Movie Review: Wicked

 

 Michael's Movie Grade: A+

One of the best movie musicals in recent years.

I came into this film with high expectations, and it still managed to blow them away. As a lifelong fan of movie musicals this is everything they should be.  Not only are the musical numbers incredibly well done they are also perfectly integrated into the plot. It never feels like these characters randomly burst into song, instead them singing feels perfectly natural. Each of these songs also does a great job of moving the plot forward and conveying emotions in a way that is more powerful than what can be done with mere dialogue. Of course, each of these songs is a wonderful song on its own as well. The soundtrack for the Broadway musical that this is based on has become incredibly popular for a reason. These are just incredibly well written songs that are both clever and catchy. In this movie the visuals on the screen are just as great as the songs. The chirography is simply incredibly and helps make each of these great musical numbers come to life. 

Yet this film is not simply a collection of great musical numbers. The storyline and characters are excellent. I especially like how our two main characters, Glenda and Elphaba are treated. For a movie that is about appearances not truly reflecting who people really are, these characters both turn out to be so much more than they first appear. For instance, at first, we view Glenda as simply the mean popular girl who is simply obsessed with herself. While she is quite self-centered, as the film goes on, we see that there are many times that she believes she is standing up for others. However, since she is used to everything revolving around her, she does this in a way that is very safe and still paints herself as the perfect image she wants to keep. This is something much more complex and fascinating than your stereotypical mean girl bully. The complexities of this character are perfectly shown in Ariana Grande's performance. I admit I completely underestimated her as an actress at first viewing this casting as simply putting a popular pop star in the role for star power. Yet this performance made me completely reevaluate her acting abilities and realize that she is just as much a good actress as she is a good singer. Cynthia Erivo is incredible as Elphaba as well, bringing a lot of humanity to the character making it hard for us not to root for her (plus her singing voice is incredible). The two also play off each other perfectly. The chemistry between these actresses is simply amazing. The storyline is also very smart here. It gives us very intelligent commentary on racism, classism and how humanity often looks to scapegoat and demonize a group of people during trying times. Yet all this commentary is at the service of the story. It naturally comes out of this fantasy storyline and the film never stops to preach to us. The storyline is also so compelling that you don't even realize that this movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes. It goes by so quickly that it feels like simply an hour and a half. That is truly a testament to great storytelling. 

This is a top-notch movie musical in every way.