#the wicked movie

[floralgraveyard]

I just saw a Gelphie edit with we can't be friends... brb crying.

[rhfffas]

ariana grande the most successful fan girl in history

other fan girls thinking “fuck canon” and write fanfics but ariana thinking “fuck im the canon” and shes gonna give us that gelphie KISS™️

[artsde-bella]

pink goes good with green 🩷💚

[thewickedworkingsofyouknowwho]

[ray-unfiltered]

I know im not the only one whos loving just how GAY the wicked movie is like hello? They didnt have to make what is this feeling and defying gravity that homoerotic? Its so gay no one will change my mind

[likebellaa]

my guuurl 🎀

[orchestrahearts]

here it is! the wicked movie review.

Part 1: spoiler free

I’ll start by saying I’m pleasantly surprised. Given the previous few years of musicals to movie adaptations, I didn’t have the highest of expectations. I loved Jon M. Chu’s work on Crazy Rich Asians but I thought his adaptation of In The Heights had lots of pacing issues. With almost 3 hours of only act I, I was concerned about wasted time, but I’ll say that pretty much every minute of Wicked Part 1 was well used and the story flowed well. My friends will tell you I’m no big fan of some of Galinda’s costumes but there were plenty of them in the rest of the movie were well made and looked good. Ariana Grande also impressed me with her acting choices and vocal chops, which I had low expectations for. Cynthia Erivo’s voice was fabulous. What it comes down to is Jon M. Chu understood the assignment. I give this movie adaptation an A.

In depth spoiler thoughts below the cut.

Part 2: spoiler city.

Cast

Ariana Grande really surprised me with her vocal chops. I’d only seen a little of her Sam and Cat acting and heard her pop music, so I wasn’t super impressed with her voice but she really nailed it with the opera and the musical style singing. Her acting choices were fun to watch and the felt true to the Galinda energy that is the role in act I. I kind of wish they curled her hair more since it was varying levels of curled throughout the movie but I thought it looked best during What Is This Feeling, but that’s a personal preference. Her comedic timing was excellent throughout the entire movie, though she picked the hair toss that’s really big which I thought was an interesting choice. Overall I really was pleasantly surprised by her competency with the role.

Cynthia Erivo I liked from Harriet but also didn’t know her full singing ability. I thought she did a great job bringing out the multiple layers of Elphaba’s personality and she played the role in a way different than I’d seen on stage. I’m used to a more jaded, feisty and loud Elphaba but Cynthia was more quiet and reserved, but not in a way that took away from the character. She’s still sharp tongued and smart, but more like a cool thunderstorm with occasional loud claps than the raging fire I’m used to. She did a really awesome job with the balance of sharp to soft that Elphaba tends to need in order to be believable.

Nessa and Fiyero were great. Fiyero was cocky and extra before the Lion scene and more thoughtful afterward and always had a little chemistry with Elphaba, which makes it feel natural when we get to I’m Not That Girl. Nessa is played so well as a girl who wants to be treated like everyone else. She insisted that nobody help her when she needs to go somewhere and is visibly upset when people are moving her and, in a sense, controlling her when she wants to be self reliant for once after years of being babied by her father and nanny.

Choices

There were some choices throughout that I thought were a little strange though. I didn’t like the flash through all the different points with Galinda during No One Mourns the Wicked. 1) they didn’t show the scenes with Glinda from act II that happen before the song takes place and 2) it felt kind of out of context if you haven’t seen the film before. If you have, you can remember the moments Glinda is flashing back to but having seen it the first time, I didn’t like it.

Additionally they made the silver shoes belong to Elphaba and Nessa’s mom. I don’t know if I liked it or not but I thought it was a strange choice and I sort of prefer when it wasn’t and they were specially made for Nessa by her father, but I see how adding their mother to their significance makes them more important to both sisters.

I actually liked that the Animals walked on all fours. In both Wicked the novel and L. Frank Baum’s Oz, Animals were sentient and could speak and think, but they were still not humans and therefore walked on all fours. I also liked how at Shiz they had little pieces of technology around that allowed Dillamond to teach, like turning on the projector and closing the blinds. It easily could’ve gone too Zootopia if they had them on their hind legs.

Additionally I liked the inclusion of a nanny character in the childhood scenes. Not only does it feel like a little nod to the novels, where Elphaba was cared for by Nanny, and while the book Nanny was more tough love than the character included in the movie, I thought it added to the emphasis of rejection from her parents. I also thought it was a cool choice for her to be a Bear, so it could narratively added to Elphaba’s care of Animals later on in the story.

I loved how they handled the Dancing Through Life scene where Elphaba turns up in the hat. It really feels more intense with the way everyone is laughing, staring, mocking Elphaba and I absolutely loved how when Galinda joined her, her friends tried to stop her. It really showed how Galinda could be risking her popularity to show kindness to Elphaba, and how in this situation it paid off. It’s probably one of my favorite scenes in the movie. And more as a smaller note, I thought it was fun that during the whole song, Fiyero essentially seduced the entirety of Shiz. Sexuality is not an issue in Oz.

Costumes

I’ve said it to a few people but I don’t like the movies Bubble Dress. I’ve been trying to figure out for weeks what specifically I dislike about it, but after a lot of thought it’s the skirt. It uses too much tulle when I feel like for Glinda’s outfits, they should be using more silks or satins. I also really hate the wand they gave Glinda, it feels like a cheap Spirit Halloween toy rather than an expensive movie prop.

Both Elphaba and Galinda were wearing more formal attire you could almost call business casual while at Shiz, but I didn’t like how they were the only two not conforming to the uniform colors. Galinda by far was worse in this department, with her pink and lavender outfits, but Elphaba was also wearing slightly off shades of blue. It felt like they were imitating Wednesday and I didn’t like that choice. The outfits themselves were fine and I liked the cut and fit of the costumes, just not the color.

Galinda was in, by far, too much pink. I understand that pink is her iconic color that they always use in her merch, but it was too much. When you have Galinda constantly in pink, it takes away from the flair of when she wears it. It also feels a little childish of her to only wear one color, or at least cinematically elementary.

Overall the costumes were fine, but I kind of wish they chose a costume designer who had more experience in fantasy shows. They picked an artist who has only made costumes for period pieces, and it being their first foray into fantasy shows. I obviously have more to say about Galinda’s costumes, being a Glinda rper, but I have a lot of thoughts on the choices with the fabric especially that I didn’t like. There was altogether too much sheer and tulle fabrics in both leads costumes.

Music

Overall, I thought they did a great job with the music. It was well orchestrated for a full scale film soundtrack. I know they said they sang live onset but I think it’s a little obvious sometimes that (I think) they used a recording over the film to get perfectly clear sound. Maybe it was just me but I thought it looked a tiny bit lip synced at times rather than live sung.

This may have just been the theater I was in, but the sound mix for No One Mourns The Wicked sounded a little muddy to me. It’s the only song that did but as the camera was panning out of the witch’s tower and back to what looked like Munchkinland while the intro music played, the audio mix just felt a little off. It really could be the speakers at the theatre though, I opted for the regular tickets and not Dolby for my first pass at the movie.

The singing itself was excellent. I was surprised by how youthful Cynthia’s voice sounded, and I already talked under casting about how pleasantly surprised I was that Ariana had the vocal chops for Glinda. I also said (mostly as a joke) that if Ariana started doing runs through the movie, I’d leave. I’m happy to say both she and Cynthia generally sung it straight, and any runs they added generally had a good effect on the music. I won’t be buying the movie soundtrack, but I really did think it sounded great. I’ll definitely be purchasing the movie and using it to test new video watching setups the way I was previously using The Greatest Showman.

Conclusion

I will be seeing Wicked again. At least once, possibly twice depending on what my friends want to do. It was a genuinely enjoyable experience where it felt like seeing Oz again for the first time. Jon M. Chu truly understood the assignment and did the musical justice. If you saw the movie recently come talk to me, I’d love to talk about the movie more.

[between-the-pages657]

Was it too much to ask for a book accurate depiction of Fiyero’s blue diamond tattoos?

This has been one of my pet peeves ever since reading the book.

[threelogsinatrenchcoat]

“The wicked music is over 30 years old, I shouldn’t have to keep my mouth shut to protect your feelings-“

First of all, that is NOT what’s being asked of you. You are not a victim because someone asked you to provide two seconds of your 24 hour day to put a spoiler warning.

And second of all, this movie is new. Yes, it’s based off the same story, but this movie has Brought in a new wave of people who haven’t seen the musical at all. In fact, the majority of the people who are interested in the movie haven’t, and we certainly haven’t seen part 2. So, of course we’re going to be upset when you intentionally go out of your way to spoil the story for us.

And even if what you’re saying is true, why does it matter? A story being old doesn’t mean you have the right to spoil it for people that are new. Why do you care so much about NOT putting a spoiler warning? How does it hurt you in any way?

[susiephone]

the wicked movie teaches important moral lessons like "be bisexual in college" and "don't trust politicians" and "if you push someone who's in a wheelchair without their permission, someone might throw a bench at your head with their mind"

[drop-of-infinity]

I don’t think we talk enough about how the entirety of Wicked is built on the irony of No One Mourns the Wicked. The musical exists because Glinda feels the need to tell Elphaba’s story, because she is in mourning and entirely alone in that. Glinda’s love is what creates the musical because no one mourns Elphaba except her, and that is an incredibly lonely place to be. She’s just lost two of the most important people to her, and all she’s trying to do is make someone, anyone else see how important they were.

[musashi]

hunting down this post to find that OP turned of reblogs has me heartbroken.

it's time.

[hattersarts]

kiss me goodbye, I'm defying gravity

[moghedien]

I love the implication that the Glinda and Elphaba just sit across from each other, alone at this giant table just to stare at each other and contemplate how much they hate each other and the whole school knows not to go sit with them an intrude in whatever they have going on

[gelphiegifs]

"Their first date, shall I say." - Jon M. Chu