The pattern of this movie's release and the hype it's getting has been reminding me so much of Barbie last year. While of course it still bothers me that original works nowadays never get as much attention as those with the name recognition of pre-existing monoliths embedded in our popular culture, I am nevertheless glad that in the past couple years, the ones that have risen above the rest have not forgone their quality and clearly have some care behind them. Whether their popularity has been because of their quality, or in spite of it, I guess we'll never really know for sure (or at least not until the dust has settled). But as it stands, we have a well made and entertaining final product that successfully does justice to the stage production while elevating the spectacle in many aspects (and deflating it in others).

There are many things that I can praise about Wicked: The acting is great, especially Ariana's wonderful portrayal of Galinda/Glinda and Cynthia's portrayal of Elphaba. The choreography of every musical number is so creative, with such coordination and creativity in the ensemble that compliments the main performances so well. In many moments, the world of Oz benefits from the medium of film refining the details of the setting in a way that is inherently limited in a stage production.

And then of course there are things I can criticise about Wicked: While it did a decent job at it, I still did feel the runtime and it did drag for me in a few moments (which perhaps for those intimately familiar with the source material would have completely passed by, à la me with Dune). For a film that is so interrelated and referential to the original The Wizard of Oz, its colours are disappointingly and undeservingly drab compared to its Techicolor counterpart. And as a result, the design of the Emerald City, which is supposed to be a dazzling example of opulence in Oz, just ended up being fairly underwhelming.
On a side note, I reaaally love the version of Emerald City portrayed in The Wiz.

So, while a major paradigm shift would be necessary to truly escape the corporate greed that still lurks beneath the surface of this film (see the ultimately upwards of 5-6hr runtime that will be the final combined films, while the musical is literally half that), we still have a great adaptation of Wicked that will please fans and sceptics alike, and at least it earned the winnings it will take.