Review: Wicked

Director:  Jon M. Chu

Stars:  Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh

When the poster for this first half of the Wicked cinematic adaptation was unveiled a couple of months back it faced criticism in certain circles chiefly because Cynthia Erivo hadn’t replicated the trademark smirk which made the original art so ubiquitous. Gradations of change between mediums are part and parcel of the process of adaptation. Like, say, taking a 165 minute theatre experience and turning it into 2 films, the first of which is, by itself, almost that very length. But Erivo’s stern take on the classic Wicked smirk had a foreboding about it, a suggestion that Jon M. Chu’s iteration of the beloved Broadway hit might not have quite the same magical pizzazz clicking in its heels. 

The theatre kids queueing up in anticipation will mostly find themselves sated, however. Chu is a smart choice for this, having hot-footed a path through Hollywood with the Step Up films (entries 2 and 3 particularly) and, more recently, the under-performing yet still well-liked Lin-Manuel Miranda adaptation In the Heights. Chu knows the genre and can stage a musical set piece with creativity and finesse. So it goes here, and numbers like ‘What is This Feeling?’, ‘Dancing Through Life’ and ‘Popular’ are elevated via well-judged and classic flourishes such as split-screen or dizzying, gravity-defying choreography. They are treated as they should be, as set-pieces within the film, opportunities to bring some extra flare, style and, yes, pizzazz. 

It’s good that Chu has this in him because Wicked – Part 1 at least – often flounders when the singing stops. Notably the blame for this should not be placed at the feet of it’s two leads. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are a match made in heaven throughout this first chapter of Ozian fan-fiction, a charismatic odd-couple who riff off of one another wonderfully well. Erivo has been a bankable screen presence for a while now, elevating a diverse smattering of pictures from Widows to Harriet to being almost the only good thing about Bad Times at the El Royale.

Grande’s acting stock has long-since taken a backseat to her pop career, so its a great pleasure to see her bringing such whip-smart comic timing to Wicked. Her Glinda often feels like a better-intentioned version of Emma Roberts’ Chanel Oberlin from the underseen, under-loved TV series Scream Queens (IFKYK), i.e. a ditzy popular type with a heart of gold (mostly). 

For those not in the know, Wicked is a prequel story to the grand ol’ staple The Wizard of Oz that tells of a hitherto unexplored friendship between Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba (Erivo), eventually monikered the Wicked Witch of the West for her so-called dastardly deeds. How did she come to disrepute? How did the two of them fall out? This musical extravaganza will show you. Albeit at its own (exceedingly) leisurely pace. 

Skipping back along the timeline to the days pre-Dorothy, it allows for a handful of further origin elements to be explained (who decided on yellow for the Yellow Brick Road; where did all those flying monkeys come from), but chiefly the first half of the story restricts itself to Shiz University, a school of magic somewhere within the land of Oz. ‘Restricts’ is the key word here, unfortunately, as much of the first two hours of Wicked is happy coasting by within the confines of these halls, limiting our exposure to the trippy fantasia of Oz and – at its worst – playing like a no-stakes variation on H*rry P*tt*r complete with twee CG animals and forgettable side characters. Wicked absolutely dawdles. For all the lift and lark of the musical numbers it’s calcified and inert. When it finally rustles up some forward drive (some 90 minutes in), it still lacks any oomph or impetus to get anywhere. Erivo and Grande’s interactions – and the musical interludes that surround them – become godsends to get us through the serious torpor. 

It’s not until we finally take a trip to the Emerald City that Wicked attains any sense of direction or purpose. We’re treated to a couple of glorious cameos from the old Broadway hands, and Chu ends his first chapter on a (literal) high, powering us back into the real world finally wanting more… but it’s rather a late gambit to secure our interest in coming back. Wicked is curiously contradictory. Overstuffed but containing… nothing.

Or next to nothing. The duality of Glinda and Elphaba is inherently interesting, something articulated well in another new film out this weekend. Elizabeth Sankey’s blindsiding post-partum documentary Witches (available to watch on MUBI) draws out the dichotomy of how women are often presented and pitted against one another in popular culture. The conformist who is eager to please and placate patriarchal society is your Glinda. She is pale-skinned, bright and perky, traditionally pretty and always adorned in pastels that make her look like a walking fondant. Palpable and, to a degree, infantilised.

Elphaba, then, is the other side of woman that proves a threat to the system; unknowable, unkempt, individualistic, idealistic, rebellious and suspicious of institutions. Ergo prone to the label ‘bad’ or ‘wicked’ in an attempt to contain and dismiss her power. Othered as an act of reaction against her. It’s interesting that Wicked tethers them together. Like all true besties, one can’t go anywhere without the other. Even when Elphaba is summoned to the Emerald City and Glinda is not. Chu’s visual acuity ensures we know it; they are two halves of one whole – vying with one another for supremacy, just as frequently proclaiming love for each other – and it is only the film’s finale that wrenches their conjoined nature asunder. This demarcation, this split, is the real dramatic crescendo of Wicked part one. The real tease to get us coming back for more next time, to see how the dynamic fares from here.

Finally, wearily, its worth noting that a lot of Wicked looks, well, horrible. The costumes and make-up are first rate. That’s not up for debate. But the rendering of Oz around them is dull and unimaginative. A misty, soft-focus computer-generated sludge fest with colours that rarely pop boldly. The film opens with a retro-style Universal logo, but more of this sensibility should have been shot through the whole, which has the same that’ll-do banality of so much fantasy TV and cinema these days. It feels MCUified. Flatly generic and weightless. 

Maybe more dynamism will be injected into the back half of the story, which will hopefully make for a snappier, more melodramatic conclusion to this drawn-out marathon. Chu, Erivo and Grande make this one a passable adventure for now, but the crushing lack of momentum really makes a meal of things.