Wicked releases this week with some very high expectations and, surprisingly for some, it is managing to exceed them all after landing a gravity-defying 96% Tomatometer score from critics and almost perfect 99% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. Musical movies, whether based on existing stage shows or an original, have often struggled to capture the hearts of modern movie critics. While recent adaptations such as the big screen version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats made many studios and filmmakers never want to touch another musical again, Wicked is now changing that completely.
Fans had so many reservations about the film it almost seemed certain to be a disastrous entry in the musical-to-film genre. The fact that this year’s first part is longer than the entire Broadway show, Ariana Grande’s controversial casting, Jon M. Chu’s previous box office dud with In the Heights…there have been a lot of reasons given by long-term fans of the story of the witches of Oz as to why Wicked could only end in tears, but they have so far all been proven wrong.
Now that the embargo on reviews has lifted, there has been nothing but praise for the movie from every corner. The performances of Grande and costar Cynthia Erivo have come in for some of the highest praise seen in a musical adaptation, and that is only the start of the almost unanimous opinion that Wicked could very well turn out to be the greatest stage-to-screen adaptation of all time.
Wicked Reviews for ‘Wicked’
The high Rotten Tomatoes score places Wicked above many modern musical movies that have gone on to win Oscars and break the box office. This includes La La Land (91%) and The Greatest Showman (86%), as well as other successful adaptations such as Les Misérables (70%). It is also a world away from the hideous Cats and its dismal 19% score.
Donald Clarke of the Irish Times opened his review by noting, “Early objections to the casting seem absurd when you clock what a perfect compliment they make.”Rolling Stone’s David Fear adds to this, saying, “When Erivo nails that moment and rides into Oz’s history books on a brookstick, for a split second you feel like there’s no place you’d rather be than riding alongside her. Not even home.”
Related Wicked Review: A Spectacular Adaptation Tests Your Bladder
We get it, they wanted a cash grab, so they split it into two films, but why does this mostly great first part have to be so long?
However, there is one big problem with the movie, and this is something that film-authority.com’s Eddie Harrison can explain.
“Although we finish on a stone-cold-banger-for-the-ages belter in the form of Defying Gravity, the annoying thing about Chu’s top-drawer musical fantasy Wicked is that this song is literally stopping the show for, not just an interval, but twelve months.”
It is pretty much one of the highest compliments that can be given to have everyone leave a two-part movie wishing away the next year of their lives to see the conclusion, and Wicked is clearly one of those movies. With everyone on board the Oz extravaganza, it looks like Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II is the one who should be afraid this weekend.
Wicked adapts the Broadway musical into a two-part film, following the unlikely friendship between Elphaba, born with green skin, and Glinda, a popular aristocrat, in the Land of Oz. As they navigate their contrasting paths, they evolve into Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
Release Date November 22, 2024
Cast Cynthia Erivo , Ariana Grande , Michelle Yeoh , Jeff Goldblum , Jonathan Bailey , Ethan Slater , Marissa Bode , Bowen Yang , Bronwyn James , Keala Settle , Peter Dinklage , Aaron Teoh , Grecia De la Paz , Colin Michael Carmichael , Adam James , Andy Nyman , Courtney Mae-Briggs , Sharon D. Clarke , Jenna Boyd
Runtime 160 Minutes
Writers Gregory Maguire , Winnie Holzman , Dana Fox , L. Frank Baum
Studio
Studio(s) Marc Platt Productions
Distributor(s) Universal Pictures
Character(s) Elphaba Thropp , Glinda Upland , Madame Morrible , The Wizard , Fiyero Tigelaar , Boq , Nessarose Thropp , Pfannee , ShenShen , Miss Coddle , Doctor Dillamond (voice) , Avaric Tenmeadows , Gilligan , Professor Nikidik , Glinda’s Father , Governor Frexspar Thropp , Melena Thropp , The Midwife
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