Every film in moviedom owes a debt of gratitude to The Wizard of Oz. And they know it, with about 1 in 5 movies referring directly to The Wizard of Oz in one form or another. Whilst I’ve seen an Australian version of the musical Wicked, and considered that it sucked, I’m more worried about the time of year that this Wicked: Part 1 has been released in theatres. The big December blockbuster hasn’t been kind to me in recent years 😢 Avatar: The Way of Water was a big blue disappointment, and the less said about the hatchet job taken to the back of 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the better. Yet, although I’ve been underwhelmed by Wicked on stage, it was mostly due to the show’s second half, and since this movie promises to deliver solely on the material prior to intermission, it’s at least dealing in the better content. I really like Ariana Grande, as an actress – she may be a sexual diva on the pop stage, but she’s not afraid to be the butt of a joke when acting, as she’s proven across Sam & Cat, SNL, and the Hairspray Live! performance, as best friend Penny 🤗 Cynthia Erivo – well, she hasn’t made a good impression, getting her conical crown in a knot over fan art. And as for the press tour in general… what has that been, other than highly memeable? If this movie is bad, I know I’ll be groaning over modern Hollywood mistreating our universal toys. But if Wicked is good, well, I may just be uplifted and crying in the isles like everyone else. Bring out the green and pink, and let’s see what I think 💚💗
“Let the joyous news be spread! The wicked old witch at last is dead!” Yes, the compass isn’t fairing too well with witches lately; 0 for 2 on the East and West of Oz 😮 Glinda the Good Witch (Ariana Grande) brings the happy news to Munchkin Land, as Dorothy Gale is seen completing her journey. But wait! A simple munchkin child asks Glinda about rumours that she was once friends with Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West (Cynthia Erivo). This leads to Glinda detailing an elaborate backstory, of when Elphaba and Glinda both attended Shiz University, and formed a common bond while forced to room together, despite starting out as enemies. Through their time there, Elphaba displays an innate gift for magic, while Glinda struggles to be as worthy, despite being popular (🎶 pop-U-lar 🎶). Glinda helps Elphaba be accepted by her classmates, since she has always been green, and ostracized for it. But a fork in the road of their destinies is coming down the pike, where one will maintain the status quo, and the other will be forever maligned as wicked.
Oh where, oh where to begin? I think I’ll start with my stream of consciousness, and end with massive compliments 😁 I’m still on the backfoot about Wicked being anything more substantial than a widely embraced fanfic. Yet, I’ve welcomed some intriguing fanfic in recent years, from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, to Terminator: Dark Fate. Fanfic, to me, is something that stares at a finished and established property, and asks, “what if?”. It’s like a treehouse in the backyard – it’s not really an extension of the house, but it is another room on the property. I only bring this up to inform you on how I might distinguish Wicked in my mind; how I can separate it, or choose to dismiss it entirely, from the events of The Wizard of Oz. Because people are watching Wicked, and now saying, “see, the Wicked Witch of the West wasn’t that bad all along”, with a smug arrogance I just want to poison with poppies. But I won’t be denying that the Wicked Witch of the West tried to murder Dorothy and her crew, multiple times(!), during The Wizard of Oz, and I’m not ready to unsee that. How does Elphaba care so deeply about animals, when she literally set to drown Toto in 1939? The famous line is, “I’ll get you, my pretty. And you’re little dog too!”, not, “I’ll get you, my pretty… but I’ll make sure your dog is well tended to, where hopefully, in time, he will learn to speak again” 😏 But, I know, I know, perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself, and there’s definitely things from the stage show of Wicked that I am forgetting, where the upcoming Wicked: Part 2 might be able to stitch together my woes seamlessly. I also have questions about how the silver slippers are supposedly magical, when they just seem like regular shoes at the moment – but all in good time, all in good time.
My biggest major revelation that I had during this movie is how I think we need to invent a new term, for a new genre – a girl genre. I got to thinking, around the transfixing dance sequence that unites our two leads, that this movie really isn’t plot heavy. That can usually be a criticism, but Wicked was still excelling on its own terms. The visual design, both through choreography and set, is exemplary, and Jon M. Chu’s direction intends to specifically focus on the minutia of character’s movements and design attributes to help inform this story – it’s really something to behold. But through Barbie, and now Wicked, I think we are seeing a new cinematic stream, in the female blockbuster; movies that are whipping up a frenzy, and making massive amounts of money, with a focus mostly on girly ideas and interpersonal relationships. This isn’t sexist, because looking back, I would have to ascribe 2013’s ‘Wizard of Oz prequel, Oz: The Great and Powerful, as having a male predisposition, as James Franco’s Wizard lands in Oz with unearned bravado, and attracts the witches while saving the day. Yet when I think about The Wizard of Oz, I don’t see it as coded for one persons or another, but family entertainment for all ages! Isn’t it great to see predominately women united and excited for an upcoming sequel? Men have had action packed franchises giving us more and more, coming out of our wazoo, for decades.
But with any venture inadvertently (or intentionally) leaning towards a particular designation, I wonder if it’s perspective that leads a movie to miss potential holes in logic. I have two things, two complaints, about what I think the movie leaves out that lets down the overall story. Firstly, there’s no real investigation into the animal drama, other than to show that it’s happening. Elphaba is shocked that Professor Dillamond (voiced by Peter Dinklage) is carried away, but apart from freeing the lion cub, there are no follow up questions as to how or why the school has allowed this to happen. And I get it; the movie is somewhat protecting itself, so the reveal that the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) are leading the charge, can stay dry until later; but it also makes Elphaba look absent minded in her outrage if the matter isn’t actioned. There’s really a simple solution actually, in which Elphaba demands clarity at her next private lesson with Madame Morrible, and Morrible reservedly agrees that it is a shame, but nothing can be done, and focusing on Elphaba’s studies to align with the Wizard is the only way for her to improve her destiny. This doesn’t change the movie at all, other than to show Elphaba acting on her morals, and also how Morrible is even more deceitful than we already find her out to be. In so much as this, and all I’ve said above, this train of thought really just made me grateful for the Harry Potter movies, that are able to focus on developing meaningful relationships as well as the chosen mystery of the year too, something Wicked neglects to get the balance right.
Another logical hole that comes into play concerns how we don’t know Glinda’s ambition. We know she wants to be a sorcerer. We know she adores being popular. But we don’t know what she plans to do with her future. We know that Elphaba dreams to be alongside the Wizard – there’s a whole song about it – and a simple fix would be to make it clearer that Glinda wants to be in with the Wizard too. It makes Elphaba’s last-minute decision to have Glinda come along with her to Emerald City less flippant too, if she knows it’s a deep desire for Glinda too. The problem comes in at the end, when our two friends must split. Because why isn’t Glinda as outraged as Elphaba that their elders are lying to them, and causing great harm? We know Glinda doesn’t care about the animals as much as Elphaba, but she does care that Elphaba is upset. Glinda telling Elphaba she should button up and just go along with the Wizard, is hollower than it needs to be because we don’t know Glinda’s ambition. Glinda becomes the perfect patsy for the Wizard and Morrible, because she is unthinking, more concerned with protecting her elite status than siding with her friend. But if Glinda also saw that her only opportunity to cozy up to true power was by denouncing her best friend, then that would hit home harder than her just not wanting to cause a rift. It’s a nice touch that the movie brings, in having Morrible only show Glinda any ounce of affection right at the end, since she is now useful, but I just think Glinda’s character development could be stronger.
Now for the accolades! I do think director Jon. M. Chu deserves a massive acknowledgement for bringing all in this movie together. There is an enormous amount of heart in this movie, that can only be said to be channeled by the director – the supporting cast, the main performances, the dedication to design, and capturing of elements, from big to small, “holding space” for all of it on camera. Specifically, I thought the recreation of the Wizard’s chamber was an impressive spectacle, where it could’ve easily been disappointing, recreating such a famous landmark in cinema history – which was only one job, for all the design teams, that will probably get nominated for various awards for their work on Wicked too 😊 Ariana Grande is phenomenal, and will be in the running for all the awards. It’s a shame my mind has already concluded that Zendaya lays claim to the best performance of the year for Challengers, but there’s always time for both combatants to go to battle in my consciousness, and other organisations might respectfully disagree. But just know it’ll be a hard push for either young lady to miss out on Today Junior’s Slice Awards 😋 And Grande is such a gifted imitator, did I detect some certain hints of Kristin Chenoweth’s mannerisms within this performance, while her singing, and timing, poise and elegance, still go about making the role her own? Truly remarkable 👏 You know, I mentioned in my opener how I’ve seen an Australian version of Wicked, but to say I’ve seen Wicked with the originators, Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, would really colour my bubble; so to see them given their flowers here, with their own song, was a sight to behold. I nearly clapped in the theatre myself – another example of that M. Chu heart, and extension of gratitude ❤ Plus, I can’t remember the last time I was so genuinely in awe of an ensemble cast, through their dance and song. Their enthusiasm is so sharp, and I don’t know if it’s a result of a happy comradery in being involved in the project, or if director Chu is a workhorse, cracking the whip over and over to demand perfection. Either way, it’s a fantabulous result. Cynthia Erivo is good too – her singing is a knock-out, while she is appropriately withdrawn and abrasive in her characterisation, just not as flashy as Grande’s Glinda. Jeff Goldblum’s casting is great, as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and I really love Michelle Yeoh’s presence; both warm when necessary, and callously calculating when the time comes. Even the young male stars surprised me – Jonathan Bailey is quite charming, against all better judgement, and Ethan Slater is engaging in the generic pining nerd role he’s been given so far. Bowen Yang disgustedly pouts like a champ, so he was perfect as one half of Glinda’s catty loyal followers 😄 Lastly, I’m sure this is more a compliment to the original source material, but I just love the appropriate use of nonsense words throughout the dialogue, which fit uniformly with the style of lyrics used in the songs of The Wizard of Oz. Bravo!
It’s usually a drag when a prequel must check off certain items, like clothing that is synonymous with our characters, and how they were received. Like, “oh, this is how Elphaba got her hat”, and “this is where her broom first flew”. But, I don’t know, since the Wicked Witch of the West is such a fundamental trend-setter for the archetypical model of a witch, I guess I have more leniency for it because the modes must still be original 🤔 Yet, I’ll come at it from another angle – I really don’t need to see how the Winged Monkeys got their wings, and I’ll tell you why… Dorothy arrives in Oz in 1939; a mysterious wonderous land, and the fact that there are winged monkeys in this place is an absolute marvel. Knowing years later, that, “well, the monkeys were just normal chimpanzees, and it’s the Wicked Witch of the West that put a spell on them to give them wings” doesn’t enhance the magic of first seeing them for me, and reduces the wonder. I actually feel like there’s less magic in Oz than I would’ve imagined, according to Wicked. But people do lap up this Riverdale‘d version of Oz, or ‘Hunger Games contextualization, that explores the systematic oligarch of the land – I’m just old enough to remember when Oz was about a little girl’s journey to get home 😐 All in all, I’m tempted to rate this movie somewhere between a 3.5 and 4.0, but must boost it up to the higher mark, just simply swept up in the Wicked fanfare like everyone else. No tears though – I saw a Tik Tok where a reluctant boyfriend ends up crying through the credits because Wicked is just so, so, good 🙄 It makes me wonder if any of these fan reactions are guerilla marketing, and I’m sure some of them are. I actually chuckled to myself when Elphaba goes to fly away from adversaries only to return once or twice to belt out another defiant line of “Defying Gravity” 😄 It’s like, “witch, weren’t you escaping?!” Now we await Wicked: Part 2.
4.0
Leave a Reply