1939 was a very interesting year in American history. From the start of WWII, and advances in technology, it was also the year of films like Gone with the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, and The Wizard of Oz. That last one is where this review is going to focus as it is time to talk about the prequel musical Wicked: Part I.
Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) directs this adaptation with a cast that features Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Bronwyn James and Bowen Yang. Elphaba (Erivo) who we later get to know as The Wicked Witch of the West is a student at Shiz University, where her untapped magical potential is noticed by the instructor Madame Morrible (Yeoh) while dealing with her pampered and spoiled roommate Glinda (Grande), who we later get to know as the Good Witch of the North. As time goes on, both of them start to understand the path they will walk to whom they will become while dealing with the lives they currently lead.
The CGI here is incredible and is what to be expect from a film of this nature and huge budget. Visually, it is so good that it made me feel like I was watching The Wizard of Oz itself. The cast is good overall, with Erivo and Grande as a team working off each other with their differences. Erivo does deliver, but I not think she deserves nominations at the end of the year; however, I will not be surprised if she does as this film really feels like “Oscar bait”.
On the other hand, although Wicked does follow the stage show, it really veers off from the original book, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the Wes”. Add to that a run time that is TWO HOURS & FORTY MINUTES(!!!!!!!) it could easily had its content cut in half. And this is only PART I! If the second film is anything like his one, they could have cut it and made it into one film with an intermission, like The Hateful Eight or currently, The Brutalist. I love the work of Chu, but this is not in his wheelhouse. While screening this film, it became more and more apparent to me that Wicked seemed to be an absolute rip-off of last year’s Wonka to the point where it just felt like a continuation of changing the names and events.
Simply put: unless I am forced to watch the second half of Wicked, the only POSSIBLE way I will watch it is if I DVR it and watch it from home. Even then, I would have to be bored out of my mind and can fast forward through the mindless scenes that could have been cut so I can watch it in a hour. I will never watch this film again, and it in fact will get my un-coveted “Maze Runner Promise” that it WILL make my year-end Top Ten Worst Films list.
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