Movie Review: Wicked Part 1
By K.G. Kline
Changed for the better
Wicked has finally landed Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let's start with the bad.
The bad is that this film should have been made 20 years ago when Wicked was playing on Broadway to sold out houses for three straight years, but why was it so popular? It wasn't the story, which had to do contortions to maintain continuity with The Wizard of Oz, and not always to good effect. It wasn't the romance. This is Broadway's most unnecessary love triangle. It wasn't even the songs. I defy you to name a Wicked song beyond ""Defying Gravity" or "Changed for Good". What drew audiences was the remarkable chemistry between Kristin Chenoweth's Glinda and Idina Menzel's Elphaba.
Wicked showed us, more than any other Broadway show before or since, the story of two characters on a collision course of personal growth. Glinda arrives as a spoiled, shallow, self-obsessed princess thrust into a friendship where she must become selfless and compassionate or spend the rest of her life living an unfulfilled dream. Elphaba enters shy, socially awkward, and very much damaged. She's thrust into a friendship where she must learn to trust, accept, and allow herself to feel emotions kept deeply buried. These are the most unlikely of friends who become something more. They learn to love each other. Maybe not in a romantic way, but never doubt that Wicked is a love story. Most of us never saw Kristin and Idina perform the original show. Their performances should have been preserved. They weren't. I could live with two film versions of Wicked, but that's a dream now lost forever.
Here's the ugly. If you're planning on heading to the theater this week to see Elphaba fly across an IMAX screen or hear Glinda belting out "Pop-u-lar" in Dolby Atmos, think again. Wicked wasn't released in Imax. That's right, the biggest film of the year is only playing on small screens. Gladiator II is currently underperforming in the Imax theaters. It reminds me of summer 2023 when Barbie was filling theaters on its way to a $1B box office while Oppenheimer played to empty Imax seats. Only after Oppenheimer was gone did Barbie finally got a brief run in Imax, and I expect the same for Wicked, though it will have to happen soon before it loses them again to Nosferatu.
Here's the good.
Everything. - Well, almost everything.
The film is a feast for the eyes and the ears. It takes the limited sets of the touring show and expands them to the limits of imagination. This is one of the most visually stunning films to come out in years. The original world of Oz we all knew from the 1939 film has been faithfully recreated and then some. Every set, every scene, is brighter, more vivid, and more detailed. Every set, room, and forest suggested by the stage show has been expanded and brought to life. No expense was spared, especially in the memorable school library with its rotating round bookcases which lend themselves to some of the most inventive choreography in recent films. Wicked shows us that live-action musicals aren't dead, and does it with an exclamation mark.
But what about the cast? I saw Kristin and Idina perform the show in 2004. I have that memory to compare to. Ariana Grande is every bit the equal of Kristen Chenowith, though different. While Kristin played Glinda as mean in the beginning, Ariana is more clueless. She's taken the character from "Mean Girls" to "Legally Blonde". She also brings more range to the role, or perhaps that's just seeing the character's face on a big screen.
For Elphaba the results are a bit different. Cynthia Erivo is a marvel, to be sure. She has range. She has depth. She carries the role. She just doesn't have Idina Menzel's voice. No one has Idina Menzel's voice except Idina. It's not a fair comparison. I love Cynthia's Elphaba. I love Idina Menzel's Elphaba more. I'll wait until Frozen III to hear her again (or maybe I won't have to...)
When I heard that Wicked was going to be rated PG, I was surprised. Does PG even exist anymore apart from animated films? One "damn" and you've crossed that line, and Wicked is an adult story. Turns out it's also an incredible young adult film. The visuals, the characters, the costumes, and even the incidental music all remind me of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I'm sure that was a conscious decision on the studio's part. Making Shiz University reminiscent of Hogwarts was a clever touch that could have ended in disaster, but it works. I'm happy it did.
This is a near perfect film. My only complaints are with the songs and some of the casting. Michelle Yeoh's Madame Morrible is too restrained. The role should have gone to Helena Bonham Carter. The songs suffer under Jon Chu's direction. "Popular" feels subdued. It lacks the over-the-top frenzy that made it Glinda's big showstopper. What Chu does to "Popular" is minor compared to what happens to "Defying Gravity". Chu has taken the four-minute-long power ballad and turned it into a 15-minute special effect. He unapologetically breaks it up into three sequences. Stretching it out ruins it. The song's power lies in the way it builds as Elphaba discovers her power and her own inner voice, and rises in defiance to the fascist state she's just exposed, all while Glinda pleads with her to conform and beg forgiveness. The song builds and builds until it hits that F5 that eventually damaged Menzel's vocal cords. Splicing in CGU scenes and action pauses ruins it. It's a low ending to an otherwise monumental accomplishment.
Wicked comes at a moment in history when its message couldn't be more timely. The need to stand up to racism, bigotry, and hatred has never been so real. The students of Shiz University are complacent and shallow. They are just this side of villains. Elphaba isn't perfect, but neither are we. She's the imperfect voice of resistance we need at this time. My theater was filled with people dressed in pink. Let's all try to be a bit more green on the inside.