Wicked is the second big-screen musical that serves as an origin story for one of the media’s greatest villains. That isn’t a lot, but it’s weird we’ve gotten two this year. And Wicked is far superior in almost every way to this year’s Joker Folie a Duex.

Wicked tells the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West. The water melting, flying monkey taming, evil green witch from the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard of Oz is an almost perfect film and adding to this story’s mythos is a large task. The 2003 musical is an adaptation of a 1995 novel that follows the same story. But like the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, Wicked the musical has far surpassed its source material in popularity. Wicked is sure to be one of this year’s biggest hits and few musicals have come to life so seamlessly on the big screen.

Pop-u-lar

Wicked acts as a prequel to the events of The Wizard of Oz. The film follows a young green witch named Elphaba and her frienemy turned BFF Glinda. The future good witch of the north. Cynthia Erivo plays Elphaba while Ariana Grande gets the role of Glinda and both actresses are perfecting casting choices. These characters and roles have already become iconic. Thanks in no small part to their portrayals by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth respectively in the play’s initial Broadway run. Stepping into each witch’s shoes is no small feat but the two leads nail their portrayals.

Adapting a musical for the screen comes with a host of unique challenges, and the results can vary from Oscar contention to midnight movie farce. Stepping into the shoes and hat of these iconic characters could have resulted in disaster but fortunately Erivo and Grande do such a stellar job that they will no doubt become synonymous with the characters in the years to come.

The Music of Wicked

Wicked is first and foremost a musical. A few recent musical adaptations, notably the latest Mean Girls adaptation, have attempted to hide the fact that their film is a musical. Wicked is unabashedly a musical. The film packs musical numbers wall to wall in its two-hour and forty-one-minute runtime. Wicked doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to musical numbers, but it performs them better than almost any film in recent memory.

Wicked does have the advantage of featuring some already well-known songs. The original Broadway cast recording is a double platinum record with songs like Popular and Defying Gravity branching into the cultural zeitgeist. This could have been a double-edged sword with the original recordings already being so well known, but the vocal performances from the two leads are just as good as the original casts.

The Wonderful World of Oz

Wicked is a fantastic stage production, but the film allows for bigger and grander set pieces in the world of Oz. This film features some truly magnificent-looking sets from the Emerald City to Shiz, the school Elphaba and Glinda attend. Being able to move freely throughout this world and not being stuck behind a fourth wall does a great deal for the visual storytelling of Wicked.

Every set feels both grand and earned. The Wizard of Oz is often remembered for the epic feeling of scale the filmmakers were able to create in 1939. Wicked does the same for audiences in 2024. Oz feels like a grand utopian world where magic exists and good triumphs over evil.

The Wizard and I

The general plot of Wicked is the same as its Broadway production and this film only follows the musical’s first act. That’s surprising given the film’s steep runtime but fortunately, the film never overstays its welcome. Two hours and forty minutes is a lot of time to ask for an audience. But Wicked remains entertaining throughout its entirety.

Much like the play Wicked the film deals with larger themes of racism and perceived power. There is a B-plot line that follows talking animals facing discrimination in Oz, and due to the nature of the film being in two parts, this plot line is never resolved. Elphaba is given an audience with the wizard to voice her concerns, but if you’re familiar with the 1939 film, you probably already know the wizard doesn’t have as much power as people may think. It’s an interesting thread that is fully resolved in the second act but it does make this first film feel a bit incomplete.

Elphaba and Glinda

Elphaba and Glinda are the main stars of this film, and it’s their relationship that’s front and center. The two begin the film as unlikely roommates who borderline despise each other. Grande does a great job portraying the ever-perky Glinda, formerly known as Gah-linda, and Erivo is fantastic as the chip-on-her-shoulder green outcast.

The two have incredible onscreen chemistry and it’s a blast watching their relationship blossom on screen. Wicked plays around with some larger themes but the best one here is the theme of friendship and acceptance. Both characters have their flaws but neither witch tries to change the other. Once they accept the other for who they are, they stop seeing their quirks as flaws but instead as charms.

The Cast of Oz

One drawback of both the play and the film is the lack of any strong supporting characters. The Wizard of Oz has some iconic supporting characters in the Tin Man, Lion, and Scarecrow but Wicked focuses solely on the two leads. The film attempts to add some flavor to the supporting cast with Jonathan Bailey playing a sort of dual love interest for the witches and Bowen Yang as the snarky friend but it falls kind of flat. This is a story about Glinda and Elphaba, and everyone else just sort of feels like background noise.

The background characters may just be a victim of the film’s source material. Erivo and Grande are the only ones aside from Jeff Gloudbum as the Wizard who get a real musical number and any attempt to shoehorn in new songs would feel disingenuous. Still, the film feels lacking when it comes to the citizens of Oz.

Defying Gravity

The true standout and the reason to go see the film are the musical numbers. Some of the songs have been extended for the screen but they are almost all bangers. Defying Gravity is still an incredible song and it sounds amazing with Grande and Erivo handling lead vocals. I’m not sure if they used the original recordings’ orchestration, but the music behind the vocals also sounds incredible, and Wicked is a film that should be seen and heard in theaters.

Wicked is a triumph on almost all fronts. I went into this movie with low expectations and the film blew me away. As someone who is not a huge fan of musicals the thought of an almost three-hour musical that only tells half a story was not appealing. Wicked made a believer out of me and I am thoroughly excited for the final act.