“Wicked” (2024)

Wicked

Grade: B+

Universal Pictures’ movie adaptation of Wicked (sneakily subtitled “Part 1”) is long, theatrical, entertaining, maybe a bit meandering in some spots, emotionally stirring in others, always showcasing great vocals even when the songs are somewhat generic. Enjoyable, overall.

Directing:

Wicked is shot with the muted brightness of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a flat digital look all too common in 2020s cinema. To Wicked‘s benefit, Jon M. Chu turns the CGI slop into gloriously gay campiness.

Acting:

Wicked is carried by the excellent chemistry between its two stars: Ariana Grande as Galinda, who plays a cute and charming pop superstar in both Oz and real life, and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, a Broadway star with vocals so powerful that the movie’s 160-minute runtime is worth it just to hear her hit that showstopping final note.

Writing:

Curiously, some of Wicked’s best scenes are the non-musical ones, like Dr. Dillamond’s history lesson or when the Wonderful Wizard reveals his evil plans (I’m a fan of the way Stephen Schwartz’s 2003 Broadway play and Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel retconned and reconfigured L. Frank Baum’s and Vincente Minnelli’s original Wizard of Oz stories), but that’s also indicative of the generic sameness among Wicked’s frequent musical numbers.

Music:

I’m not dissing Schwartz’s songwriting here, and I’m certainly not downplaying Grande or Erivo — like I said, they absolutely carry this film — but I do wonder if the high-profile casting forced Universal Pictures to overemphasize the vocals in the final mix: John Powell’s* backing arrangements are barely noticeable.

*I’ve reviewed a few John Powell-scored films on Colin’s Review, and it seems that his music always ends up being a negative. In his defense, though, it’s hard to discern exactly how much blame can be put squarely on his shoulders when those films include Gigli (2003), Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) and Don’t Worry Darling (2022).

Ending (SPOILERS):

The final showstopping Elphaba solo, “Defying Gravity,” in which she finally harnesses her magical abilities for good, is tremendous, one of the most rousing moments in Broadway history, knocked out of the park here by Erivo, ending the film at a perfect climax, curtain call on Act One, a seamless set-up for the saga’s conclusion.

“Are people born wicked? Or is wickedness thrust upon them?” — Glinda

Why Wicked gets a B+

Bravura big-budget blockbuster musical adaptation, better than Hooper’s Les Miserables (2012), almost as good as Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021).

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