Jonathan Martinez’s review published on Letterboxd:
Wicked is a wonderful showcase of pageantry. With production design that will go down in history for its scale and quality, the film is an exuberant example of the word spectacle!
But its catchy tunes and highly renowned lore fall victim to a prolonged runtime. I also found an issue with the adaptation itself; as it felt more like an over-acted Broadway play than a feature length film. This creates a dilemma in which almost every sequence, musical or otherwise, feels tedious and can ring hollow for newcomers. I caught many cellphones out during integral moments because people may have thought that certain scenes were just more of the same overdrawn pieces of the story.
Outside of some stunning set pieces, the CGI landscape was an eye sore as well. Overused to death! Sometimes wonky but mostly just uncanny.
Yet Wicked transforms into something breathtaking during its final act! The entirety of the song, Defying Gravity, is the best scene in a movie this year! The magic of Oz transcends the screen to serve us one of the year’s most powerful conclusions!
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