(PG) ★★★
Director: Jon M. Chu.
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande-Butera, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Jeff Goldblum, Peter Dinklage, Andy Nyman.
 |
| "Don't shoot - it's Optimus Prime!" |
People love to complain about how there are no original ideas in cinema any more; how most movies today are based on existing intellectual properties, whether they be sequels, remakes or adaptations. It's not an unreasonable complaint. Check out the highest grossing films of 2024 - at the time of writing, the highest ranking original film (ie. not based on an existing IP) this year was IF at #21.
While no one has been levelling this objection at Wicked - most people seem pretty amped to see this story hit the big screen - it's a great example of how existing IPs can get re-born, re-spun and re-tooled to make old stories new again. This is a big-budget blockbuster based on a popular Broadway musical based on an acclaimed 1995 novel that re-interpreted the events of a much-loved 1900 novel.
I haven't seen the stage musical or read Gregory Maguire's book, but The Wizard Of Oz is one of my favourite films, and I treasure the original book. With that in mind, I find the revisionist storyline fascinating, and the characterisations of Good Witch Glinda (Grande-Butera) and Wicked Witch Elphaba (Erivo) intriguing. It's also a joy to spend more time in Oz - an itch that Sam Raimi's forgotten prequel Oz The Great & Powerful scratched somewhat a decade ago.
Wicked is a fun story but it goes on way too long - you really feel its 160-minute run-time. So many of the musical sequences drag on, the worst offender being Popular, which is a fantastic song that could have achieved the same outcome at a quarter of the length, while Dear Old Shiz and Dancing Through Life eventually also wear out their welcome.
Musically, the highlight is Defying Gravity, an absolute belter of a tune. But am I the only person perplexed by the weird '90s pop-ballad production sound? Of all the eras and styles of music to emulate sonically, why that one?
Erivo and Grande-Butera do a stellar job in the leads, handling the musical numbers with ease, and flexing their dramatic chops equally impressively. Erivo nails the weariness and frustration of Elphaba, while Grande-Butera's cartoonish take on the wide-eyed Glinda is disarming despite the character's self-absorbed nature. Yeoh is also excellent, while Goldblum is perfectly cast as the Wizard himself.
But back to the length. It's an issue because a) the film feels long in places, but b) because we get too much song instead of some much needed plot. A central element of the story is an apparent uprising against one section of Oz society, but we see so little to demonstrate it. There's one bit of graffiti, some mutterings, and a clandestine meeting (with a song, naturally). It's a lot of tell, not show, and it's hardly enough to convince viewers of the large-scale racism purported to have riven Oz.
As with most Oz films, Wicked looks amazing, and it's a fun world to hang out in. Its ideas about the nature and perspective of good and evil are strong, as is its inspection of otherness and racism and fitting in. And, it bears repeating - Defying Gravity is a killer moment.
It has a heart, a brain and courage, but Wicked spends a lot of time singing and dancing when it could be storytelling.
No comments:
Post a Comment