, it's like he's been forbidden from touching her so he's kind of just hovering around her. Like they'd been told "you can be passionate when you're singing, but when you're not, just stand there disinterested." Very weird. My wife initially disagreed but she YouTubed a stage version and decided it was way better.
So a lot of the scenes where Erivo comes in and waits around while someone else sings, she kinda has that :| expression but I'm not certain that isn't what she was told to do, like this is the "serious" half of the two-parter and so you can't smile or emote in any way. A lot of the songs lacked the personality and pizzazz of Popular from part 1. All drama, no personality, I guess. The two new songs were ok but I could have just done without them.
I love Michelle Yeoh but this character was one-note and didn't play to any of her strengths. Someone else would have been a better fit.
Overall, loved part 1, part 2 was ok. "For Good" (the song) was worth the price of admission, so it all works out in the end.
Oh and CGI de-aged Goldblum was awful.
