As a movie based on a musical based on a book inspired by a different movie that was itself based on a book, Wicked comes to the screen with a lot of baggage. Director Jon M. Chu doesn't run from any of that, embracing the movie's range of source material to deliver a large-scale crowd-pleaser that should satisfy most fans of most of the previous iterations.
Just as importantly, Wicked should satisfy viewers who aren't familiar with the hit Broadway show, or the Gregory Maguire novel it's based on, or even the 1939 classic movie The Wizard of Oz or L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The basics of Baum's story are so ingrained in pop culture that it's nearly impossible to avoid them, but Wicked's particular story is just as familiar in its own way, a broad and accessible tale of an outcast who fights back against injustice and bullying.
That outcast is Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), better known as the Wicked Witch of the West in the tale of Dorothy Gale's journey to the magical land of Oz. With her distinctive green-colored skin, Elphaba is scorned by her father and everyone around her from the day she's born, and she tries to hide the chaotic magical powers she possesses. It's her younger sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) who is sent to the fancy Shiz University, and Elphaba only enrolls after she's spotted and recruited by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), the school's professor of sorcery.
At Shiz, Elphaba meets Galinda (Ariana Grande), later to be known as Glinda the Good Witch of the North. Galinda is a vain popular student who's initially horrified to be rooming with Elphaba, but the two later become friends, although they compete for the affections of fellow student Fiyero Tigelaar (Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey), a seemingly superficial but secretly soulful prince.
An opening flash-forward establishes Dorothy's eventual defeat of Elphaba for anyone who doesn't remember, so the story is headed toward inevitable tragedy, even if it gets just halfway there by the end of its 160-minute running time. Chu and screenwriters Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox adapt only the play's first act, taking nearly as much time as the entire production lasts onstage, including intermission. That makes the pacing a bit sluggish, especially in the middle, although it also allows Chu to include all of the songs, which is often not the case when Broadway shows come to the screen.
Those songs are the highlight of Wicked on both stage and screen, and Erivo and Grande are equally fantastic at delivering them. Hiring stars who can actually sing makes a huge difference for a movie like this, and Erivo and Grande apply the full force of their powerhouse voices to all of Stephen Schwartz's songs, culminating in signature number "Defying Gravity."
They also give strong performances in the smaller moments, and Grande is especially amusing as the vapid, self-centered Galinda. Grande channels original Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth (who makes an extended cameo alongside her stage co-star Idina Menzel) with a delightfully sarcastic performance that still finds emotion in the burgeoning central friendship.
Chu's musical experience includes the film version of In the Heights as well as two Step Up movies, and he knows how to stage kinetic dance numbers that don't obscure the choreography or lose track of the performers. The rest of the movie's aesthetic is less impressive, and turning certain moments into effects-heavy spectacles only sidelines the music and the characters in a story that's about heart, not action set pieces.
Even worse is the choice to make the talking animals (including a goat professor voiced by Peter Dinklage) into photo-realistic CGI creations, which are as lifeless as the characters in Disney "live action" remakes like The Lion King. That ugly modern sheen extends to the color palette, which is never remotely as vibrant as the 1939 movie or even Sidney Lumet's maligned 1978 film version of The Wiz.
As great as Erivo and Grande are here, seeing them perform Wicked onstage would probably be a more satisfying experience. The movie will reach more people, of course, and for now, that's good enough.
Wicked
