Wicked, Directed by Jon M. Chu, is the new film adaptation of the beloved Broadway play and book by the same name. Starring Cynthia Ervio and Ariana Grande, this movie does a great job of honoring the Wizard of Oz universe while making new strides in this world and the type of stories that can be told. As someone who hasn’t seen the original play or read the book, I can confidently say it lived up to the hype surrounding it.

Starting with the two lead performances in this movie, I was surprised by how excellent both actors were. Ariana Grande does a great job of portraying a lovable and hateable character at the same time, and her on-screen chemistry with almost all of the other cast members is unmatched in the movie. Cynthia Ervio shows off a lot of her acting chops throughout this movie and is great at bringing her emotions to the forefront and we can see how they impact her character and her decisions. This allows for an instant connection to a very likable main character. The times when both Ervio and Grande were on screen together were by far my favorite moments, and this movie did a good job of easing into their friendship and then putting tension on it. The idea of two people who used to be best friends, then becoming enemies in a prequel movie is something we saw earlier this year with Transformers: One, but I can confidently say this movie executes it so much better. 

The majority of this movie (and the play/book it’s based on) focuses on re-telling the story of the Wicked Witch of the West, an iconic villain from one of the most famous movies of all time. This story re-contextualizes the character of the Wicked Witch and clarifies she may not be as “Wicked” as her name implies. Elphaba (The Wicked Witch) deals with struggle all her life and continually pushes down her feelings of discontent and anger towards her mistreatment. Whether it’s a complete stranger or her own father, Elphaba has to put in more effort to be accepted because of her natural green skin tone.  A lot of the emotional beats from this movie come from watching someone with such pure intentions get put through the wringer simply because she looks different than others. Elphaba consistently makes the right call (especially when others cannot) throughout the film, yet because she is a minority, she is ignored until it is too late. Then, the blame is placed on her, and she is turned into a villain in the eyes of the people.  While not an unfamiliar theme in the film, the idea that Oz created its own monster just through discrimination and false information, is a very interesting concept that calls into question the context of the rest of Oz universe. I want to re-watch the original after this movie, with the new perspective, because I think the added layer of sympathy for the (possibly not so) Wicked Witch could make the movie more rich and enjoyable.

Visually this movie is gorgeous. The idea to emphasize the contrast of Pink and Green and have them present in almost every frame of the movie, regardless of whether their corresponding characters (Glinda=Pink Elphaba=Green) are on screen, was really cool. I loved the world they built out with these characters and the ability to see Oz through a new light after years since it’s been on the big screen. Again to compare this to another recent movie, this year’s Christmas blockbuster: Red One had over 100 million dollars more of a budget, and yet it didn’t look anywhere near as good as Wicked did. I think this is due, in part, to the countless physical sets built for this movie. You can tell by the production value just how much everyone truly cared about this film being made properly. Even from press interviews, it seems clear this movie was truly a love letter to Broadway and the artistry of musicals.

Speaking of music, this movie had some bangers. One benefit I did have going into this movie, as I mentioned earlier, was that I had not seen or heard the original musical. So this was my first time hearing a lot of these songs, and without having the originals to compare it to I thought they were all great. The cast in this movie really knew how to sing, especially Ervio and Grande, so the songs never felt boring or dreaded. The music wasn’t too overproduced, as some Hollywood musicals tend to be, and all the dances were well choreographed. 

In the end, this movie is an emotional, enjoyable, and epic musical that I would recommend taking the whole family to see. My one criticism would be the run time, this movie was very long (coming in at 2 hours and 40 minutes) and it is only part one. Part two, which is expected to be released a year from now, is definitely on my list of highly anticipated movies after this one. I would rate Wicked: Part One a 4.5 out of 5.