As a wise frog
once said, it’s not easy being green. The Hulk knows it, Shrek knows it. The
Grinch had a pretty rough go of things even before the classic animated film
colored him in, but the transformation surely didn’t help matters. Elphaba of
all people should empathize with Kermit’s plight, but she should find solace in
one fact—that the film she stars in is bringing in a very different kind of
green. Wicked is, by all measurements both financial and
critical, a huge hit, and after seeing it this last weekend I completely
understand its success—Wicked is overlong, to be sure, but it is
also magical, beautiful, and well-crafted from every angle.
At two hours and forty minutes in
length, Wicked is just five minutes short of the entirety of
its Broadway parent, which would be reasonable if not for the fact that the
film is, in fact, Wicked: Part One. I actually understand and
agree with the decision to split the adaptation into two halves, because
although Wicked: Part One is not a complete story, it does at
least feel like a complete journey for our characters. One could never bother
with Part Two and still feel like Part One wrapped
things up perfectly, at least as a prequel of sorts to the original Wizard
of Oz. What I don’t agree with was the need to stretch the entire first act
into something that is in desperate need of a trimming.
But to Wicked’s credit, the
artificial bloating of the runtime is rarely annoying, as proceedings are, for
the most part, very well paced. And then there’s the fact that the film is just
very, very good.
I am not a musical aficionado by any means,
but Elphaba, Galinda, and everyone else were still able to cast an extremely
effective spell on me. The music is catchy, fun, and well-performed all around.
The visuals are stunning and colorful, fitting the world that Frank Baum
created all those years ago, and there were some interesting and cool bits in
both the cinematography and choreography that simply could not have been done
on stage. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande do wonderful jobs as Elphaba and Galinda,
the eventual friendship between the two characters bringing an authentic warmth
to the story thanks to the genuine chemistry between the two
actors. Wicked feels big, it feels joyful, and it feels
fun. It's hard to fake fun like this, leading me to believe that the people who
made this film genuinely had a good time doing so, which is always infectious
for audience members. I should mention, however, that the family I saw Wicked with
are much bigger fans of musical theater than I am and did not seem to like it
quite as much as I did, so take that as you will. But for a cranky musical
theater novice like myself Wicked: Part One was a uniquely
enjoyable time at the movies.
Wicked: Part One is now playing
in theaters.
This review was first published in the
Keizertimes on December 6th, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/
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