Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande enter Bad.

Giles Keyte/Universal Photos

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Giles Keyte/Universal Photos

Some moviegoers are already referring to it Gladiator II And Bad like this year’s Barbenheimer — I believe Clicked is the portmanteau of choice. We’ll see if the comparison holds up. Both lavish spectacles will be big hits, but other than that Barbie And OppenheimerThey are essentially known quantities, rooted in stories and characters that the audience knows well.

Bad is an adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical, which was itself inspired by Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel. But going in, you should know that this two-hour and forty-minute film is simply Part Iand before that there will be a break of one year Part II.

The director Jon M. Chu, from In the Heights And Crazy rich Asianstakes a glossy, maximalist approach to this origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West, the villain so memorably played by Margaret Hamilton in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. In this story, the witch is called Elphaba, and, as played by a quietly commanding Cynthia Erivo, she is brave, brilliant and deeply misunderstood, mainly because of her green skin.

Much of the film takes place at a school of wizardry, actually Hogwarts with Munchkins, where Elphaba impresses the powerful headmistress – an imperious Michelle Yeoh. It is here that Elphaba becomes rivals with a smug queen bee named Galinda, the future Good Witch of the North. She is played with wonderful comedic talent by pop superstar Ariana Grande. But over time the two become real friends and Galinda decides to give Elphaba a makeover.

Bad treats the boarding school comedy with a pleasantly light touch. There’s also a hint of a romantic triangle involving a handsome prince – a very good Jonathan Bailey – who, like many things here, predicts the future. Wizard of Oz developments. In time we get Jeff Goldblum, nicely cast as the Wizard himself, who turns out to be less great than he seems. This sets the stage for Elphaba to unleash her full magical power and become Oz’s public enemy No. 1.

Bad: Part I does build to a doozy of a gravity-defying Emerald City climax, but much of the film is too ponderous, too obvious, and frankly too digitally slick to cast a spell. I hate to say this about a movie that teaches us not to judge based on appearance, but I would like to Bad looked better.

Acacius (Pedro Pascal) and Lucius (Paul Mescal) fight against each other Gladiator II.

Aidan Monaghan/Paramount Images

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Aidan Monaghan/Paramount Images

Where Oz has winged monkeys, ancient Rome has disturbed baboons. Arrived early Gladiator IILucius, a warrior played by Paul Mescal, must prove his mettle by defeating a very scary monkey in the arena of the Colosseum.

Sixteen years have passed since the events of the first Gladiatorand like the film’s slain hero, Maximus, played indelibly by Russell Crowe, Lucius is a prisoner, scarred by personal tragedy and bent on revenge. However, his hatred is not just directed at one person; Lucius wants to burn down the entire rotten empire.

Director Ridley Scott reunites with some of his key collaborators from that first film, including actor Connie Nielsen, and makes a regal return as Lucilla, daughter of Marcus Aurelius. Most of the cast, however, is new: Pedro Pascal plays a formidable general with whom Lucius has a score to settle, while Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger cook up a storm as twin tyrants driving Rome to ruin. And Denzel Washington, unsurprisingly, gets the juiciest role as Macrinus, a cunning and somewhat inscrutable slave owner who sends Lucius into the arena.

It’s fun to see Washington go over-the-top, but scene-stealing is typical of that Gladiator II as a whole; it’s a lot of flash, with very little purpose. Mescal, best known for his sensitive, melancholic work in the series Normal people and movies like Nazongives an intensely physical performance, but his Lucius never commands your sympathy as impressively as Maximus did. And when the characters begin to talk with difficulty about the fall of Rome and the hope for a glorious rebirth, the film quickly loses steam; it’s like watching an extended WWE smackdown that’s suddenly interrupted by a social studies lesson.

Still, the smackdown itself is quite satisfying. In Gladiator II’In the Colosseum’s wildest action scene, the Colosseum’s arena becomes a giant saltwater tank, complete with dueling warships and bloodthirsty sharks. It’s an utterly bizarre spectacle, but Scott, now 86, isn’t worried about the logistics. The first Gladiator asked, “Aren’t you entertained?” And at least in these moments, we are.