After being stuck in development for more than a decade (and perhaps the most aggressive capitalistic movie marketing campaign of all time), Wicked is finally here and as one of the most beloved Broadway musicals, it has a big bubble to fill! This movie felt like it would never come due to the aforementioned lengthy development and as someone who has seen the show, I was excited to see how it would finally turn out. 

I’m glad to say that it is an enjoyable time and it’s gonna bring joy to a lot of people! It’s great fun hearing these cherished songs on the big screen and I do like some of the new renditions quite a lot. I must say that everything in the Emerald City is FABULOUS, “One Short Day” WOWED ME and is my absolute favorite number in the entire thing and they actually managed to make “A Sentimental Man” one of the more memorable numbers as well! I also quite enjoyed “Dancing Through Life” and its staging and setting. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo certainly carry the tunes very well, though overall I can’t really find much more to say about them than just “solid”. I really loved Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero and also loved seeing Bowen Yang, I think he should just be in every movie in some random part.

While I enjoyed the film, I have some frustrations that are too big for me to fully ignore. The direction and staging of the musical numbers in this film were sometimes baffling to me. Chu did great and dynamic work with In The Heights so I know he has it in him, so it’s just even more confusing as to why Elphaba is belting the grand and opulent ending of “The Wizard and I” into a literal grey gorge after spending most of it just walking around Shiz. I do think that an issue with bringing this beloved of a show to film is that everyone is going to have their own idea of how they pictured the songs translating to the medium in their own minds, myself included, so what satisfies one person may not satisfy another. It could all just be my personal tastes, but many of them didn’t live up. It’s also been discussed ad nauseam but yeah, the lighting and visuals can be downright terrible in many places. Which is frustrating because the practical sets are really really good and I feel like they aren’t allowed to shine through sometimes because of it! The Emerald City portion is the antidote to all of these issues; the colors and sets are grand and are allowed to shine and the stagings of “One Short Day” and “A Sentimental Man” are SO well done, I just wish the rest of the film were more like that portion!

I sound like I didn’t like this but the critiques are only because I wanted a bit more from it and I just feel like things could have and should have been done better, and I WANTED so badly for this to be a crown jewel in movie musical canon for me. It’s still a really enjoyable time that so many are gonna love! I still got choked up by the big end of “Defying Gravity” because I’m not a monster. Admittedly, these past almost two weeks I’ve been thrust into maybe the worst mental health state of my life, and it was nice to escape to Oz for a bit. I can’t say that it’s justified being split into two parts, but I honestly also can’t say that this felt too overstuffed minus a few parts being dragged on for far too long (“Defying Gravity” has TOO much room to breathe and it kills the pace). I suppose time will tell when Part Two releases.