A One Mann’s Movies review of “Wicked: Part 1” (2024).
Will “Glicked” help the UK cinema industry? It certainly looks like it. Hot on the heels of last week’s “Gladiator II“, which has passed £10 million at the UK box office, comes the much-anticipated “Wicked” which looks set to do even better. Judging from my packed out screening yesterday afternoon, covering a wide demographic from kids to teens to grandparents, a return to Oz is going to tick a lot of boxes on this cold, damp weekend with Storm Bert ravaging the UK.
But is it any good? I have to admit that I seem to be in a minority of people who haven’t seen the stage show so I am a bit green on the subject. (See what I did there?) But I did enjoy it, although perhaps not to quite the rapturous level that my grandkids, Frankie and Eva (9 and 8); their Mum and even the Illustrious Mrs Movie Man did (5 stars from all of them).
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“Wicked: Part 1” Plot Summary:
We start the film where it all ended for Elphaba, The Wicked Witch of the West…. with a puddle of watery goo. The people of Munchkinland are celebrating her passing. But then we flashback to where it all started for Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and her first meeting with the ‘good witch’ (#matterofopinion) Galinda (Ariana Grande).
Certification:
UK: PG; US: PG. (From the BBFC web site: “Mild threat, discrimination”)
Talent:
Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage (voice), Andy Nyman.
Directed by: Jon M. Chu.
Written by: Winnie Holzman & Dana Fox. (From the book of the musical by Winnie Holzman and the novel by Gregory Maguire).
Running Time: 2h 40m.
“Wicked: Part 1” Summary:
Positives:
- A full-blown musical (although you wouldn’t think it from the trailer!)
- Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo both excel in the lead roles.
- The clever plot presents themes of discrimination and ‘difference’ in an accessible way.
- Bold and beautiful visuals, sets and costumes make a feast for the eyes.
Negatives:
- 2 hours 40 minutes for a musical is a lot. It was a bit baggy in places.
- It’s a bit Potteresque in places.
- The trailer is misleading.
Review of “Wicked: Part 1”:
Psst… it’s only Part 1. Psst… it’s a musical.
What is WRONG with marketing departments at the big studios? Why do they decide we are not grown-up enough to know all of the facts about a movie before we see it? The trailer for “Wicked” is positively mendacious. Firstly, it completely hides the fact that this film (even at nearly 3 hours long) is only the first half of the story featured in the stage show. Secondly, it’s quite obviously a full-blooded musical, but you really wouldn’t have thought that from the trailer!
My guess is that the marketing people thought: “Ooh, people took badly to “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning” being a ‘Part 1’ and a ‘Part 2’…. let’s just call it ‘Wicked’ and quietly drop the ‘Part 1’ bit. And, ooh, even though “Wonka” did well, both “In The Heights” and “The Color Purple” bombed… perhaps we’d better pretend there’s only a song or two in it and trick non-musical-lovers into going?”
OK, rant over.
The film is very well done, full of colour and great sets and special effects that bring the story to life more than the stage musical could ever do.
There are lots of nice nods to the original Oz film: the origin of the blue monkeys; the sleep-dust poppies; the choice of colour for the brick road and Elphaba getting her ruby slippers. We even see in the opening of the film Dorothy, Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion skipping along the Yellow Brick Road.
Terrific central performances.
Given Ariana Grande has so little movie experience (she had a small role in “Don’t Look Up” but that’s about it) she really knocks the role of Galinda out of the park. It’s a comic work of genius. (Toss, toss.) But equally impressive is Cynthia Erivo in the less showy but more powerful role of Elphaba. From what I’ve heard, both Grande and Erivo have been long-term fans of the show and these are dream roles for them. It shows. They are having a whale of a time and thus so do we.
The film was shot through live singing during filming and this included Erivo belting out her songs while being thrown around a sound stage on wires. (If you’ve not seen the clips of that – it was shown on the Graham Norton show last night – it is worth seeing!)
Sadly, musicals and comedy performances tend to lose out to dramas in most of the award nominations, but despite that both Grande and Erivo might be names to look out for this year.
“But you’re green”.
Given that this is a film that many, MANY kids will be seeing over the next few weeks, it presents a really insightful view on discrimination in a clever way. Elphaba sees her green-ness as defining her, such that everytime she meets anyone new she reels out a pat set of declarations on a subject. Yet she is eventually accepted and lauded for who she is and when she gets the chance to change her colour, she declines it.
Disability is equally well featured. Elphaba’s sister Nessarose (a lovely performance by Marissa Bode) is in a wheelchair, yet her views and feelings are equally trampled on by the staff and students at Shiz University. At one point, Galinda cruelly refers to Elphaba as being “beautifully tragic” but is equally offensive to Nessarose in calling her “tragically beautiful”. (Galinda really is a pretty horrible character!)
It will give kids lots to think about in how they approach “difference”.
Time flies.
I have to admit that it didn’t feel like a 160-minute film and the two of my grandkids who I saw this with were in rapt engagement with it throughout. (But they do have a wonderful attention span for movies.) I think many kids, especially younger kids, will find it a marathon they don’t necessarily finish. The film is not without its overly ostentacious flourishes and include a few baggy sections that could have been trimmed. I think you could have cut 20 to 30 minutes out of the film to make it a bit tighter. But that’s just my view: when I said this to my daughter, Jenn, she retorted that “I could sit through another 5 hours of that!”.
Wonderful Sets, Costumes, Production Design.
I think this film will do very well at the upcoming awards season for the technical categories: Production Design, Special Effects, Hair and Make-up and Costume Design. The ‘in-your-face’ colour of the production reminded me of “Wonka“, (which I think should have got a lot more credit than it ended up receiving).
Elements of Potter.
There’s more than a feeling of Potter to some elements of the story. The school that includes elements of witchcraft and wizardry; a book with a language that only certain people can understand; a prophesised ‘chosen one’. Interestingly, the original story for the stage musical came (loosely) from a book “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” written by Gregory Maguire in 1995 and which pre-dates the first of the Harry Potter books by two years!
Summary Thoughts on “Wicked: Part 1″
One for the fans, but also for everyone else. I think this is one that could bust some box-office records. I think you should expect this one to still be in cinemas well into the New Year. My granddaughter Eva (Happy Birthday!) has already booked to see it again on Sunday!
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Wicked: Part 1”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5omDWGdDmJ8.
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!
