Film Review: Wicked (2024) (Musical)

Wicked
2024
PG
Musical

Elphaba, a young woman ridiculed for her green skin, and Galinda, a popular girl, become friends at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. After an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads.

This could be a long-ish review as I have a few things to say about this movie adaptation of the musical Wicked. First off, I was already a fan of the stage show, which I have seen three times in London. I was both pleased and nervous when I heard it would be made into a movie, especially when it became clear it would be two movies. Let's address that first. Apart from a couple of moments that felt a bit unnecessary, I actually didn't find this first movie too long, and I could understand why they wanted to include some more dialogue and backstory here and there. The only place this didn't work for me was in the song 'Defying Gravity' where I felt the impact of the song was lessened by the pauses between verses for more 'action scenes' and visual display. In other places, though, the increased scope in film as opposed to on stage worked well, such as in 'Dancing Through Life' which was visually great fun. Overall, the visual aspects, including costumes, were all good, as was most of the choreography. So, let me move to casting. I went in trying to keep an open mind and generally it was well done. Cynthia Erivo did well, and I also liked Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero. It was great, too, to see a nod to original cast members Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth in the 'One Short Day' sequence. This may be an unpopular opinion, but where I struggled a little was Ariana Grande. I had no issues with her acting, which was good, with plenty of comedy at the right moments, but her singing didn't sit quite right with me. She has an impressive vocal range and hit all her high notes with no problem, but her head voice is quite reedy without resonance, and if I hadn't known the lyrics in advance, I wouldn't have been able to clearly hear the words she was singing at times. On stage, I give this show 5 stars. As for this film, I am going to say 4.5. There were a few bits that didn't quite work for me personally, but overall, I think they did do justice to the musical and I will be interested to see the second part.