Part one of a two-part movie that spans three hours in total for the first half of an uncompleted storyline, never has a movie like Wicked felt as long as it has. Director John M. Chu, responsible for musical bangers like In the Heights and popcorn comedy Crazy Rich Asians, tells the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good, two girls who will be key players in The Wizard of Oz, one of the most important films ever made. This aims to give depth to Elphaba, an ostracized but defiant girl born with green skin – whilst also fleshing out Glinda’s Galinda, an aristocrat born popular and into a lifetime of privilege.
The film is very much aware of its status as an origin story. You get to see how the Wicked Witch of the West got her broomstick, flying monkeys, hat, down to the letter – and how the wizard of Oz made the yellow brick road. It’s a film that takes away some of the mysteries best left unanswered in The Wizard of Oz, and is determined to stretch out its runtime for every single one. Yet it’s not even a complete origin story – part one of a sequel that doesn’t arrive until next year leaves you feeling very much cheated in the same way Across the Spider-Verse felt, with the source material it draws from – the broadway 2003 theatre play adds more colour to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and opens, after the events of the book and the film. Glinda the Good arrives at the Munchkin village to confirm their hopes – the Wicked Witch of the Witch is dead – but there is more to her than that, and they were friends once. So what follows is Glinda’s point of view; despite the narrative being told mainly from Elphaba’s perspective.
I’d envy anyone who tries to turn to this – and especially this – musical from stage to screen but it’s a credit to John M Chu that it almost works. The songs by Stephen Shwartz are earnest, rousing and show-stopping – Defying Gravity is the big showpiece moment, but weirdly, it falls the flattest – the moment that it’s deployed doesn’t land with the sense of liberation and freedom that it needs, instead feeling like the film has to end somewhere. It aims for big ideas – bullying is a key theme of the first half, but there’s also that of populism, the need for people to have someone to blame, the demonisation of a difference and corrupt leaders that is, very surface level, but very timely. It shows signs of greater depth – lingering just beneath the surface – using Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West but giving it a Harry Potter-style coating. Elphaba is played with rich agency by Erivo who is utterly terrific – sharing incredible chemistry with Ariana Grande, who is very good, and totally believable at showing just how vain her character is – you buy every second of her unparalleled confidence no matter how absurd it gets – and Chu doesn’t waste time in running headfirst into the insanity and leaving nothing to play. Grande in particular uses her natural fame as a popstar – albeit, one that has fallen behind the curve thanks to the sheer success of Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, Beyonce and Sabrina Carpenter in 2024 despite releasing a new album to deliver a crowd-pleasing, lavish performance that shows her gift for physical comedy that Charlie Chaplin would be proud of – even down to the hair toss, it’s timed to perfection. I'd like to see her take on more acting roles, she's treading down that well-trodden path superbly.
Her acting talents should earn her all the plaudits – she’s able to hold her own against the fantastic Erivo; who steals the spotlight in her own way – the rendition of Defying Gravity is great, if the editing choices mean it is somewhat lacklustre in execution. Her performance of Elphaba is spot on, she’s been spurned by everyone, her own father, her own sister, and knows she can never have a happy ending. In that world, she’s almost doomed from the start – circumstances of fate strip away the nostalgic romanticisation of Oz – and show it as the flawed society that led to a Wicked Witch’s rise in the first place. Remember – evil must come from somewhere; and everyone has a different perspective of it.
The supporting cast is fantastic and rightfully charismatic. Jonathan Bailey is a rogue, Elvis Presley-type boy wonder, who has the attitude of a Footloose protagonist who is introducing music to a town who can’t dance. A love triangle feels inevitable, yet at the same time, forced and awkward. Michelle Yeoh is good as a lecturer who sees potential in Elphaba, but Jeff Goldblum just turns up, does his shtick, and goes home. You know what you’re getting with him but the best thing to come out of his casting may be his attempted pronunciation of the word Cineworld in the multi-billion marketing scheme used to promote the movie. And the editing choices are where the problems lie oh, the editing choices. The colour grading is stilted and odd, too dour and grey, lacking the colour that The Wizard of Oz had, something called the Yellow Brick Road shouldn’t look boring yet it does. Emerald City barely looks like it’s worthy of the name. What the film succeeds at is turning a stage play to screen – you get added features like the colourfully named Shiz University, a Potter-like school that has its own problems, animals are on the verge of being stripped from their speaking roles and demonised in favour of being servants and kept in cages. The sole animal professor, a goat – talks about the past and why it’s so important to teach it. It’s a testament to Wicked that it feels so timely.
You need to see Wicked on the big screen to have a full effect, it’s giddy, infectious and drew applause from my screening who all seemed to love it (sans the one lone dad, who nodded off and started snoring thirty minutes in), and its effortless charm and spontaneity earns the risk of casting a popstar in the lead role; and what a performance Grande gives. It’s let down by its length however and over-indulgence, the film feels bloated and excessive in a way that Peter Jackson might even think was a bit much. So much time is spent on the university yet it’s the same structure we’ve seen in every teen drama in the past, magical or not – a Mean Girls structure without the need for being inventive or different. Watching this on the small screen will not have nearly the same impact, yet at the same time, its fans are about to watch it over and over.
Chu’s strength is in the musical numbers. The set-pieces are lavish and exciting, and the reverence for the stage musical – expect actor cameos – and The Wizard of Oz is thick, but a bit too extensive. The standard Marvel humour comes in parts, but isn’t overbearingly so, and the humour here feels purposely overbearing and awkward. But also funny – I laughed. I liked it. But… did I love it? The key issue is in how it looks – dull, devoid of colour. Indefensible when The Wizard of Oz’s flamboyant, gorgeous technicolour renders it one of the best looking American films ever made.
The film also ends with very much a “part one” feeling. There’s no resolution. There’s no storyline, there’s no conclusion. It feels like just as things are getting interesting, just as they’re moving beyond the origin stage, it’s over, yet for three hours, the film should feel shorter. The dance sequences don’t really have time to breathe and feel rushed, cut to death. The otherworldly nature of Oz doesn’t feel fantastical – they are meant to feel real, but rarely do. It’s high school drama with a different coating and you’ve seen thousands of high school dramas before – why should The Wizard of Oz be turned into yet another one? There is queer subtext here, but surface level and more effort is put in by the fans rather than the filmmakers. It never feels visually creative; and the stakes are forced and empty by the fact you inevitably know where it’s going – there’ s no tension – there’s no real intrigue.
For such a key plot point, the oppression of the talking animals is rarely tackled. It feels like it dominates more than it does of the film’s first hour or so, but quickly fades away and is forgotten about. Wicked could’ve had more to say about the current state of affairs than it does – it’s very, very surface level. It’s ultimately hard to feel satisfied because there is no resolution, it doesn’t stand on its own as a movie and it doesn’t exist as much else other than a set-up for a sequel about consequences. There’s a more creative, labyrinthically and wonderous film in here that dares to have a sense of fun – and there is evidence of that; but it is few and far between. Far too much is devoted to its need to hit an explanation for everything that doesn’t need to be explained in The Wizard of Oz, yes it’s good to have Elphaba’s story told – but there’s only so many connect-the-dots you can take. Thankfully, the musical numbers are certified bops - and it's enough material to keep you entertained despite this.
