From a 1995 novel to a long-running musical, not to mention the many adaptations in between, ending up to the current theater movie, “Wicked” has had quite an amazing lifeline.
The movie has some of the most popularized songs in musical theater, and a wide spread of talented cast under its belt, the music feature has proven itself to be defying any negative critics. Wicked (2024) has been making quite a stir. The movie is presented as an adaptation of the long-running musical. As a big fan of the stage show, seeing it at the Rose, and being very interested in the story and its current events production-wise, I had high hopes for this movie.

The first thing I found of the movie was, obviously, the advertisements and the slight overabundance of it. While it made me excited and curious about the movie it did tend to get obnoxious seeing my 25th Target Wicked ad while just trying to watch YouTube. But what made me want to shine a light on it was the casting choices. While I do have no issue with the changes in race or anything like that, I did find some options to be deceptive or at least inaccurate. One of the things I grew to recognize and love about the character Glinda was her big curly hair and saturated outfits. While I see Ariana Grande as a fit vocalist, she just doesn’t come across as the defined character she plays. Though she does do a good job fitting into the role the best she can, I also just find it hard to see her as such a popular and stylized character and not “just Ariana Grande.” Though, for Cynthia Erivo, I was quite surprised with how much I loved her in the role. She encapsulated the Elphaba character quite well, though I did find her to be a bit slow with the development at points. The supporting cast was well-executed, but I adore the ensemble very much. They brought the movie-musical feel and a complete cast.

Now the actual music of the movie was gorgeous. Once I finished the movie I listened to the album over again just to catch everything and it is amazing. While I do prefer Idina Menzel’s voice, Erivo executed her vocals perfectly. Every riff felt accurate and complete, though the amount of high tones was something I’m not fond of in either production. Another surprise to me was how I liked the vocals for Fiyero more in some parts. However, some of the songs felt either too low or too high in climaxes or volume. Like, “Popular” and “I’m Not That Girl” felt a bit too anticlimactic even more in visuals. But songs like “Dancing Through Life,” “What is this Feeling?,” and “Defying Gravity” were entertaining to listen to and watch. To continue into the pure visuals of the movie, the entire time it felt a bit dull and desaturated. As someone who quite enjoyed the bright colors and effects in the stage production, it seemed to be not as prominent at all in the movie. I understand how movies will always convey a bit more difference than the actual lights and movement of being in a theater, but I found it a bit of a bore to see, especially the darker scenes. As for the choreography, it came off as very choppy and unimpressive sometimes. But in the stunt-heavy scenes, it was very impressive to see and hear the true execution of the scene’s audio and adaptations of the events in the show.
Overall I do find the movie to adapt the musical in a new perspective with some great elements. I did enjoy it, and while surprised by some things, it was a bit worse than I had expected previously. But, as a fan of a lot of bad musical movies, Wicked does live up to its predecessor and execute itself and its goal quite well. I’ll be excited to see how well they do with the second part. Wicked (2024) is a great watch for the musical’s lovers and people looking for an emotional, fun watch. After all, it did prove to be pretty Popular.