I watched Universal Pictures’ ‘Wicked’ starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo and I honestly don’t know why it is being critically acclaimed, if all the PR surrounding the movie is to be believed. I like musicals and I adore fantasy films so obviously I went into the movie with high expectations but Wicked disappointed me big time. The only thing I loved in the movie is the setup – which is grand and aesthetic throughout. Other than that, there’s barely anything I can say I liked – not even the cast.
The story is seemingly similar to the movie titled ‘The School for Good and Evil’ where two girls – one seemingly good and another seemingly evil are tested through circumstances. However, Wicked uses the backstory of ‘Oz’ and the wicked witch (Elphaba) is given a lot of time to establish the storyline that wickedness is in fact thrusted upon individuals; that one is not born with it. Ariana Grande’s character ‘Glinda’ is a shallow, self-centered pixie girl who attempts to complement Elphaba’s character as a foe-turned-friend; but the point of her existence in the storyline is yet to be understood. Possibly, in part two, she’ll be used as a pawn by the evil wizard of Oz and Madame Morrible to propagate against Elphaba.
The musical element of the film was a complete disaster in my eyes. How the cast could have two mainstream music artists in the lead roles and fail so miserably with the musical part of the movie is beyond me. Not one of the tracks was convincing or engaging. In fact, they were boring. I know how musicals work; yet, I cannot come to terms with the fact that the basic ‘rhyme scheme’ entirely evaded this massive budget film. The only thing that kept me going throughout the movie was the setup, and I pushed myself to the end just because I didn’t want to miss out on the aesthetics.
For all the hype it had received, Wicked did the bare minimum to live up to it. It has been a box office success, thanks to the PR and the efforts by the cast but I wonder if anyone truly LOVED the film. I certainly didn’t; and I hope that the second part, which I will watch because I certainly want to know the story’s ending, makes up for it.
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