Info on Wicked:
Director: Jon M. Chu
Writer: Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, and Gregory Maguire
Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum
Hello and welcome back to another wicked week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. It’s officially December, and my household is in full-on Holiday mode at this point. We’ve already watched “Love, Actually”, “Home Alone”, and “Christmas Vacation”. Those are all classics, but this week I’m here to discuss a rather big movie premiere that just happened. Yes, I am going to discuss “Wicked”. Apparently, this movie is a big deal right now and I just found out it was a musical first? I’m kidding of course… I am mindless after all. I visited an Alamo Drafthouse for this one and that is a good time in itself… I highly recommend you stop by one if you have one close. There will be spoilers ahead for the few of you who haven’t seen it yet, so don’t make me the villain here if you find out what happened and don’t want to know yet.
Ok, for everyone else, thanks for continuing to read. “Wicked” is the movie that was adapted from the musical (Holzman and Fox), which was originally adapted from a book (Maguire). But, the whole thing started way back in 1900 when L. Frank Baum wrote the original “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. Since then, there have been multiple versions of his story to come out, but none has been more popular (until now) than the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz”. From that moment forward, everyone knew who the characters were. Dorthy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Cowardly Lion were household names, but who would have thought that the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda would “star” on a Broadway play that would make them the modern stars of this Intellectual Property?
Enough about the past… let’s get to the present. I have to admit, I knew almost nothing about the play before I watched the movie, so all of my opinions came from me watching the film this week and not from any interaction in the past. “Wicked” starts off almost immediately where “The Wizard of Oz” ends. The witch has just had water dumped on her, Dorthy has the broom, and Glida (Grande) goes to visit Munchkin Land to tell them the news. While she is there, some of the citizens are asking her questions which spurns a memory of how she first met Elphaba (Erivo).
This is where the heart of the movie really starts. Both Glinda (it’s still Galinda for now) and Elphaba go to the same school, Shiz University. Glinda is super popular and already has a ton of followers and friends. Elphaba on the other hand has nobody but Nessarose (Marissa Bode) her sister (even her dad doesn’t like her)… but her sister doesn’t want her around because she doesn’t want to be embarrassed by her. Madame Morrible (Yeoh) sees the magic that Elphaba has, she can’t wait to enlist her into her very exclusive training class…the same class that Glinda can’t get into. The two end up becoming roommates, which makes for some funny back-and-forths between the two. But the fun rivalry soon becomes full-on hatred as the two are constantly at each other.
One day, Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) shows up and is intrigued by Elphaba when he meets her in the jungle (she doesn’t return the intrigue). Glinda is immediately smitten by him and the two are a fast couple. The next major story change happens when Glinda (trying to be mean), gives Elphaba what she thinks is an ugly hat and invites her to a party. Elphaba returns the favor by getting her into Morrible’s class. When everyone starts to make fun of her at the party, Glinda steps in and makes her feel comfortable. The two young ladies end up becoming good friends and seem to have a pretty good relationship. For the first time in her life, Elphaba is in a good place. She has friends and her future is looking great since she just got an invitation to meet the Wizard (Goldblum).
She takes Glinda with her on her trip to the Emerald City and the two girls are in awe at the splendor of the place. Actually, I thought it looked rather neat myself on the big screen… definitely better than the backdrop look of the 1939 version. Also… kudos to whoever put Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth in cameos. I didn’t know it at the time but was reading about their roles in the original Broadway performances, so that was a fun touch. Eventually, they make it to the castle and get in to meet the Wizard.
Goldblum (as usual) is great in his role here. Playing the Wizard of Oz as he should be played. He is all-powerful, but yet knows he has no power. A little absent-minded, and somehow still full of himself. However, this is where we find out that he may not be a great man after all. As Morrible shows up, they convince Elphaba to read from the Grimmerie (A powerful spell book that the Wizard can’t even read from). Morrible and the Wizard are working together to rid Oz of all talking animals (just like one of Elphaba’s favorite teachers) and they want her to assist.
When she resists, she and Glinda go on the run. While the guards and the newly flying monkeys are after them, they almost escape in the famous balloon that the Wizard flew into Oz. In the end, Elphaba escapes without Glinda, then Morrible and the Wizard put her name out as the one causing all the chaos, including changing all the monkeys. So, even though they didn’t get her help, they now had a common enemy. As Morrible embraces Glinda, Elphaba flies away and we see the words “To Be Continued”.
So, some thoughts on this film. It wasn’t that bad. I’m not a big fan of musicals so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I rather enjoyed most of it. I do have a slight problem with stories that turn a villain into a hero or writing a back story that makes the villain misunderstood or like they were forced into evil by the character we always thought was good. “Wicked” continues that recent troupe and even though it’s done well, I didn’t love it. Overall, it is a good addition to the legend of Oz and all the characters within and it’s a good family movie… especially on a cold day since it pushes three hours long.
I hope you don’t think I’m too wicked, but I give this a 6 out of 10. Lots was going on, but it wasn’t hard to follow. I just felt like it could have added more Wizard and Emerald City stuff. You have Jeff Goldblum… use him.
Thanks for sticking around till the end of this. I want to know your thoughts on this too. If you’ve seen it, what are your thoughts in relation to the play? Are they similar? Did you like it more or less than you thought you would? I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you enjoyed the movie. I will be back next week for another mindless movie review of some sort. In the meantime, please feel free to visit my homepage to check out my other reviews. Thanks and see you next week.
