By Cameron Tyo
November 30th, 2024
Note: This review will include mild spoilers for Wicked Part 1. Please continue with this in mind.
The wait is officially over as Jon Chu’s movie adaptation of Wicked has finally released in theaters on November 22, 2024. Being released in two parts, the first part of the movie faithfully recreates most of the scenes from the first act of the musical, cleverly adding small details and scenes that would further flesh out the relationship between characters of the story, primarily Glinda and Elphaba. I won’t lie when I say I’ve been waiting for the release ever since the adaptation was revealed to be in the works in 2016, as it was originally scheduled to be released in 2019. Many trailers and cast reveals later, and my anticipation spiked as the release date got closer. Seeing it yesterday, I can say with certainty that it is such an amazing adaptation of the musical and just a great movie in general.
As soon as the booming first chords of “No One Mourns the Wicked” come on with the sight of what is soon to become as the winged monkeys take flight around a castle up a waterfall, revealing a field of flowers leading towards Munchkinland with the dramatic music turning into the peaceful respite where Glinda (Ariana Grande) is introduced, I was just filled with a rush of familiarity and nostalgia from watching the musical when I was much younger. And just by the opening song alone, hearing Ariana’s pain in her voice as she talks about how no one mourns the loss of wicked people implying a very much weepiness of the situation through her operatic moments in the end, knowing how everything goes down, already made me start to tear and we were ten minutes in.
Just like the musical, the movie gives us a glimpse of Glinda’s life, particularly her time at Shiz, where she meets Elphaba (Cynthiva Ervio), whom, while just coming to send off and look after her sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) she ends up letting her secret loose which piques the interest of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) who thinks she should practice magic under her leading her to become roommates with Glinda. Without going into spoiler territory, Glinda and Elphaba, their differences, as vast as you can get when it comes to personality, ideals, etc., start to get to know more about each other and learn to put their differences aside. The song “Popular” shows all Glinda tries to do to help Elphaba thrive in the world despite looking peculiar to other people while also showing her pompous attitude, which is a trait she carries around with her no matter who she is with. And while the song mostly stays the same, Ariana adds in riffs that make the song sound like something to be played during a peppy sleepover, more than even the musical version.
A lot of the songs throughout the movie are a bit longer as scenes from the musical added in between are longer to create tension, moments of blossoming friendships, and moments of being vulnerable, which creates most of the emotion throughout the show.
For example, in “Dancing Through Life,” Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) discusses the troubles of education and his lack of caring for the rules because of it, which leads to him bending the rules, inviting everyone to come to a party in a part of Shiz, closed off from students which creates lots of moments that start friendships and cause situations that will lead to consequences happening in part 2. Now that we’re talking about “Dancing Through Life,” I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention the dancing. Whether it be the dancing around or in the rotating mechanism that moves library cases, or in the watery depths of the OZ Dust Ballroom, it is splendid to look at through and through. The cleanliness of the moves shows and helps create the story being told in the song.
Despite being 2 hours and 40 minutes, the movie has such a great pace and is just fun to watch. Your time in the theater feels about half of the allotted runtime. There are only a few scenes that drag on. But these scenes I mention are ones part of the plot in the musical itself that I also didn’t care for, so it is not without reason. In my opinion, not every movie can be perfect.
Seeing the movie adaptions of the different characters such as Fiyero, Glinda, Elphaba, Boq (Ethan Slater), Nessarose, and especially Doctor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), who is a goat professor who is struggling with the current state of talking animals in OZ and the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) whose character may be hiding ulterior motives are great to see. They all contribute to the movie and do things that move the plot forward and lead to the events of the movie’s second part. As much as you might hate some of the characters, they have all been acted to almost perfection, bringing the characters from Schwartz’s musical to life.
Holzman’s writing and the dialogue she brings to the script are so comedic and typical of university students. However, she balances the script with bittersweet moments and those that are deep when necessary.
Watching everything in Shiz leading up to the climax is great. The whole finale of the movie is a spectacle to view. You have plot twists and cameos galore, and the stunning cinematography and vocals included in “Defying Gravity” are a great way to build up to the final note of the song, which ends with chaos and mayhem, the sky turning gray hues of green lightning striking harshly, which when finished signal the to-be continued for the movie. You cry, feel angry, and are pumped up when the title card pops up. That was my internal experience, at least. Knowing that the movie’s second part won’t be released until next year, you feel the pain. You are excited to see more despite already watching almost three hours of content, and that is a good thing. Right?
If you are a fan of the Wicked musical, just a fan of the world of Oz in itself, or even just a fan of musicals, you should definitely get your tickets to see Wicked. Tickets are selling out quickly; the hype is real. Just be prepared to get emotionally punched in the gut. Laugh! Feel nostalgic. The musical deserves it. You deserve to feel as such.
Your going to have a wicked good time with the movie just like I did. Now on to the scoring:
I give Wicked a 9.2/10 (Amazing)
For a sneak peek of what to expect when you see it in theaters or for those on the fence: