“Wicked,” based on the Broadway musical, has been one of the most anticipated movies of 2024. Yet, I kept thinking to myself, “What in the hell am I watching and who thought to create this?”
Granted, a lot of people out there know “Wicked” and they love it. I, however, had ZERO prior knowledge on the story whatsoever. I went into the movie with a fresh set of eyes, not being blinded by any previous love for it.
Because of this, “Wicked” was strange because there’s intense themes like racism, but they are undermined by a story of friendship. I had to ask myself, “Is the theme of friendship the most important aspect of Elphaba’s life?”
For those like me who have no prior knowledge, “Wicked” is an origin story about the Wicked Witch of the West—Elphaba—from the “The Wizard of Oz,” and how she met and knew Glinda the Good.
I wanted to love this movie, I really did. But, at the end of the day I didn’t feel connected to it, and I left with more questions than I had before.
What worked
The beginning was extremely boring, but by the middle and end of the film, that’s when the action happens. And when it gets good, it gets REALLY good.
The plot twists were exactly what I wanted to see. I didn’t want to watch some musical. When different storylines started to connect toward the middle and end, that’s when I became invested in the story. Although I do wish there was a shift in themes, but I’ll get to that soon.
This movie is visually interesting and appealing because practically every single set was built, not CGI, including a giant tulip field, emerald train to Oz and the Wizard of Oz’s golden face. And that pays off because as a viewer, I could tell. It looked truly impressive.
And the clothing was incredible. Every single item Glinda and Elphaba wore were tailored for them for that exact scene, and costume designer Paul Tazewell is a genius for every item.
Kudos to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande for singing the songs live on set. That’s not a common thing to do, but it paid off in every way. While I’m not a fan of the music, the voices—especially Erivo’s—were rich to listen to.
Erivo’s voice is angelic yet has this real soul to it, and I credit that to the fact there was live singing involved, and of course her raw talent.
What didn’t work
This movie is only part one of “Wicked,” and part two doesn’t come out until NEXT YEAR. That is an insane amount of time to make an audience wait for part two when it’s already filmed.
The creators shot part one and two back to back, so if the wait time was two weeks and not an entire year, I’d be more excited to see how the story ends. But, because I have to wait a year, I Googled what happens throughout the rest of the musical because I don’t want to wait to find out.
Because this is a musical, obviously there are going to be songs in it. However, for a film adaptation, I really wished that there were significantly less songs.
I’m not saying get rid of them, because there’s a time and place. But every 10 minutes of the movie it felt like a song was interrupting what was going on. I didn’t feel connected to the songs, and I didn’t want to go learn them after.
What was confusing to me, and I don’t know if part two will address this more intensely, but the movie focused heavily on friendship, which isn’t a problem, but there was this underlying message of racism and discrimination. I kept wanting to know more about that part of the story.
Interestingly enough, the musical was based on a book called “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.” I went down a rabbit hole learning about this book, and it has more mature scenes and content in it—very different from the musical.
So, while I understand the Broadway play and this film want to appeal to a wider audience by making it more friendly, the adaptations still could have gone the route of exploring the discrimination theme rather than the friendship theme.
And this is for those who have watched the movie, but I honestly was anticipating to see what happens to Dr. Dillamond, the talking goat, and my favorite character just from his few scenes. BUT I Googled it and am extremely disappointed. #justicefordrdillamond
The verdict
What it comes down to is I didn’t love the main storyline of friendship, and I wished other routes were explored. I’m rating “Wicked” a 2 ½ out of five stars and you should wait to stream it at home.
While I love me a good “villain” origin story, I really wanted to see less of Glinda the Good in “Wicked” and more of Elphaba, along with exploring the discrimination theme. It just didn’t have the effect I wanted it to. I know people love this story and the play, but I wanted more from the film.
I’m hoping part two will change my mind on this, but as of now “Wicked” is just OK by me.
