Wicked
Review: Let me just get this out of the way first. For anyone who is a fan of the original musical, I’m happy for you, but I’m not. Not that I don’t like it, I just have never seen it & know very little about it aside from the basic facts. So I’m looking at this film purely from the point of view of someone evaluating a film, not someone evaluating an adaptation. Though my wife, who is a fan of the musical, was very pleased with it. Overall, I quite enjoyed the film. It was very visually pleasing & I think will get a lot of praise during awards season for the visual side (costumes, make-up, set design, etc.). One thing that I generally don’t love in movies is when it feels like you need to know another story for it to make since, however I don’t mind it with this because the story that adds to the viewing experience is ‘The Wizard of Oz’ which is one of the most famous movies ever and everyone knows it. But somehow if you didn’t, I still think you could watch this movie without any issues. If you aren’t a fan of stage musicals, this movie probably isn’t for you, because it very much feels like one. Personally I am not, and for the first 30 minutes or so it was irritating me a bit, but eventually the songs, characters, & story got to me to where I really didn’t mind it. I particularly enjoyed ‘Popular’ & ‘Dancing Through Life.’ A complaint I’ve seen in some reviews is the daunting runtime (160 minutes), but I never felt like it was running on too long.
High: The whole ensemble of characters was so fun. And I mean specifically the characters, not the actors. This is meant as a compliment to the actors, because they all embodied their characters so brilliantly that I could only see the characters in front of me. Except Jeff Goldblum, he was just acting like Jeff Goldblum, but since that’s like his whole shtick I’ll let it slide. Plus it kind of works for a character like The Wizard. The two leads, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) & Glinda (Ariana Grande) were both great, but I know they will get all the praise they are deserving of. The rest of the ensemble is brilliant as well. I particularly enjoyed Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), & Professor Dillmond (Peter Dinklage), with Boq (Ethan Slater), Nessarose (Marissa Bode), Pfannee (Bowen Yang), & ShenShen (Bronwyn James) also being welcome additions.
Low: Like I mentioned, my wife is a fan of the musical, so it frustrated her when I said this, but I found Kristin Chenoweth & Idina Menzel’s cameos incredibly distracting. They really took me out of the movie. That being said, it’s really not that deep and there were other cameos, even in this scene, that I didn’t mind. I think the difference is the fame & how recognizable the two are, but it’s really whatever.
Rating: 9/10- I don’t usually put anything here but I want to say this. Another complaint I have with movies (or studios really) is that it frustrates me when a story is split into two parts. I don’t mind sequels at all, but it bothers me when a film can’t really stand on its own without another part. That being said, there are several movies (like ‘Dune’) that I love that fall into this category. The reason I’m saying all of this here is because I feel that my score is incomplete until I view the second part a year from now. But this was a very enjoyable film to watch.
