Wicked

Would a film version of Wicked still turn heads in 2024? That was the question that clouded people’s minds when they heard that one of their favorite musicals which told an alternate perspective of one of the most timeless stories ever written, was going to the big screen under the banner of Universal, with Jon M. Chu directing, and the leading roles being given to Broadway star Cynthia Erivo and musical popstar Ariana Grande. The original novel written by Gregory Maguire effectively presented a complex and tragic origin story for one of the most iconic villains in pop culture history, and the musical created by Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz captivated audiences with its lighter spin on the novel’s story, with both bringing refreshed versions of iconic characters now with added layers of depth, added complications to a fairy tale world which opened it up to more real-world dilemmas, and created songs that will live in infamy. Twenty years is a long time to wait, so there was a solid chance the story had missed its mark. but even though it did struggle with some controversies surrounding its production, it seemed that the light didn’t entirely go out for this story. Set before Dorothy took her tornado-fueled journey to Oz, a young girl named Elphaba (played by Cynthia Erivo) is born with green skin, which causes her to be viewed as a monster by all of Oz’s inhabitants, including her own father. While accompanying her wheelchair-bound younger sister, Nessa (played by Marissa Bode) to Shiz University, Elphaba accidently demonstrates her magical powers to a crowd of students, which gets the attention of the school’s dean of sorcery, Madame Morrible (played by Michelle Yeoh) who convinces Elphaba to enrol herself, making her the roommate of the socially popular and perkily extravagant, Galinda (played by Ariana Grande), who is not pleased to having to share with the school’s most hated new addition. Forming a rivalry that, after getting to know one another, eventually becomes something more friendly, Elphaba and Galinda strive to exceed at their goals, with Elphaba pushing hard to get an audience with the Wizard of Oz (played by Jeff Goldblum) in order to assist with the growing prejudicial problems rampant throughout Oz, especially towards talking animals. Even after reaching their final stop at the Emerald City, things will not go as planned and shake their entire worldview, setting them both on a path that will surely end in misery. With so much pressure on its shoulders, Wicked had all the opportunities to fail, making it that much more meaningful that the final results were very satisfactory. While certainly featuring little issues, the film is able to retain the musical’s charming well-written characters, outstanding music, and nuanced writing, through spirited direction, inviting visuals and really good performances.

Surprisingly not being conceived the second it became a global sensation (a TV miniseries was set to be released in 2011 featuring names like Lea Michele, Amy Adams, Rob Marshall, Ryan Murphy, and J.J Abrams, which never materialized), a film officially started production in 2012 when producer, Marc Platt, started assorting the film with a planned release of 2016, but it was forced back to 2024 due to not wanting to compete with the 2019 film version of Cats, as well as the COVID pandemic and the SAG-AFTRA strike halting production. With a gargantuan legacy to live up to and the knowledge that a lot of musical adaptations never live up to their staged counterparts, the film wasn’t in for the easiest ride, but the results were worth the wait. While it’s hard to imagine anything topping what the original musical achieved, the film’s dedication and commitment to replicating the strengths of the original source while still being a film, is noticed and appreciated, with a lot of the behind-the-scenes talent clearly knowing what they are doing. Marc Platt worked on a lot of musicals in the past, David Stone (who worked on the original Broadway musical) also acted as a producer, the screenplay was partially written by Winnie Holzman alongside Dana Fox, Jon M. Chu had led several music-based properties in the past, a lot of the actors are very musically skilled and feel picked for their abilities rather than name recognition, and the look and sound of the film is appropriately cinematic, but still feels like a stage show through the choreography and pacing. Therein lies one of the more glaring faults of the film however, in that while the story does condense all the essential information in a pretty seamless manner and take from both sources pretty neatly, it leaves it with a running time of nearly three hours, which for a movie that is supposed to cater to general moviegoers as well as musical theatre alumni, is not an easy length to swallow. The film is well paced enough that the length isn’t truly felt, but there are a few scenes that could’ve been trimmed to make the film at least two-and-a-half hours. With that said, the direction paired with the strong scripting and performances help the film feel contemporary and trendy while still being largely timeless, some scenes may lack the punch they originally had, but the emotional moments and climatic sequences are very well realized, the actors know the assignment and convey these characters in an exaggerated but still characterful manner, the visuals from both a production and cinematography level never intrude or disrupt the flow or tone of the story, and in spite of a few hiccups, this Part I concludes in a way that will make people want to see the next.

Elphaba and Galinda are probably some of the best and most interesting roles to play in a musical, as both are really strong complex characters, borrowing from a basic good-versus-evil scenario and twisting them into something far more nuance and deep. The Wicked Witch went from a one-note brutish thug into a tragically misunderstood outcast who became the thing people feared her to be through prejudicial misunderstandings, propaganda from a corrupt autocrat, and for the sake of doing the right thing, and Glinda went from an iconic but ultimately silly delivery of a friendly witch, into an equally tragic figure who is forced to be a pacifying tool for the masses under the rule of a corrupt government due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, living out her dream as a walking mockery where she’s forced to hide her true sadness underneath her frilly and quirky exterior. They’re great characters and they needed the right people to portray them, and it feels like both Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are those right people. Erivo already felt like a good  pick as her Broadway experience proved she had the vocal range and performance style to thrive with this part, and she shows her worth by playing Elphaba with such conviction and heart that you truly care and feel for her throughout the entire feature. Her pain feels genuine, her ability to play both the socially awkward and emotionally distant Elphaba, and the confidant and angry ‘witchy’ Elphaba is very well done, and her singing is absolutely phenomenal, she really knocks it out of the park. On the flipside, Ariana Grande definitely had some pushback when she was cast, but she does have history with the story (being the understudy to Kristen Chenoweth who cameos alongside Idina Menzel) and her past experience on the Nickelodeon show, Victorious, proved she can act and be entertaining in a way that can appeal to mainstream audiences. Overall, she does a good job here, capturing the character’s airy and slightly arrogant attitude without feeling too obnoxious which leads to a lot of great comedic moments, her singing is unsurprisingly good and her switch from her usual poppy sound to a more weighty operatic tone shows real strong range, and while there’s an occasional moment that shows her acting inexperience like a drop in the voice or a slightly flat delivery, it never feel like she’s out of place, especially next to Erivo, who she shares really great chemistry with, they make for two real strong leads. The rest of the cast is also very good; Jonathan Bailey does great at bringing that roguishly Prince Charming attitude to  Fiyero, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, and Bronwyn James do well to bring color and energy to the supporting cast, and Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum and Peter Dinklage clearly can’t sing very well, but are given moments that don’t require huge range, their acting is strong enough to make it not a problem, and the casting feels so spot on that it strangely never becomes an issue.

For a film that looks and feels like a movie that would require a big budget, you’d be surprised to learn that out of the three movies that were released around the same time (that being this movie, Gladiator II, and the Dwayne Johnson Christmas movie, Red One), that Wicked was actually the cheapest to make, with a budget of about $150 million (Gladiator II at least makes sense to have a large budget, but Red One is $100 million more expensive, which is ridiculous). With this in mind, the film deserves praise for not only limiting its budget to under $200 million (which has proven to be quite difficult recently). The funny thing is that the digital effects aren’t that incredible, and some can look noticeably obvious like an occasionally off green screen, but because the movie has actual practical sets, it provides an effective balance that slightly softens the blow. It’s sad that a movie actually putting in the effort to build real models and locations is a rarity nowadays, but it helps this world feel like a real place, it has a color that might seem a little muted, but really allows the characters and their vibrant attires (made by Paul Tazewell) to pop in the forefront, and all of this is shown off through the very impressive camerawork and staging, which really helps get the audience involved with these iconic moments. A lot of people who worked on Jon M. Chu’s last big musical, In the Heights, returned to work on this film, including cinematographer Alice Brooks, editor Myron Kerstein, and choreographer Christopher Scott, and while they showed promise, there was room for some touch-ups, and you can feel improvement this time around. There’s a lot of great shots and editing moments that display these iconic songs and sequences very well, the song numbers are mostly well done and are performed and choreographed in a way that is campy but not to the point of feeling too extreme, and while the songs sound wonderful due to Schwartz’s original orchestration, John Powell’s assistance in the musical score really brings a weight and even ‘’gravity’’ to these moments, elevating already exhilarating sequences and making them legitimately heart-pounding.

Wicked being split into two parts originally felt like a tired gimmick meant to expand profits, but after seeing not only what they were able to achieve, but also all that they were able to present, it may’ve convinced some to be more patient. Overcoming a seemingly impossible feat, Wicked managed to satisfy fans and newcomers by being faithful but not beholden to its source material, resulting in a film that has a few pacing tweaks and doesn’t really evolve much beyond its original stage counterpart, but one that is full of strong performances (mainly Erivo and Grande), solid production, great song numbers and good directing. Fans have probably already seen it and plan to see it several times over, the future for this film truly feels unlimited now.