I knew Wicked: For Good would get a reaction from my daughter. I didn’t expect the loudest reactions to come from the grown-ups.

I saw the movie earlier this week with my almost 7-year-old. Though she’s a skeptic of most movies, she adored the first film and (unlike a lot of critics) loved the second one even more — though to be fair, she’s really in it for three things: the songs, Glinda’s wardrobe and whatever movie snacks I’ll say yes to.

I’ve seen the stage production, so I knew “As Long as You’re Mine” — the big, breathless duet where Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) finally give in to their feelings — was coming. It’s the musical’s romantic climax. Walking into a packed weekday showing filled with kids of all ages, I was curious how that moment would land, especially with my daughter sitting next to me, blissfully unaware of anything beyond the glitter and choreography. (And scary flying monkeys, which we already discussed.)

The movie is rated PG, but PG — meaning persons of all ages are admitted, but parental guidance is suggested for children — in 2025 can mean almost anything. And for what it’s worth, I think any parents overly worried about content should probably see the movie in question themselves before deciding whether to bring kids. Still, as the scene approached, I braced myself a little — not because I expected any shock value, but because I wasn’t sure what questions might be lobbed at me afterward. (Did Elphaba steal Glinda’s boyfriend? Why is that guy shirtless?)

Luckily, she's too young to ask about that sweater. Or to understand what the quick cut to Elphaba and Fiyero talking softly in bed — him partly undressed — might hint at what happened before. The adults around us, however, may have felt differently. One mom near me launched into what seemed like an urgent whisper-conversation with her tween, her expression looking somewhat upset.

On my way out, I did a quick online scroll and realized my experience wasn’t unique. A momfluencer had gone viral for saying she walked out of the movie because of the “inappropriate” love scene, which sent some parent group chats (including mine) into overdrive. Suddenly, everyone had an opinion.

What parents are saying

The viral walk-out came from Sara Burnett, who told her followers she left the movie halfway through because she wouldn’t allow her kids to “watch scenes where men are sexually taking off women’s clothing.” Her posts blew up almost instantly, fueling a wave of copycat takes and some arguments across social media.

But separating some online outrage from what’s actually happening in theaters is … tricky. So I started talking to real parents who saw the movie with their kids — and the reactions were just as mixed as the discourse.

“My kids did NOT care for that scene,” a mom of a first-grade girl and a 5-year-old boy in Los Angeles told me. “They both kept saying, ‘Put your shirt back on, bruh!’ My husband and I both were like, ‘Why did we need this scene?’”

Others had a softer reaction. Jordan from New Albany, Ind., saw the film with her daughter, who turns 10 next month.

"I thought it was done tastefully so that adults obviously knew what was happening, but younger kids weren’t truly aware,” she said. “It was very ‘fade to black,’ which felt appropriate knowing children would be seeing this.”

Rachel, a Virginia mom of two girls — ages 6 and 3 — said she screened the movie without her kids first and wasn’t worried about the romance.

“I actually thought the scene in the Broadway show was much racier than the movie,” she said. “My 3-year-old didn’t say anything, and my 6-year-old shouted, ‘He’s naked!’ when Jonathan Bailey was shirtless, which I thought was pretty funny.”

She added that she found the movie’s version “very tasteful,” though. “As someone whose parents took her to see Titanic when I was 7, this didn’t compare. I had no reservations about taking them.”

And then there are parents somewhere in the middle — aware of the chatter, but not particularly bothered by it.

“Some of my more conservative friends gave me a fair warning, but I usually lean less conservative when it comes to entertainment, especially when it’s a classic," a mom from Orange County, Calif., told me. "I took my 6-year-old to see Wicked on Broadway. I do think the shirtless part was a bit unnecessary, but my daughter was unbothered. She cared more about not liking the noise with the tornado.”

Across the board, kids seemed generally unfazed. Adults? A much bigger spectrum.

Common Sense Media — known for its independent, unbiased reviews from both parents and kids — doesn’t consider the moment a huge red flag either. They describe the romance as mild, noting a quick shot of a shirtless character, and rate the film as appropriate for most kids over 11.

What the creators say

Fans of the stage production know that “As Long as You’re Mine” is nearly four minutes of Elphaba and Fiyero singing and giving off steamy musical theater chemistry. But in the film, director Jon M. Chu intentionally dialed that heat down, not up.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Chu said he didn’t want the moment to feel like two characters simply staring at each other and belting. He wanted it to feel emotionally intimate rather than overtly sexual — a distinction that became even more important knowing younger audiences would be watching.

He also rethought the staging of the song’s opening lyric, “Kiss me too fiercely.” Instead of having Elphaba immediately give in, he wanted her physical hesitation to tell a deeper story: a woman who wants this connection but isn’t sure Fiyero is ready to show up for her in the same way.

Chu explained that for him, the moment isn’t about romance for romance’s sake — it’s about Fiyero finally seeing Elphaba clearly, not as someone painted “ugly or evil,” but as someone powerful, self-possessed and fully herself. That respect, he said, is what makes the scene sensual.

“To me, that is earning the moment,” Chu said. “That makes it more intimate and sensual, not sexual. And I think that’s when you fall for their love.”

In short: The scene was designed to feel softer than the stage version, which makes the current discourse somewhat ironic. Screenwriter Winnie Holzman told Variety that while she found the scene sexier in the movie, it’s because it’s a slow burn.

Oh, and fun fact: It was actually a Glinda-Fiyero kissing scene that was scrapped for being too "passionate."

“I think it was a good cut because it was too adorable that you simply couldn’t handle it,” Dana Fox, the film’s cowriter, told Deadline.

Defying controversy

What’s become clear through all of this is that the moment lands differently depending on who’s watching. And maybe that’s why the chatter feels so loud right now — parents are navigating wildly different comfort levels, expectations and definitions of PG in this era. It’s not doing anything to harm its box office magic, as Wicked: For Good flew straight to No. 1.

The nearly 20 parents I spoke with, all with children age 9 and under, mostly expressed some version of the same thing: Their kids didn’t get it, were unfazed or simply more interested in the next musical number. One mom from Newport Beach, Calif., told me she read some parent concerns about the film, but for her, "it all felt like it was benign — there are much worse kids movies."

Another parent summed it up this way: "Very kid-friendly. Could have done without the shirtless scene, but if no one told me, I never would have clocked it."

In that sense, some of the louder debates online, and perhaps in your own group chats, don’t match what’s happening in theaters. For all I know, the lady next to me could have been disciplining her kid for ordering that extra soft drink.

The scene is brief, intentionally softened and for many families, barely a blip. As my daughter walked out humming “For Good,” I was reminded that while adults debate subtext, kids are mostly just busy enjoying the magic.

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