On Nov. 22 the movie adaptation of the musical, Wicked, was released to the theaters.
The movie follows the backstory of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, Glinda, the Good Witch and shows how their friendship not only grows but ultimately falls apart.
The movie stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda. With such popular stars taking on these roles, millions from around the world waited in anticipation for the movie and held it to a great standard.
The Wicked movie not only paid great respect to the original musical, but it also elaborated the story and ultimately made it enjoyable to watch.
“I think it was really empowering to bring all these people together, whether they like the art or not, to watch and enjoy this movie about friendship and betrayal” shares Kayana Coachman (11).
Jonathan Bailey, the popular Bridgerton star, took on the role of Fiyero and executed it far beyond any standard I held previously.
His intense emotions broke through not only the screen but also through the songs. His performance in “Dancing Through Life” showed such strong vocal skills and dancing ability. With all his dancing done purely by him with no stunt doubles, it was astonishing to see how multi-faceted Bailey is as an actor.
Ariana Grande impressed me beyond words. Although I am not a fan of method acting, and see it as a huge danger, it is impressive how much Grande was committed to the role.
Her upstanding vocals and personal spins on “Popular” made it feel fresh and unlike any other versions heard before.
Grande’s chemistry with Cynthia Erivo presented itself throughout the entire film and added depth to their characters and the overall mood of the film.
Erivo is a trained Broadway actress and it made complete sense why she was selected to play Elphaba, who has such hard vocals for any average singer to reach. Erivo, however, perfected the role and found personal connections with the audience. Her vocals during “Defying Gravity” were Oscar-worthy and the most accurate representation of the power within.
Ethan Slater, who plays the awkward lover-boy Boq, did not impress me whatsoever. With his past role as Spongebob, I thought he would impress me more, but it felt as if he was just there and added no depth to the movie except fawning over Grande’s, Glinda.
Jaslene Massey (11) shares, “I loved the movie so much, there were such great songs and emotions connected to it, there was nothing I could deny, it was a really good movie.”
An unexpected performance came from Jeff Goldblum, the wizard, who is 75 years old and can still do it all. The second he began singing I was in awe of his talent and the duality he held with the wizard. He did a spectacular job in his first musical role and shined far more than Slater.
Director, Jon Chu, truly brought this Wicked world to life as all set pieces were real and not CGI. You can clearly see that he had a vision and it was executed perfectly. His last few movies include “Crazy Rich Asians” and “In the Heights,” and although I loved those movies, Wicked’s greatness lapses them immensely.
This movie lived up to all anticipated expectations. The soundtrack held so many emotions and depth that were extremely loveable. The actors and director worked in unison and created a fictional world and truly brought it to life. This movie was a once-and-a-lifetime experience that I think everyone should take the opportunity to watch.
