Wicked (2024 film)
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Wicked is a 2024 American musical fantasy film directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. It is the first of a two-part film adaptation of the stage musical Wicked by Stephen Schwartz and Holzman. The film is loosely based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel, which is based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, its sequels, and its 1939 film adaptation.
Plot
Misunderstood by her green skin, a young woman named Elphaba (portrayed by Cynthia Erivo) forges an unlikely but profound friendship with Glinda (portrayed by Ariana Grande), a student with an unflinching desire for popularity. Following an encounter with the Wizard of Oz, their relationship soon reaches a crossroads as their lives take very different paths.
Why It Defys Gravity
- It's 100% faithful to the musical and novel the film is based on, with great references to said musical and the novel.
- Awesome acting performances, with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, bringing charisma to their characters since they sound wonderful, including their singing. It's also worth mentioning that they were perfectly cast as Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia) and Glinda Upland (Ariana), respectively.
- The soundtrack is quite nice, bringing faithfulness to its source material since there's a lot of incredible singing in the songs.
- A colorful cast of likable characters, especially Glinda and Elphaba, who have great chemistry together.
- The lighting is gorgeous and a massive upgrade from many Universal Pictures films.
- The posters are very creative and great, especially the recreations, such as the original musical one, which, although controversial, actually showed that the recreations reference the source material, so it shows faithfulness for the source material.
- In this case, the aforementioned poster recreation of the musical makes Elphaba's lips green instead of red and her eyes are shown.
- Beautiful visuals thanks to the practical sets, and only does the CGI when necessary, such as the flying monkeys.
- Great directing done by Jon M. Chu, who previously directed the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians which saw a massive improvement after the previous films he directed.
- Amazing editing that makes watching the scenes feel very smooth.
- Songs from the first part of the musical are beautiful from "Popular", "What Is This Feeling", "One Short Day", and the iconic "Defying Gravity".
- Dozens of references based on the original film such as both the ruby and classic silver slippers in the film, the bike scene reminiscent of Margaret Hamilton's version in the 1939 film, the sleeping flowers, the tune of Somewhere Over the Rainbow in Defying Gravity.
- Not to mention, The Universal opening and the film title is a good homage to the 1939 film.
- This film, like the musical, goes to show, that everyone is neither good or bad, they're on Morally Grey
- Boq pretends to in love with Nessarose for the ball
- Glinda's perspective to give attention for example as she pretends to take care of Doctor Dillamond
- The way Madame Morrible sees Elphaba's powers are remarkable just to send to the Wizard of Oz, but soon, we found out she, alongside the Wizard, uses her for her power.
- Just like the original 1939 film, rumors speculated this is allegory of fascism, not only just an exclusion of smaller groups, the animals, just like Doctor Dillamond), but to see how one individual got used from one leader, The Wizard's attempt to use Elphaba because she's the one to know about the Grimmerie after she cast a spell for flying monkeys.
- Unexpected and fantastic cameos from the original main cast like Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth during One Short Day
Loathing Qualities
- Similar to many other movies, the film's runtime of 160 minutes (2 hours and 40 minutes) clocks in for that long, and at times, can make it a bore to sit through.
- At the start, Glinda seems to be another mean-spirited girl cliche; however, she's developed later on, even just a bit.
- This film, while accurate to the source material, can be too dark like the flying monkey scene, despite being Rated PG.
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 376 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Defying gravity with its magical pairing of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, Wicked's sheer bravura and charm make for an irresistible invitation to Oz."[4] On Metacritic, it has a score of 73/100, based on 63 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[5] CinemaScore audiences poll gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it a 92% overall positive score, with 80% saying they would "definitely recommend" it.[6]
Entertainment Weekly's Christian Holub described the film as the "adaptation's biggest musical accomplishment" with a "B" grade.[7]
Trivia
- Eric Lange, who played Erwin Sikowitz in Dan Schiender's Victorious, shared a tweet on his Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) account on December 22, 2024, of which he said he was so insanely proud of his former student (Ariana Grande, who also portrayed Cat Valentine, in Victorious, in iCarly, and it's infamous short-lived spin-off Sam & Cat), of which he said "So insanely proud of my former “student.” I’m floored by @arianagrande in Wicked. A beautifully vulnerable, honest, funny and deeply grounded performance. You ooooze talent, my friend. I teared up watching and my family loved it. Congratulations! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤️❤️❤️".[8]
Videos
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Wicked-(2024)#tab=summary
- ↑ https://variety.com/2024/film/box-office/wicked-gladiator-2-box-office-tracking-1236213633/
- ↑ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1199474177/
- ↑ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wicked_2024
- ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/movie/wicked
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2024/11/box-office-wicked-gladiator-ii-1236184897/
- ↑ https://ew.com/wicked-review-musical-adaptation-hits-right-notes-lacks-visual-variety-8747457
- ↑ [1]