CGI Blockbuster visuals aside, there’s much to love in Jon M Chu’s adaptation of one of Broadway’s biggest musical successes.
The streets are abuzz and with the burning of a Guy Fawkes-esque effigy, Glinda the Good Witch (Ariana Grande), brings news that the Wicked Witch, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), is dead. As she is about to float away, a citizen asks about her past in the company of the notorious villain, and we are sent soaring back into Glinda’s schooltime reveries.
This Wizard of Oz prequel arrives on the back of a lengthy theatre run and has been the subject of the biggest For The Girls™ marketing campaign this side of Barbie, with pink and green adorning everything from lip balms to the Arc de Triomphe, so expectations are high.
Born with green skin, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is treated with scorn by peers, and her anger manifests in uncontrolled levitation. As she escorts her wheelchair-user sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) to Shiz University, her power unleashes itself, catching the eye of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), a sorcery professor who takes Elphaba under her wing. Galinda, a spoiled, preppy girl, watches with jealousy, and as the polar opposite students become roommates, a rivalry begins.
Reverting to her theatre kid youth, Ariana Grande sings Wicked’s songs magnificently. Though her abilities as an impressionist can be her downfall, she sounds almost eerily like stage predecessor Kristin Chenoweth with the song ‘Popular’ – plus, her innate comedy skills serve her surprisingly well. A vision in pale pink, she trills, flounces and preens, matchmaking and makeovering her way into a rich movie legacy of iconic high school blondes. Even as she runs away in fear in one scene, she tosses her hair, and she embodies a shallow altruistic, #woke personality that seldom fails to entertain.
The filmmaking enhances every move Grande makes, from the expressions of sidekick Bowen Yang to the clever split screening during ‘What Is This Feeling?’. Likewise, co-star Jonathan Bailey thrives as a roguish flirt, especially in ‘Dancing Through Life’, as he bounds through a clocktower library, twirling everyone in his vicinity. Juxtaposed with quiet moments of cutting through Elphaba’s defensiveness, Bailey opens out the layers of Prince Fiyero’s personality like an onion.
Cynthia Erivo puts her heart and soul into every solo and that effort is evident in every scene. She makes the trickiest numbers look like a breeze, reminding viewers why she is halfway to an EGOT. Her chemistry with Grande is unmatched as they gaze loathingly and lovingly into each other’s eyes. Together they rise to the challenge of inhabiting such beloved characters.
From Step Up 2: The Streets, to In the Heights, director Jon M Chu was born ready for the uphill task of understanding the dynamism needed to flit between intimate moments in each number, to filling the screen with impressive choreography. The end credits are filled with pages and pages of dancers. Nessarose’s wheelchair dancing with Boq and Elphaba’s entrancing bird-like interpretive dance during a scene set at a ball are particularly triumphant.
Though the run time may seem excessive (two hours and 40 minutes?!), it is a testament to Chu and his team’s care that each musical number is carefully built up and celebrated with elaborate set pieces. And, most importantly, each is given a pause thereafter to allow the emotional impact to sink in. Animal characters played by Peter Dinklage and Sharon D Clarke both provide a comforting presence during the downtime, while also adding to the grief at the heart of Wicked’s conspiracy.
The production design, especially of the Venetian palace that is the university (which seems to be entirely wheelchair accessible, perhaps the spiral staircases are ramps?) is gorgeous, with tiny details like hummingbirds ringing bells that all add up to a stunning little world. Likewise, the costume design features some fabulous skirts that look like party dress petals and the dresses in Emerald City are akin to concertina Christmas baubles.
However, the film suffers from a slightly washed out 2020s CGI Blockbuster aesthetic that dulls its shine. There is plenty of colour, but while the Broadway costumes feature sparkles galore and pay homage to its ’00s origins with camp flamboyance, this modern iteration is pared back. Though the calligraphy of the title credits hark back to the older film’s Technicolor time, that vibrancy doesn’t quite hit the same.
Yet there is much to love about Wicked, with the promise of innovation in Part II, which is shorter and quite rushed in the play. Yeoh redeems herself after a similar role in Paul Feig’s 2022 fantasy film, School for Good and Evil, and every solid aspect of the great dialogue from the play is given its due diligence. It has been a long production journey, but reaching the end of this winding yellow brick road has yielded movie gold.
Little White Lies is committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them.
Published 21 Nov 2024
Musical theatre and pop fans are generally feral and the higher the stakes, the worse my trepidation.
The big screen spectacle and the audience energy swept me away.
Cinema employees ask me to leave because it’s “not out yet” but I’m simply too seated for Part II.
The glorious, all-American fantasy land of Oz retains its power to charm despite a few questionable ideas.
Did a member of the supporting cast really commit suicide on the set of MGM’s classic musical?
New York is teeming with sweaty, joyous life in the exuberant musical from Crazy Rich Asians’ Jon M Chu.
Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
