yuri’s review published on Letterboxd:
At least, it doesn’t look as bad as the promotional material made it out to be. In fact, its cinematography and production design reminded me a lot of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Everything looked stale or artificial in play-esque style, as if the whole effort went into recreating a stage quality to the film that neglected every other capacity to make it look exciting. Dragging down the musical numbers that, eventually, seemed to constrain a compelling narrative.
The whole cast managed to pull off exciting performances during the musical numbers, in spite the boring direction and unimaginative choreography. Although, Jonathan Bailey’s number (looking great on those pants) was an exception. My whole excitement for Wicked came from knowing that great singers were cast in the lead roles. As expected, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande nailed every single number while also delivering great dramatic and comic performances, respectively. Grande has successfully joined SJP as an actress who can make a self-absorbed character utterly charming. A delight to watch.
Wicked’s foundation concept might not feel as fresh for our current context, but the writers found a way to cleverly expand and enrich The Wizard of Oz lore by adding political nuances to this world while also injecting complexity to secondary characters. Glinda and Elphaba’s relationship was engaging to follow, despite the tiresome allegorical racism that seems to be a through line in almost every fantasy novel. Nevertheless, it being a musical and a Part One of Two, did hurt the narrative because it ends at its peak. It’s frustrating for that reason, while simultaneously exciting because the last number was electrifying.
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