Adapting the first act of the much loved and acclaimed stage musical of the same name,
Wicked tells the story of how Elphaba and Galinda would end up becoming The Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good from
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are not only perfectly cast as Elphaba and Galinda, respectively, but also provide the movie's biggest strength through their chemistry. Their performances, as wells the rest of the cast, are phenomenal and give well choreographed and fun numbers. The movie is well put together thanks to director Jon M. Chu and how he stays true to the musical's story, best helped by the fact that Winnie Holzman, the co-creator of the original production, wrote the film's script with Dana Fox. All three provide such an incredible and detailed exploration of the Land of Oz while making their inhabitants larger than life and relatable. Its writing manages to handle whimsical magic, colorful settings, prejudice, government corruption, and secret surveillance really well. Stephen Schwartz, the other co-creator of the musical, and John Powell work together to transfer the songs to better fit their film adaptations as well as a beautiful and vibrant score that uses riffs from the songs themselves. The cinematography from Alice Brooks can often be criticized due to feeling overly lit and a bit pasty, but once the movie gets to Emerald City and the reveal of magic disappearing it does make sense why it had that look. Since Oz was loosing its magic it was represented by making the land look plain and normal, but once at Emerald City it was more colorful to represent how it was trying to present itself as magical despite not actually being. Even after over a century of various adaptations,
Wicked proves that the Land of Oz will always have a special place in people's hearts. Over all: 100%
2024 top list so far:
1. Dune: Part 2
2. Wicked
3. The Wild Robot
4. Saturday Night
5. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
6. Deadpool & Wolverine
7. Transformers One
8. A Quiet Place: Day One
9. Inside Out 2
10. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
11. The Fall Guy
12. MaXXXine
13. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
14. Abigail
15. Monkey Man
16. Late Night with the Devil
17. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
18. Alien: Romulus
19. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
20. The Book of Clarence
21. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
22. Drive-Away Dolls
23. Joker: Folie à Deux
24. Kung Fu Panda 4
25. Lisa Frankenstein
26. Argylle
27. Venom: The Last Dance
28. Mean Girls 2024
