KWIF: Wicked

 KWIF=Kent's Week in Film. It's been a while since I've been able to make it to the theatres, and even longer since I've watched a new (or new-to-me) movie that isn't Christmas-themed. Blame it on a busy work schedule and a plethora of TV to consume.

This Week:
Wicked [Part 1] - 2024, d. John M. Chu - in theatre
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I have not seen the Wicked musical and I have not read the book, and I'm definitely not precious about the 1939 Warner Bros. classic film. I am, however, a bit of a fan of the Oz franchise. I like it in its many deviant, public domain forms. I also don't like it in many of its deviant, public domain forms. So it goes with public domain properties.

My favourite Oz stuff is when Oz gets weird. The Return to Oz is a pretty special movie and, much more that the classic Judy Garland version, cemented my affection for the property (can you still call it "property" when it's in the public domain?). I also quite enjoyed Sam Raimi's Oz: The Great and Powerful. Both these films were Disney productions and both weren't triumphant successes on critical nor commercial levels, and part of that I have to presume is because they're only able to reference the Judy Garland classic in a roundabout way, and in part I also have to presume because they're not musicals.

Well, Wicked, obviously is. One of the bigger Broadway successes of the the past 20 years, it's a musical based off the novel by Gregory Maguire, which itself was such a success that I think it may have single-handedly launched the "let's reassess our villains as misunderstood heroes" trend that's been slow burning ever since.

The adaptation here is brought to the screen by John M. Chu, director of Crazy Rich Asians and G.I. Joe Retaliation, yes, but also the big screen adaptation of Lin Manuel Miranda's In the Heights and, like, four Step Up movies and some Justin Beiber concert films. He's certainly well versed in both the singing and the dancing side of filmmaking, and over the years he's garnered a reputation as a filmmaker who makes, at the very least, good looking films.

And Wicked looks good...really damn good. The set designs in this film are magnificent. Given how much they use a space for song and dance numbers, the expense pays off. I routinely found myself looking at the sets during a musical moment, moreso than the dancing. But I would get drawn back into the dancing, thanks to the costumes. The wardrobe department did an incredible job of making garments that look phenomenal on the performers but also move in such a way as to draw the eye to them. The design flourishes are also just so intricate and really alluring.

The story finds Glinda, the Good Witch (Ariana Grande) amidst the munchkins as they celebrate the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. Glinda is a populist, she's all about pleasing the people and making herself look good, so she doesn't really say too much, but Grande portrays the conflict in her eyes, and the hesitation at partaking in the celebration. Someone asks Glinda to address the scandalous rumour that she, the Good Witch, was once friends with with wicked green one. 

Flashing back, we get the story of Elphaba's conception (yes) and birth. The product of an illicit affair with some black magic and trickery causing her to be born...green. She immediately disgusts her father, and is basically raised by the family's au pere, a bear. Her little sister comes along and is born with issues with her legs that have her confined to a wheelchair. She winds up being Elphaba's only friend, pretty much, as everyone else mocks, fears, or hates her.

Arriving at the Shiz University with her sister, an outburst causes Elphaba's (Cynthia Erivo) magic to erupt, catching the attention of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) who takes her under her wing, much to the consternation of Galinda, who really wanted to be Morrible's protege. Galinda, used to getting everything she wants, resents Elphaba for it, also because she's forced to take her on as a roommate.

Of course things take a turn, and Galinda and Elphaba find an unlikely friendship after one good turn is repaid with another. A boy arrives, a prince of a sort, and he's immediately taken with Elphaba (mostly because she wants nothing to do with him, and that intrigues him) and of course Galinda gets her paws in him straight away.

There's a side plot about the animals of Oz being removed from any positions of authority, and even positions of service. Come to learn that the young animals of Oz are being caged, prevented from learning to speak, think, develop and contribute meaningfully to society. There's a campaign of fear targeting them, rallying the public to ever more extreme cruelty and treatment of these beings (even suggesting that the people may be eating them?)

Elphaba, through Morrible, is granted an audience with the Wizard, and she takes Galinda (now Glinda, for reasons) with her. Their encounter with the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) is not quite what they expected. The intent was for Elphaba to prove herself to the Wizard, and maybe become his right hand one day, but she saw through his flim-flammery in a way few others have, and saw he is the one responsible to the confinement and torture of the animals. She escapes from Emerald City on a flying broom, Glinda captured by guards, and she's named public enemy number 1.

There's some impressive things happening in this telling of wicked. The first is in casting Erivo as the daughter of a black woman, but born with green skin. There's a potency to the outsiderism as a result that doesn't play the exact same way as if it were a white woman in the same makeup. The relentless teasing and mockery by "normal kids" has an additional layer of harshness and disgust to it. And when she's told the Wizard might be able to wish away the colour of her skin (and then she sings about that possibility, you can see how torn she is with the desire to "fit in" and not always having to explain herself, versus loving herself for who she is, other people be damned...)it's a gutting moment that happens more than once.  Erivo is in full control of this character, and gets every intention of the words she sings or speaks, and seems to infuse even more of her own. 

Erivo is so good that it's almost painful to report that she's overshadowed slightly by Grande's performance as Glinda/Galinda. The tightrope Grande has to walk in being the popular blonde who always gets her way and everyone loves her because she's so sweet (because her sweetness gets her the attention she desires) well... it seems like it should be so transparently fake, that her "good deeds" are all for her own glory, and yet, Grande manages to make Galinda if not fully likeable than decidedly not hateable. It's almost like Galinda's transparentness tells you exactly where you stand with her. I dunno, I was genuinely impressed by how much I wanted to hate her, but I just couldn't. And when Grande starts taking command of a scene, it's all hers.

It's all a shame then that the songs aren't particularly memorable. The end of act 1 showstopper, Defying Gravity, is the big one, but I can't really think of another tune that stuck out or even got my toes tapping. There aren't really any bops here.

The dancing, on the one hand, was really weird, and I didn't like it, but on the other hand, it did feel oddly suitable for a weird place like Oz to have weird dancing. But it was a little too weird, and gangly and akimbo and awkward. Again, for the most part, I didn't like it. But I get what they were going for and I guess they succeed, even if it didn't please me.

But worst of all, I didn't like this Oz. As beautiful as it was (that clockwork train was an absolutely gorgeous piece of digital sculpting and engineering), beyond the dancing, it was missing the weird. Where was the China Doll like in Oz the Great and Powerful, or Jack Pumpkinhead, or Tik Tok, or the The Gump or the Wheelies of Return to Oz. There was nothing new added to Oz in this beyond the school, and the school is probably its least interesting element.

The whole school bit is made all the more unusual (I guess weird, but not good weird) by the fact that it's inhabited by largely 30-somethings, you know, grown-ass adults. These are not young people attending this school. And I really didn't care for the Harry Potter vibes it was so obviously aping, but trying not to look like it was aping. I'm kind of done with fantasy school settings for a while.

The whole persecution of the animals...well, it's a very now thing, and likely to be an even more relevant thing as this right wing wave continues to crash over so much of the world. It's the catalyst to show Elphaba's difference from everyone else, of being someone whose angry about the mistreatment of others, and trying to fight a system that so ready to just look away to maintain their own comfort.

Wicked on stage is roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes long with a 15 minute intermission. This film, presented as "Part 1", is 2 hours and 40 minutes with credits which is pretty wild, when you think about it. But it doesn't do a bad job earning its running time. Honestly, maybe a couple of musical numbers could have been cut short, but overall I wasn't bored.  I didn't love it, but I wasn't bored.

I could telegraph a lot of where the story was going, and I feel like there's nothing in the way of surprises given everything this movie has set up. As much as I didn't fully love it and probably won't watch Part 1 again, I certainly will be watching the sequel, if only because there's enough there to enjoy...and just that little bit of hope that somehow, someway, Glinda and Elphaba found each other again and faked Elphaba's death.