Wicked (2024) (8/10)
This movie has certainly been a long time coming. I remember seeing the play on Broadway when I was in high school. Based on the book by the same name by Gregory Maguire, the film "Wicked" is an American musical fantasy film directed by Jon M. Chu. This is only Part 1 of 2 so we have another installment of "Wicked" on the big screen in the future. Overall I would say, in general, that the film was lovely. It ended up being in the top 10 movies of 2024 and I'd say that's well-deserved. Honestly I was surprised it wasn't ranked in the top 5.
The "Wicked" story holds a special place in my heart, seeing as it permeated my whole experience in my local theatre program back home circa 2008. I went to New York with my Mom and Sister to see some sort of Tribute show on Broadway and it was wonderful. We knew all the songs and would sing them in the car on the way to school. It was a whole thing. Making not one but TWO feature-length films so many years later felt like quite the undertaking when I first heard it was being adapted for the big screen. I remember some drama and scandal surrounding its filming, as well.
I don't believe these thoughts I'm about to share are super plot related or anything but just incase someone doesn't want to hear specifics after " It was good. I'm giving this an 8/10" then here, have this:
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SPOILER WARNING
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One of my earliest worries came up after hearing about the casting of Ariana Grande as Glinda. I'm not trying to imply that she isn't a very skilled singer and actress, it's just that she really didn't fit my Glinda experience thus far. Her voice is generally rather breathy and light and I was raised on Kristin Chenoweth's crisp, clear notes and booming personality. Ariana always seemed so sultry and satin in her musical career so I wasn't keen on her changing Glinda into more of a pop singer.
It turned out that I didn't need to worry. Ariana pleasantly surprised me. Her speaking voice was still rather soft and breathy but her singing voice felt like it channeled a lot of Kristin's operatic personality while still being true to her own singing talents. There were certain notes that I didn't think Ariana would give the correct... pop to, if that makes sense. The right emphasis. Kristin has a way of singing with such life and such charisma. She can do the little vocal "growls" and can really pack a punch. It just didn't sound like it would come naturally to Ariana in the same way but she really came through.
I didn't know anything about Cynthia Erivo before this and she was also lovely. I loved her micro braids and her quirky glasses and the little gap in her front teeth. Oh, and her freckles! She was so charming, especially when Elphaba got to laugh or smile for whatever reason.
Ariana had a lovely costume and props department for Glinda as well. Though I admit, I wanted her to have bigger hair. Her hair was far too reasonable to be Glinda for me haha. I know she is younger and she's just a student and not a full-fledged Witch yet but still - She needed a couple layers of curls, instead of just the one.
Also her eyes are such a dark brown that they are almost black and it unfortunately makes her facial expressions look a little empty / blank to me and I don't like it. I'm sorry.
I also looked into some "behind the scenes" stuff and apparently they built damn near every set and scene for real, not just on a green screen. The Munchkin Village, the shared Dorm at Shiz, the classrooms and courtyards. That is remarkable in this day and age, with so many movie studios and producers looking for every possibility to save as much money as possible. Which... leads me to my main criticism.
Despite all of the obvious and commendable effort that went into the set design and costumes and environment of the film... There was still so much of it that looked fake. They didn't use CG for EVERYTHING but they certainly used it, and when they did, it was often very obvious.
Dr. Dillimond, the Lion Cub, the Enchanted Forest area, and the Flying Monkeys were the worst offenders for me.
I understand that a talking goat dressed in a sweater vest and glasses would be a tall order to do in real life. I'm not expecting a trained goat to do every single scene. I just wanted a bit more goat, even if it had to be practical effects. Like, one or two of the camera angles where you were behind Dillimond while he was speaking or while he was walking around his podium and you couldn't completely see his face - those brief moments couldn't have been done with a real goat? The hoofed foot that pressed on his various pedals to operate his chalkboards couldn't have been an actually made furry foot prop?
Even just little sprinkles of more props or even real animals would've made a huge difference to me.
It just makes me think about how they supposedly killed off the dire wolves and one of the dragons in "Game of Thrones" because it was too expensive to generate and animate something so realistic. In light of that, was rendering an entire goat model really cheaper than grabbing an actual goat for a few of the shots? Having so many animals and locations be CGI just felt... sort of lazy, in light of how much work went into other aspects of the film.
The baby lion cub was obviously not real. It looked like the fabricated lions for Disney's soulless "Lion King" remake. Like, there's no way one of the biggest movie productions of the passed year or so couldn't contact a zoo and grab a baby lion for two days shooting. Perhaps they were worried about Johnathan and Cynthia getting scratched or bitten. I guess that's fair... Even a couple shots of actual puppet, maybe not fully in the scene but still visible in Cynthia's arms would've been an improvement in my opinion.
(I probably sound so snobby, seeing this huge big-budget movie and being like "What, they couldn't get a REAL LION? Pfft. I remember the days when movies had ANIMAL HANDLERS and things actually looked REAL." Blah blah blah XD)
Like, were they really in a forest? I doubted it.
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