Wicked is an enormously popular multimedia franchise with millions of fans around the world and over the rainbow. But I feel extremely comfortable saying my two daughters — aged nine and eight years old — are in the top five percent of obsessive Wicked super nerds.
They have Wicked dolls and brooms and pointy hats. They sing Wicked songs while cleaning their rooms, or driving to visit their grandparents, or pretty much any time there are six or seven consecutive quiet seconds in our house. My youngest had a Wicked themed birthday party when she was six — a year before the hit Broadway musical about the witches of Oz became a movie. They performed “What Is This Feeling?” together at their school’s talent show last spring — in costume and green face paint.
Like I said, obsessive.
They saw Wicked: For Good on November 17, 2025, exactly one year from when they saw Wicked. In the 365 days in between, I doubt five went by without some sort of acknowledgement of the movies or the show or The Wizard of Oz. So while I have my own thoughts about the sequel’s quality, the review I most wanted to hear was theirs.
Now that my kids are starting to get older, I love taking them to press screenings with me — and even more than that, I love talking to them afterwards about the movies we see. Our conversations are so fun and interesting that I’ve begun recording them (surreptitiously at first, now with their full knowledge and enthusiasm) and sharing them. What follows is a lightly edited transcript (with some spoilers redacted) of the conversation between me, the girls, and my wife, who is the only person I know who enjoys Wicked more than our daughters. (They had to get it from somewhere, right?)
Two things you need to know to follow the discussion.
- My kids are currently rehearsing a children’s theater production of The Wizard of Oz. My oldest plays the Scarecrow, and my youngest plays Toto.
- They are horrified by the slightest display of physical affection between adults, which they detest and describe as “smoochy kisses.”
The rest should be self-explanatory.
Dad: So what did you think of the movie?
8 Year Old: Grrrrrreat. Would you rather watch the first or the second movie again?
Dad: Well that’s what I was going to ask you. Which did you like better?
8 Year Old: I don’t know.
[9 Year Old makes an exasperated face]
Dad: You liked the second movie better?
9 Year Old: Duh!
Dad: Why?
9 Year Old: It has more songs. Even though the first half is so good, and it has a lot of good songs, the second half, it actually gets you teary.
Mom: You cried more in this one?
9 Year Old: Definitely. I didn’t cry at all in the first movie.
Mom: What made you cry?
9 Year Old: The end. It was sad.
[To 8 Year Old] Dad: Did you cry?
[8 Year Old nods]
Mom: Multiple times. I handed her a tissue and she started bawling.
Dad: What made you cry?
8 Year Old: One of them was like [spoiler redacted; it was a moment during “For Good”].
Dad: But we’ve seen the Broadway show; you knew how it was going to end.
8 Year Old: I knew but it was still sad.
Dad: Ariana Grande is a really good actress, huh? She really sold the emotions of that moment.
8 Year Old: Yeah.
READ MORE: Two Superfans Review the First Wicked Movie
Dad: So it didn’t bother you that all the best songs were in the first movie? This movie has no “Defying Gravity,” it has no “Popular.”
8 Year Old: Not so much, because I also really like “For Good” and “No Good Deed.”
Mom: “No Good Deed” was so good.
Dad: What did you think of the new songs?
9 Year Old: I loved them.
Dad: Yeah? Which did you like better?
9 Year Old: I think they were mostly equal. I liked the song about how there’s no place like home.
Dad: I thought that song was pretty good. Now wait, I have a serious question: What did you think of the scene where Elphaba and Fiyero smoochy kiss? [The duet “As Long As You’re Mine”]
9 Year Old: That was another part I almost cried — because it was so bad!
Mom: [pointing to 8 year old] This one was fake vomiting on me.
9 Year Old: I was doing that too!
8 Year Old: I grabbed Mom’s hand and covered my eyes.
Dad: That scene was too much?
8 Year Old: Disgusting.
Dad: There was some smooching and hugging.
Mom: And Elphaba has that line where she says that for the first time she feels “wicked.” What do you think she means by that?
8 Year Old: That she feels … weird? But … okay?
Dad: I looked over at that point and Mom was, like, nodding her head and smiling. Did you see that?
8 Year Old: Yes.
9 Year Old: Mom was really into it.
Dad: She was going [pumps fist] “Yeah!”
Mom: I was not.
Dad: You weren’t?
Mom: No!
Dad: I must have imagined it.
Dad: So “As Long As Your Mine” was the worst part?
8 Year Old: Yes.
Dad: What was the best part?
9 Year Old: The end.
Dad: What about the end? The last scene? The last song? The way the story wrapped up?
9 Year Old: I feel like it teaches a lesson that friends will always be with you.
Dad: That’s a good lesson.
Mom: Yeah but … [extensive spoiler discussion of the final scene follows]
8 Year Old: I’ll tell you my favorite scene.
Dad: Okay.
8 Year Old: The first one I liked a lot was when Glinda had the bottle and gave it to the Wizard. I also liked when she was like [surprisingly accurate impression of Ariana Grande’s voice] “I hope you prove me wrong. I doubt you will!” And when the monkeys came and she goes “Ooooo!” [Editor’s Note: I have no idea what she’s talking about here.]
9 Year Old: I liked how Glinda’s like “I don’t know, make something up. You’re good at that.”
Mom: She had some sassy lines.
9 Year Old: I like the sassy lines.
Dad: I hate the sassy lines.
8 Year Old: [imitating Veruca Salt, who she recently told me is her favorite Willy Wonka character because she is “sassy” and she loves being sassy] “Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa now!”
Dad: Exactly.
9 Year Old: Okay, so the only thing I actually didn’t like about it — besides smoochy kissing — was I didn’t like how everything was more like AI. It didn’t look as real.
Dad: What was something that didn’t look real?
9 Year Old: The animals looked really really fake. The backgrounds looked fake. Tin Man and Scarecrow looked fake.
Dad: The animals and backgrounds for sure were made by computers; I doubt it was AI, but definitely digital effects. The Tin Man and Scarecrow, those are actors with makeup. You can definitely still think it looked bad, but I’m pretty sure they were wearing makeup.
9 Year Old: I think it was a little computer in the face.
Dad: Maybe it was a combination.
9 Year: Maybe a little AI.
Dad: The only thing I thought was cool about the Scarecrow, I don’t know if you guys noticed —
Mom: His hair was straw?
Dad: His hair was straw. That was a nice touch. That was cool.
8 Year Old: Yeah.
Mom: They still made Scarecrow look kinda cute.
Dad: His hair always looked good. Maybe I should get frosted tips so I can look like a cute Scarecrow.
8 Year Old: Dad, stop it.
Dad: What did you think of how the Scarecrow and the Tin Man looked in the film?
8 Year Old: I was scared of the Tin Man.
Dad: He looked pretty scary to me too.
9 Year Old: But that’s how he looks in the movie of Wizard of Oz. They copied it but they made him look more complex. I didn’t like the Scarecrow, even though I’m playing the Scarecrow.
Dad: What about you?
8 Year Old: He was creepy!
Mom: What did you think about how mean Elphaba was to Dororthy?
8 Year Old: Huh?
Dad: She screams at her like “Get those shoes off your feet!”
Mom: And then she paused and sang a very sweet song.
Dad: While she had a child imprisoned under the floor.
Mom: A child is sobbing in her basement while this is occurring.
Dad: How would you two feel if I screamed at you and locked you in your room and then Mom and I sang a love duet?
8 Year Old: I would throw up.
Dad: Were there any parts that were too scary?
8 Year Old: A little.
Mom: During the Fiyero part you were crying.
8 Year Old: Because that’s scary!
Dad: Okay, now I have a really serious question.
8 Year Old: What?
Dad: You’ve now seen both Wicked movies. You have also seen Wicked on Broadway. So which would you rather see again: Both movies or the Broadway show?
9 Year Old: Both movies.
8 Year Old: [loudly while making intense eye contact] MOVIES.
Dad: Really? If this weekend someone said to you “I will give you a ticket to the Broadway show OR to the movies — but you can only pick one,” you would pick the movies?
8 Year Old: That’s hard.
Mom: I want to see it on Broadway with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
8 Year Old: Yeah, that’s what I want.
Dad: Well, that’s cheating.
Mom: They can sing, man.
Dad: What if they combined the two movies into a single film that was like four and a half hours long,. Would you want to see that, or would that be too long?
9 Year Old: Uh…
8 Year Old: I’d be fine.
9 Year Old: Would there be an intermission?
Dad: Let’s say there would be. There’s an intermission on Broadway, so why not?
9 Year Old: Then yes, definitely. Four hours with no bathroom break I would just be like “AAAAAAA!” Cause it’s so good, I don’t want to miss anything.
Mom: Should they just have made one movie instead of two?
8 Year Old: No!
Dad: Why not?
8 Year Old: Because each one is so long by itself.
9 Year Old: It was suspenseful.
Mom: Should they have cut some things out and just made them into one movie?
8 Year Old: No.
Dad: They added songs, they added scenes. They could have just made one movie.
8 Year Old: No!
9 Year Old: It makes the fans crazier.
Dad: How does it do that?
9 Year Old: It makes the fan want to see more. And it was so good, the first movie, that it was like “I want to see the second!” Mom, you were so ready when you found out we were going to see it.
Mom: Yeah. I love Wicked.
9 Year Old: Everyone does.
Dad: And then when Elphaba said “I feel wicked!” she was like [pumps fist] “Yeah!”
Mom: I love that line!
Dad: See? You did react! I wasn’t imagining it!
Mom: Okay, I do love that line.
9 Year Old: [laughs hysterically]
Mom: She says it in this devilish way. She delivered it perfectly.
Dad: She did.
Dad: That was a good part. I may not have fist pumped like Mom did, but I agree. But there was one part I didn’t like so much. Before she leaves Nessa she says “I’m off to see the Wizard!”
9 Year Old: Where did that come from?
Dad: Well, they’re sort of referencing The Wizard of Oz, where they sing “We’re Off to See the Wizard.”
8 Year Old: I liked it, but it was a bit confusing because that right after [spoiler redacted involving Elphaba casting a questionable spell] and then she’s like “I’m off to see the Wizard. Bye!” She didn’t even say sorry! She just left.
Dad: Yeah, that’s a good point. She makes a big mess and then immediately was like “Peace!”
Mom: I have a question. Everybody seemed to have redeeming qualities. Elphaba seems wicked, but she’s good. Glinda is “The Good” but she does some bad things and also some good things. Did you think Nessa had some redeeming qualities? Or was she just mean?
8 Year Old: She’s not evil, she’s more like … I don’t know how to describe it.
9 Year Old: She’s annoyed with her life.
Dad: She’s had a hard life.
Mom: Yeah, but she kind of just goes from good to evil.
Dad: She doesn’t get redeemed in any way. And she [spoiler redacted]. She blames Elphaba. Not ideal sister behavior. You wouldn’t do that to your sister right?
9 Year Old: Never.
Dad: Good.
9 Year Old: I’d be jealous if she had magic powers, but not that jealous. I’d never cast the wrong spell and blame it on her.
Dad: That’s a relief. What about you?
8 Year Old: I would feel jealous but I wouldn’t do anything mean … why are you looking at me like I’m lying?
Dad: I’m not. [Editor’s Note: I was.]
Mom: I have a question: If they were to make another movie…
9 Year Old: There’s nothing to make.
Dad: What about the continuing adventures of Queen Glinda?
9 Year Old: She’s not a queen.
Dad: Leader Glinda? Wizard Glinda? The New Wizard of Oz!
9 Year Old: No, she’s Glinda the Good.
Dad: They don’t seem to be into a sequel, Mom.
Mom: No. That wasn’t even what I was going to say, though. I was going to ask if there was another character that they would want to know their story.
9 Year Old: Oh. I want to see Toto’s story.
8 year Old: Toto!
9 Year Old: Like here’s the reason why he always growls at Glinda: Because Glinda silenced Toto. And then banished him to Kansas!
Mom: Toto? Toto’s who you’re going with?
Dad: Would the movie be called Total Toto?
9 Year Old: Ew, no.
Mom: What would you call it?
9 Year Old: The Dog That Lives in Kansas But Actually Lived in Oz.
Dad: You think that’s a better title than Total Toto?
8 Year Old: No!
Dad: Thank you.
9 Year Old: Or maybe Toto the Toilet!
8 Year Old: Hey, that’s what she called me at rehearsal!
Mom: Toto is a kind of toilet. My friend has one in her house.
9 Year Old: So does play practice.
Mom: They have a Toto toilet?
9 Year Old: Yeah.
8 Year Old: Mom, she actually called me a toilet!
Mom: That’s not cool.
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