Quality entertainment can take a while to craft, and the end result is never guaranteed. That’s certainly what was on my mind while viewing recent content in which waiting played a prominent part.

‘Wicked: For Good’

The land of Oz has been living in fear ever since Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) unleashed the full potential of her magical abilities and was subsequently branded the Wicked Witch of the West. With her former bestie Glinda (Ariana Grande) the poster child of a propaganda campaign against her, the renegade girl finds her options limited as all her former allies align against her and acceding to the tyrannical dealings of the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum).

The second half of the blockbuster musical finds itself in the unenviable position of trying to live up to one of the greatest movie musical cliffhangers ever pulled off.

The two leading ladies are resplendent as ever in bringing the Broadway stage show’s tunes to the screen — as well as the original pieces “No Place Like Home” and “The Girl in the Bubble” — though the story suffers from some considerable plot holes as we speed along the Yellow Brick Road to what seems like an inevitable conclusion.

However, while the first film held a sense of completeness shellacked over its lighter elements, the follow-up feature feels more confident in its messiness and the idea that happy endings are all a matter of perspective.

It’s not satisfying to think that gullible people are simply at the mercy of whoever is telling them what to believe or that actions done out of love can have awful repercussions, but the courage to accept the truth often comes with unpleasantness.

A darker tone in adapting the musical still doesn’t scratch the surface of Gregory Maguire’s original novel — a revisionist telling of L. Frank Baum’s timeless series — but the anger it harnesses is warranted, meaningful and necessary.

The second act is not exactly a better movie, but it feels more rewarding in separating those who want a dazzling song-and-dance show and those who want a resonant message.

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished …

Wait between movies: 1 year

Time difference between movies: 1 year

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

‘Zootopia 2’

The unlikely partnership of rabbit Judy Hopps and fox Nick Wilde (voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman) has hit a rough patch as the pair of police officers find themselves at odds in their work.

Despite some dysfunction, the two must depend only have each other to depend on when they find themselves fugitives from the law along with a snake (Ke Huy Quan) who makes a surprise ambush on the city’s centennial celebration.

Goodwin and Bateman remain a perfect pairing as the ultra-overachiever bunny whose do-gooder nature makes her reckless and her vulpine counterpart, whose casual dress, snarky attitude and criminal nature make him one of the most questionable cops on the force.

The return to this all-animal world keeps posing questions of a society that purports to be idyllic for all species, but as we see in this new installment, harmony is something that only works when everyone cooperates.

Take a moment to appreciate that the guy who played Short Round voices Indiana Jones’ greatest fear before realizing that Zootopia’s attitude toward reptiles is uncomfortably akin to the most blatant othering in human history and that intolerance tends to serve the worst people.

While the big reveal of a villain was the first film’s strong point, we see immediately who the forces for bad are — Or do we? — and this sequel further builds on the commentary that we saw from the House of Mouse.

There are a few too many indulgent instances of Disney referencing itself, not limited to Judy’s formal dress resembling that of Disney Princess Belle; a nauseating update of the spaghetti scene from “Lady and the Tramp”; and the entire climax of “Frozen.”

The less said about Duke Weaselton’s bootleg DVDs, the better…

Still, with excellent characters like a conspiracy podcast beaver (Fortune Feimster), a quokka therapist (Quinta Brunson), an empty-headed stallion mayor (Patrick Warburton) and more, this world only keeps growing and improving.

Wait between movies: 9 years

Time difference between movies: 1 week

Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars

‘Eternity’

After an unceremonious and embarrassing death at a family function, octogenarian Larry awakens in the afterlife as his much-younger self (Miles Teller) and full of questions. He is granted one week to decide what form of countless eternity options he wishes to move on toward, though none sound great to him, as he only wishes to be reunited with his wife, Joan.

As luck would have it, Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) arrives just before he’s forced to make his decision, but there’s a bigger problem — her first husband (Callum Turner) has also spent ages waiting for her.

What starts out as a high-concept rom-com keeps finding new directions to take this story of a love triangle in the hereafter.

Teller is at his best when he needs to win over an audience, and old man complaints flowing from a young man’s mouth certainly fit the bill, making you wonder — at first — why anyone would choose this guy. Alternately, Turner is endearing right away as the hunky soldier who said farewell to his wife far too soon — yes, you can refer to Korea as “The War” — having delayed his eternity for decades in the hopes of meeting her again, serving up drinks to other wayward souls in the bar of an ever-crowded mid-level hotel.

Given that Limbo isn’t supposed to be good or bad, this iteration, known as the Junction, feels right…

It’s Olsen who makes this arrangement work as a woman who barely has time to appreciate her newfound lack of elderly ailments before she has to make an impossible choice between the lost guy she’s idealized for most of her life and the guy she’s been playfully arguing with for nearly just as long.

In a world that tunes into “The Golden Bachelor,” a mature and difficult examination of love is a welcome change of pace, especially in a scenario where the trappings of everyday life are removed. Whether you choose Smokers’ World or Nudist World, a perfect existence depends on who you spend it with, if anyone.

Jean-Paul Sartre hit the nail on the head when he said “Hell is other people,” but the star of Philosophy World could have also said “Heaven is being with other people” and been correct, for better or worse.

Granted, he didn’t know that there were a bevy of moderately disinterested Afterlife Coordinators ready to greet you to the next plane of existence, but nobody’s perfect.

Maximum wait: 67 years

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars