I have a confession to make. I have never seen the Wicked musical. The only thing I have done is read the book, which is spectacular. It’s fantastic. It’s art. From what I know, the musical differs drastically, so, going into the theater to see Wicked the movie, I was not expecting much.
Words cannot describe how unbelievably impressed I was with this movie. I was filled with jubilation, like any second I could jump out of my shoes and soar into the night sky. Wicked is brilliant, breathtaking, and unquestionably weird. In a good way. So let’s talk about it.
Wicked is the backstory of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), better known as the Wicked Witch of the West. It follows her from her childhood, to her experiences at Shiz University, and finally to becoming how she’s known today: Wicked.
To say that Erivo plays a good Elphaba is the understatement of the century. She puts her heart and soul into the character, truly demonstrating the ups and downs of Elphaba’s emotions and life, communicating them with elegance and precision. Each action she takes is filled with determination, and once she has her eye on a goal, she works toward it no matter what. She is brilliant, but it’s impossible to mention Elphaba without also mentioning her pink, mildly narcissistic counterpart.
Glinda the Good Witch (Ariana Grande) is self-obsessed, self-absorbed, and frankly, unapologetically weird. For the first half of the movie, Grande plays her in an ethereal, almost alien-like manner. Like a statue, she’s beautiful, and she has admirers, but she never actively seems connected to any of them. She’s in social circles but also just outside of them because of how important she believes she is. That is until she begins to truly understand Elphaba. Their relationship is the heart and soul of Wicked, and the chemistry between the two leads cannot be denied.
Wicked is a musical. Musicals are (in my humble opinion) fantastic when done right, and Wicked is a perfect example of how to do a musical right. Dialogue weaves in and out with song, the choreography builds off of the beautiful sets, and every number is a sight to behold. The world of Oz is beautiful, believable, and strange. The way the characters speak, the architecture, the costumes, all of it is unquestionably Ozian, and it is extraordinary. I was fortunate enough to see it with laser lighting, which may have contributed to how nice it looked, but even without it I would bet money on it being just as beautiful. And all of the special effects were brilliant as well.
But as always, it’s not all good things. Certain side characters, like Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), Elphaba’s sister (Marissa Bode), and Boq (Ethan Slater) are very flat. They’re still interesting characters. It’s difficult to have a boring character in a story about Oz, after all. But compared to other side characters like the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), they’re just not quite as interesting. Regardless, they still do a fantastic job.
Overall, Wicked is a smashing good time that defied my expectations and is a truly great example of a movie musical done right. A solid 9/10.