Looks like I will once again be spearheading the campaign to give the former Nickelodeon child star an Oscar.

“Wicked: For Good” is the sequel to last year’s “Wicked,” and serves as the adaptation of the Broadway play’s second act. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande reprise their roles as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good, respectively, as the film depicts the pair’s struggle for power in the Land of Oz. Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum also return from the first film, while Jon M. Chu again directs.

I really enjoyed the first “Wicked” film, I think it’s a fun and energetic musical with solid performances. Since first seeing the film last November I actually saw the play on Broadway this spring, so while I went in blind to the story the first time, this time around I was viewing it with more experienced eyes. And I’m not sure if knowing all the twists and character beats made things better or worse for me, but I do think that either way “For Good” is a step in a different direction from the original film and is able to stand on its own while complimenting what came before.

I was not shy about my love for Ariana Grande’s performance in the first film, nor was I silent about her getting snubbed left and right by every awards show in favor of Zoe Saldaña (for a role and film that was already forgotten by the time awards season ended). Grande shocked me with her physical comedy skills, which I look forward to seeing her get to implement in the upcoming fourth “Fockers” movie, and she gets a few opportunities to be funny again here. However the film requires her to really dig deep and hide a lot of pain behind a smile, and Grande steps up to the task. Her Glinda  has become the figurehead of the Wizard’s propaganda machine, and while she has everything she’s ever wanted she still feels empty. Grande again shares warm sisterly chemistry with Cynthia Ervio’s Elphaba, and whenever they share a scene you can sense the tension in the air, tension that both parties wish didn’t have to be there.

It took me a few watches of the first film to fully get on-board the Erivo hype train, but she hooked me on round one this time. There are several instances where Erivo communicates a look of fear or love with simply a glance, and as expected her vocal scenes, especially the infamous “No Good Deed” sequence, bring the house down. Just like the first film, I don’t fully buy into Elphaba and Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero’s love affair (in both films we only really get one scene of them longing together before being told to buy into them as star-crossed lovers), but the pair do have a nice moment in this one.

The person I was really surprised by was Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz. In the first film, Goldblum seemed to be a little bit on autopilot and just playing himself, but this time around he is given a little bit more material to chew on, and is able to have fun as the conman he really is. Michelle Yeoh is also here, and I’m glad she had fun working with her “Crazy Rich Asians” director Chu again, but she really continues to phone it in as the puppetmaster Madame Morrible.

One of the complaints about the first “Wicked” was the color-grading and lighting, and it seems like the filmmakers took the comments to heart because the sequel really pops. So often the film plays like a Dr. Suess or Wes Anderson film, full of color and twisty, turny set pieces, and I wouldn’t be shocked (or upset) if the film follows in its predecessor’s footprints and wins the Oscar for costumes and production design.

Another issue from the first film was with how Chu shot the musical numbers, and those are kind of dealt with. There actually aren’t too many dance sequences in “For Good,” as most of the songs are performed by one or two people singing at each other in a room. Chu shoots a lot of these in medium close-ups, which essentially eliminates the need for choreography, and as a result the numbers are much less lively than the first film (which in a way mirrors the shifting tone of the films).

Similar to how the “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars”  films transitioned from magical whimsy to dealing with grim tyranny, “For Good” is closer to a political thriller than it is another bubblegum pop musical. That was actually one of my favorite elements of “Wicked,” all the behind-the-scenes politics and propaganda that went into building the illusion of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and this film deals with those themes more. Glinda is torn between being a public figure of hope and a propaganda tool (she insists to Elphaba that she has to “be encouraging” to the masses, even if that means lying), and we see a few real-world historical comparisons, such as forced labor being used to build the Yellowbrick Road and certain members of society needing special visas to travel around. I wouldn’t say the film is very witty with its commentary (it would take a more savvy filmmaker than Chu to pull that off), but similarly to how I find “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” the best of that series, I’m just a sucker for the propaganda side of revolutions.

The second act of “Wicked” is notoriously not as good as the first, and all the issues that exist there are here, as well: the songs aren’t as good, the plot gets a little messy, and the climax is a bit rushed. On one hand I understand Chu wanting to stay loyal to the source material and not upset the fanbase, but I feel from a film perspective they missed opportunities to flesh out some bits and clean up others. The first half of the film is a bunch of political theater before everyone is rushed into their “Wizard of Oz” starting positions, and it does make the pacing a little off at times.

I really enjoyed “Wicked: For Good,” and think anyone who liked the first film should enjoy it, too. It certainly isn’t as fun as Part One, and won’t convert any of the original’s detractors, but I think it is a good time at the movies that, for better or worse, serves as a worthy conclusion to the storied Broadway show’s journey to the big screen.

Critics Rating: 8/10