Evelyn Rose is a junior and a reporter for the Fishers Tiger Times. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.

Before I watched “Wicked” I only knew it as the “Wizard of Oz” prequel. I was not excited about watching a musical since the only musicals I enjoyed were “Phantom of the Opera” and “La La Land.” However, in line, I met someone just as passionate about film as I was. This person proceeded to spend $40 on the popcorn buckets for the film. It intrigued me how a musical could bring such passion into a person’s life. Once I saw “Wicked” in IMAX, I understood why he had such a strong excitement for the film to come out. 

When I went to watch “Wicked: For Good,” I felt the same level of hesitancy on whether it could live up to the first one. It pleases me that the second film ignited the same spark the first one made me feel immediately, with its opening immersing me back into the world of Oz that I had found so vividly full of life. 

This film hit the ground running and it never stopped till the last frame. The thing that really held the film together for me was the cinematography from Alice Brooks. I felt like she heard the complaints of the first one being a bit dull in color, because this one seemed like it had a much wider range of colors. 

The other thing that felt much more poignant was the acting in this one versus the first one. I felt as though I was more connected emotionally this time, especially in Ariana Grande’s performance as Glinda. Jeff Goldblum did feel a bit more charming as well with his ability to really breathe as the Wizard. 

The musical pieces were not as iconic as the first films, but they certainly felt more important with how they moved the story along in an interesting way. One of my only criticisms of the first film was how often it felt like absolutely nothing important was going on until the film decided it wanted to move along, but the second fixed this problem to where there were only a few moments that felt this way. 

Overall, “Wicked: For Good” brought the energy, improving in every aspect from the first one being a beautiful continuation that ends its story by wrapping it all up in a nice bow. For this reason, I am giving it a perfect 5/5 stars to see on the big screen. I highly recommend watching this film when it opens on Friday, Nov. 20.