Wicked

For starters, I have seen the original Broadway Play of Wicked and I really like it. I love Wizard of Oz growing up and I thought it was a good interesting take of the world and setting.

As a film, I was always curious to see how it would be adapted. While I do appreciate it's faithfulness to the source, there are some good aspects but also not so good. Throughout, the costume designs, the production and the sound designs are amazing. It helps to build the world of Oz and create it's vibe. Including the musical score and singing that offers a vibrate, energized and colorful vibe.

However, as a whole, the dull presentation and it's stretched out narrative really seems to fail for me to fully engage with it's power. Writing wise, the narrative is interesting but being stretched out and added with unnecessary characters and moments makes it dried up. Causing some of the characters to be boring and not fully engaging.

The dialogue is pretty bad and there are some poor noticeable uses of CGI that kills away the magical vibe and feel of Oz. Most of the performances are just fine but they never really wowed me in anything particular. Because as a whole, I feel it's a bit overhyped.

The stage play is far more enjoyable; pacing of the storyline and characters you really care about more than in this film. This movie definitely did not need to be a two-parter if the stage play can offer all the storyline and less time. I hope that there is a better cut of this film released when the second half comes out with the whole storyline, not exceeding 2 1/2 hours. These characters in this film seem so superficial. I'm not sure how you can compare this to the stage play. I feel that everything feels so fake in this movie compared to the stage play there could've been better use of all this extended time with more storyline..

I genuinely wanted to love this film and was so disappointed with it in the end. I really enjoyed the West End play and so was keen to see this version. Boy did it drag. It was about 1 hour too long. The set was lovely, the characters were ok and some of the songs were upbeat enough to engage, but overall it just wasn't captivating enough. I didn't even like most of the musical score. At times it actually made me cringe and I wished for it to end. I know most people seem to love it, but I just couldn't. I tried, but I wanted to escape by the second hour. It was just far too long and not captivating enough to keep me interested.

With the raving reviews surrounding this movie, there was an expectation for so much more. I absolutely adore musicals and I had high hopes for this one. Throughout the progression of the film, I kept waiting for the moment when the movie became an instant classic in my books. Unfortunately, it never did. With a 2-hour and 40-minute run-time, Wicked left me feeling drained. The vocals of the leads were immaculate, the props were grand, but it still felt incomplete.

In terms of casting, Cynthia Erivo proved to be a wonderful pick for Elphaba, in both acting and singing. She also garnered much sympathy for the plight of her character and the challenges she faced due to her skin-color. Ariana Grande held her own as Glinda bringing various quirks and a unique comedy to her character, especially with her and Erivo's chemistry. Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero was surprising and fresh, though it felt as if we never received a deeper understanding of his character. Most of the supporting characters seemed more superficial, and not as easy to connect to. The motivation for the villains seemed incomplete especially when centered around the subplot regarding animals. Every set-up in the movie seemed to lend itself to a set up for another song or "you'll find out in part II."

There were moments in the film where it felt rushed, and times that seemed to be drag. Toward the final act, I loathed the idea of hearing another song. The plot seemed increasingly thin and unable to hold my attention. For a musical, most of the songs were forgettable, minus the finishing number 'Defying Gravity.' Admittedly, not all musicals need to have memorable songs if the plot is strong enough to carry it (e.g. Newsies), but the plot itself seemed just as forgettable. The run-time of the film should have produced a better understanding of the characters and a stronger plot. However, it merely presented a song-fest, with a weak plot and many choreographed dances.

Overall, it is still a watchable movie despite its few flaws and bloated run-time. But there are many others who do believe it is the best piece of cinema ever seen so maybe it's just me?

2 hours and 40 minutes and this is only Part 1?! Nowhere except for in the cinema did I see the film advertised as PART 1-not in the advertising, not in the cinema listing, and not on the marquee. I don't think I would have gone knowing there were more parts coming. And since Wicked was just as long as a musical and had a beginning, middle, and an end in that same amount of time, it means that they should tell the entire story in about 9 hours. Yes the creativity of the sets and the CGI of animals were amazing, and the leads were pretty good especially since they had big shoes to fill. Cynthia & Ariana held their own, and Ariana may have a second career as she was awesome on SNL as an actor. Jonathan Bailey was a standout for sure, and can obviously sing and dance and came across as completely swoon worthy. Bowen Yang gave the film some camp and humour. But I guess we have a couple of more films to give a solid rating. Is it a 1/10?-no, that's too harsh, maybe not your cup of tea or too long. Is it a 10/10?!-no you might be fanning out on Wicked The Musical, Ariana, or Cynthia a little too much and perhaps you need a restraining order. But somewhere in the middle seems appropriate, until we see the subsequent parts.