Posted in: Kaitlyn Booth, Movies, Review, Universal | Tagged: wicked

Wicked Review: A Mediocre Musical That Doesn't Defy Its Own Runtime

Wicked fails to justify its extremely long runtime, which severely impacts the structure and pacing, knocking it into mediocrity.

Wicked is a solidly mediocre musical that fails to justify its runtime, which kneecaps the pacing and, at times, looks oddly fake despite the extensive use of practical effects.

Director: Jon M. Chu
Summary: Elphaba, a misunderstood young woman because of her green skin, and Glinda, a popular girl, become friends at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. After an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads.

A Wicked Hard Time At The Box Office For Musicals

The box office has not been kind to musicals in the last couple of years, with the few that have managed to be successful being the exception, not the norm. Wicked is an adaptation that has been in the works for many years and has faced several delays due to things like the COVID-19 pandemic and the two strikes. For a while, it seemed like one of those productions that wouldn't ever get off the ground, but the first film of two is finally coming out. However, the film is baffling from the moment it begins because it starts with Glinda telling us that we're going to get "the whole story," but when we get to the title card, the film finally acknowledges that it is a Part I. The film also ends on an actual To Be Continued. So, a whole story told over two films that will probably be double the length of the stage production time, including intermission.

The people behind Wicked have said over and over again that the choice to leave Part I off of the marketing was deliberate, but the fact that they acknowledge it at nearly the last minute is strange. In reality, Wicked is half a movie, and no matter how good a Part I is, you can't call it a masterpiece or even completely critically evaluate the entire thing because you haven't seen the other half of the film. So many stories have difficulty sticking the landing, and you don't get to claim a victory without sticking the landing. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a great movie, but it's half a movie, and we can't really dig into what does or does not work until Beyond the Spider-Verse comes out. Wicked is in the same boat, and we'll be re-evaluating whether or not this film, or these films, come together to form a cohesive whole in a year. For now, this is the half of the movie that we have.

Or, this is act one of the stage production for anyone who has seen it right up to closing the metaphorical curtains with Defying Gravity. Aside from having all of the issues that come with being half a movie, Wicked has several other things that make its pacing and structure painful to sit through. The first is that the story is structured so that you can see the entire thing in one sitting. You see Act One, you have an intermission, and you see Act II. So the story is paced like you'll be able to return to finish this up. However, that isn't what's happening with this film because Part II won't be here for a year.

At the same time, director Jon M. Chu and everyone involved with this production have decided to pad this film with as much extra stuff as possible. If they were going to split this into two films, both of them should have clocked in at a nice ninety minutes. However, the first part of Wicked clocks in at two hours and forty-one minutes. That is the runtime of the entire stage production but stretched for just one-half of the story. It means there are large segments of the story where things really start to drag, and any time the film feels like it is developing any pacing, it slows down again.

It wouldn't be so bad if this were all good to look at, but the people behind the camera of Wicked had grand ambitions that are lost in some of the details. Impressively, they build many of these sets, and so much of what you see on screen is practical. Chu made sure that every dollar spent went into making these sets and costumes look detailed, beautiful, campy, and gorgeous. The production design and the costumes are very nice. The problem is that the lighting and editing somehow make it look fake. The train to Emerald City is one of the more glaring examples. They built that train, which exists, yet it looks like VFX work when you're watching the film. This is what happens when you spend tons of money making beautiful, practical sets and designing detailed costumes but then light your entire film like it's a CW show.

Roles That Chew Singers Up And Spit Them Back Out

As for our leads, they are okay. The supporting cast doesn't make much of an impression aside from the behind-the-scenes drama between stars Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater, making all of their scenes just a little more awkward to watch. Jonathan Bailey is here having a grand old time but doesn't have much to do. Marissa Bode gets a bit lost as Nessarose but has real charisma when she is allowed on screen. Michelle Yeoh is playing a sorcerer called Madame Morrible, so of course, it's great.

The real stars of the show are Grande and Cynthia Erivo. Grande has spoken at length about wanting to play this role, but for someone who has been dreaming about this for so long, her performance is slightly off. It's like she is trying to fight against her own instincts regarding her voice like she needs to do something different because this is a musical and not pop. There is some disconnect there that doesn't quite land. As for Erivo, she does her best, but there is a reason this is considered to be a very tough role. There is a reason people get bonus points when they can pull off singing Defying Gravity and why Idina Menzel became a superstar because of this role. It's because Elphaba is a role that chews singers up and spits them out while asking them to defy some gravity.

Wicked is another film with a Part II already shot and ready to go, but as Horizon showed us earlier this year, that doesn't guarantee anything. There is a lot of competition at the box office, and with the holiday and everyone broke as a joke, they will be looking for sure things. For many, a musical is not a sure thing, so whether or not Wicked can carve a spot out itself at the box office remains to be seen, regardless of the quality of the film.

All of this makes Wicked sound bad, but that's the thing: it isn't, but it also isn't good. The musical adaptation of Wicked was a massive moment for Broadway, and there really wasn't any way for the movie to try and replicate that, no matter how hard they might try. Fans of the show will likely have extreme reactions one way or another, with very few coming out of this feeling ambivalent. As for new fans, they will either be on board or utterly baffled as to why so many people have cared about this musical and book for so long.

The things the movie does wrong aren't deal-breaking, and for some, they likely won't be noticed at all, but Wicked is a movie that does not justify its runtime, and that might be the biggest hurdle it needs to overcome. However, it's unclear whether or not this whole thing will work out in the end because Wicked is half a movie, and we can't really know if it will work until Part II comes out. The musical's second half is notoriously worse than the first half, even according to fans, so we'll see in a year.

Wicked

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Review by Kaitlyn Booth

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6.5/10

Wicked comes in as a solidly mediocre musical that, at times, looks oddly fake despite how much of the production was done with practical effects.

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