Wicked
Cast: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh
Writers: Winnie Holzman,Dana Fox(Screenplay) Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman(Musical), Gregory Maguire(Novel)
Director: John M Chu
*** out of Five *'s
In the magical land of Oz long long before Dorothy ever dropped a house on a certain someone. There lived two young ladies studying the art of witchcraft and magic at Shiz University. Imagine Hogwarts if different colored cupcakes landed everywhere and no one decided to clean it up. Glinda… sorry, Galinda Upland(Ariana Grande) is the most popular girl and not just in school but everywhere it seems. Imagine Regina from Mean Girls but with a lot more power and you get the idea. When Elphaba Thropp(Cynthia Erivo) enters on her first day. Almost everyone is put off by her appearance because she has….wait for it… green skin. There are talking animals in this world but a girl with green skin is just way too strange for everyone. After an incident causes Miss Thropp to display her powers unwillingly or in a slight homage to Brian Depalma's Carrie(ask your parents about it) Head Mistress Madame Morrible(Michele Yeoh) takes special interest in and believes she would be a good candidate to work alongside the great and powerful Oz(Jeff Goldblum). Galianda channeling her inner Cher from Clueless vibes(Ask your parents kiddos) feels bad for making fun of the new green skinned girl. She decides to do some good and comes up with a few ideas to make her a bit more popular to the other students.
Based on the humongous Broadway hit. The movie version of Wicked will no doubt appeal to everyone who has seen or at least knows the story and enjoy the songs. The cast is all good with some really fun comic chemistry between Erivo and Grande as our two main leads. With Galinda being shallow but charming and Elphaba as both determined and unsure of herself. This almost at times feels like a sitcom minus the laugh track. The supporting characters are all fine but they are more archetypes than actual people. There is one munchkin who only asks Elphaba’s sister out only because he has a huge crush on Galinda(and is only doing so because she told him to). There is no doubt he will drop that girl in a heartbeat if Galinda will even ask to hold his hand much less kiss him. There is also a handsome young prince(Johnathan Bailey) both of our witches are clearly attracted to who is doing a good impersonation of Jake Ryan from 16 Candles(another reference your parents will know more about)
The production design by Nathan Crowley(The Greatest Showman, Wonka), costumes by Paul Tazewell(West Side Story, Hamilton) and Cinematography by Alice Brooks(In The Heights) are on top notch display and could easily earn Oscar nominations in those categories. There may be a few other technical nominations as well but don’t expect to be in any of the main categories. Except there could possibly be a Best Picture nom to appease the flames of upset fans. The Golden Globes could put this in all of the categories too.
There is a lot to enjoy about Wicked. The musical numbers are all very well staged and choreographed but there is something lost when adapting those moments to film. While It has some really cool moments with it’s camera movements(Especially one sequence that is a straight homage to a certain shot from 2001: A Space Odyssey) .It never fully imerses you in that world. The way characters interact make this look more like a very good prduction for television but not movies.
There is no doubt that fans of this property are going to
absolutely love this adaptation and people who are unfamiliar with it will have
genuine fun. It is a perfect movie for
the family to go see this holiday season and it will do big business at the box
office. Wicked seems to do for The
Wizard of Oz, what Maleficent did
for Sleeping Beauty or Cruella did for 101 Damatians. Reframe an
iconic villain from a popular piece of literature as a hero or someone who was only just misunderstood. By doing so you take
away what made them so iconic in the first place. The Wicked Witch was a great character who was strong but also scary. Given her this back story where she is treated like this outcast who was
bullied takes away what made her so powerful.
Want more proof on how a director takes away a certain character’s icon
status. Watch Rob Zombie’s Halloween.
Cinema Recall is proud to be part of the Minnesota Film Critics Association.
https://mnfilmcriticsassociation.com/
Visit their site to see more great reviews and articles from other great critics
No comments:
Post a Comment