WICKED - Part One

The Broadway sensation gets a spectacular movie version in Wicked – Part One but amid the sumptuous visuals and the loud power ballads Cynthia Erivo’s powerful performance gets somewhat lost.

I’m not going to compare Wicked with 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, as that would be a losing battle for any movie. I will not compare it to the lavish musical adaptations of the sixties, for that would be too high of a bar to clear. Yet despite some undeniable merits, even compared to Broadway-to-film transfers in the past two decades, the picture is hardly leading the pack.

For those who have been living under a stone for the past twenty years: Wicked serves as a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, recounting how insecure green-hued student Elphaba transformed into the vengeful Wicked Witch of the West, who has a complex friendship with ‘good witch’ Glinda.

With its ‘witch university’ setting Wicked – Part One plays out like a mix between Harry Potter and a bitchy teen movie but there is little magic in the generic, predictable narrative. While the visuals are surprisingly okay for a CGI onslaught, it takes the movie way too long to get going. Scenes are stretched out needlessly, many songs add precious little emotion or momentum, and the morals are painted in loud broad strokes.

Another problem is the uneven balance between Cynthia Erivo and Ariane Grande. While Grande copes decently as Glinda – admittedly a role that was written with a minimum of nuance – she is blown off the screen by Erivo, who is scintillating as an Elphaba you cannot help but root for, even if director Jon M. Chu moves the camera a bit too much to give her the emotional resonance she deserves.

Still, despite Wicked’s flaws, the film still builds towards an engaging, much more focused third act, where the Wizard of Oz himself shows up – played by a perfectly cast Jeff Goldblum – and the scene is rousingly set for the second part of the story, which lands next November in cinemas.

release: 2024

director: Jon M. Chu

starring: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum