WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS
- Director: Jon M. Chu
- Run Time: 2hr 17m
- Certificate: PG
- Country: United Kingdom
On the 20th of November I decided to sit through the anticipated conclusion of Wicked by watching Wicked For Good. My booking of the double bill displayed the whole musical in front of my eyes, refreshing the full story.
The premise of Wicked is the telling of the ‘Wicked Witch’ through a different eye based on Gregory Maguire’s book. Elphaba (played by Cynthia Erivo) is truly an activist for animals in Oz by using her magic to free them as well as opposing the ‘Wizard Of Oz’ (Jeff Goldblum). In this retelling we are focused on Glinda (played by Ariana Grande) and her journey which can be arguably be seen just as important.
Mistreatment of animals
We are introduced by Elphaba’s first signs of protest by her stopping the labour of ‘bull’ like animals pulling yellow bricks for the new ‘yellow brick road’. Setting the tone of the film we see quite a contrast from the rumours of mistreatment to now being shown labour forced upon the animals. Mistreatment of animals is a huge part of this film, as we see animals slowly lose their voices and rights under the Oz’s rule. The importance of this is as a viewer you begin to root for Elphaba and her cause against the Oz’s cruelty towards animals.
One main hitting scene is Dr. Dillamond’s (Peter Dinklage) fate of him being kept in a cage for being known to speak out about the mistreatment of animals.
Throughout the musical we are aware of Dillamond’s ultimate fear of not being able to speak, as he explains the history of Oz and how animals used to be treated as equals, but now they are seen as ‘someone to blame’.
Learning how Dorothy meets her acquaintances
The introduction of our well known characters from the book / musical are interesting to see how they’ve been interpreted. Staying to the original, we see the cruel fates of all lead characters through heart breaking scenes. Showing real struggles throughout Oz leading to the ultimate scene of ‘No Good Deed’. This number gave me chills as I could feel the emotions from Elphaba through the screen. Her vocals and overall performance really emphasised this, displaying how twisted Oz had become since her time at University.
Most heart breaking, is the scarecrows fate due to how important he is to both Elphaba and Glinda. We are sent through an emotional turmoil as we learn he is Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) nearer the end of the film. However, I do believe that this scene was rushed for how important it is throughout the musical, as Fiyero is quite a prominent head strong character. Learning of him ultimately being the scarecrow and helping Dorothy is interesting in itself, but why did it not have more screen time? Was it to make more room for the new number?
Cinematography
Enough about the characters fates let’s now discuss how I feel they came across to the audience. As a theatre fan I feel inclined to try and judge the film fairly by looking at the cinematography used, and how this was executed to the audience.
Most scenes came across stunningly with huge scenes such as the bright multicoloured tulips fields (which were featured in the first film) that helped contrast with these dark scenes such as Elphaba’s scene in Fiyero’s abandoned castle for ‘No Good Deed’.
Mainly this film felt a lot physically darker through the lighting of the forest in Elphaba’s hide out to comparison of Glinda’s room in The Emerald City. Therefore, feeling important when being able to compare the two characters personality or even ‘fake’ roles made by the Oz as one being ‘good’ and the other ‘evil’.
Editing of the story was interesting as we revisited scenes of Elphaba’s past self as she entered ‘Shiz.’ This means we can compare how hopeful she was when she believed the Oz was magic compared to now when she learns of the truth of the cruelty towards animals. Other uses of editing were the use of flashbacks of the characters in fields by focusing shots on the individual characters, showing the friendship dynamics.
Criticism
Although I love Wicked, there are some thoughts of things that could have been removed or improved.
The two films as a whole felt like there was too much focus on the characters time at University rather than the ultimate impactful parts of how cruel their realities turn into. I feel to get more impactful emotions to the audience the second act should have been more true to the original, or focused on other characters such as seeing more of Fiyero being turned into the scarecrow or Boq after his transformation to show the true cruelty of Oz.
Dorothy as a character as well was faceless which I cannot tell if I liked as much since we see every other characters face. I think covering Dorothy’s face feels almost lazy. However, I do feel by this choice it does honour Judy Garland (who is ultimately the best Dorothy).
If the new songs were not in the film we would have been able to explore more of the baseline story, which may make more sense to audiences that aren’t necessarily big fans of the franchise or even give a more basic understanding to those who are.
Positives
The overall performances of the whole cast was amazing with the songs being performed in a new light that gave me goosebumps. I could really feel the emotions through the screen of a constant sadness through all members of Oz which is really impactful when telling this story.
The costumes throughout the film were carefully crafted and really helped set that classic ‘Wizard Of Oz’ feel to the story. We saw Glinda’s elegant ‘bubble’ like ball gowns that showed tones of purple more than pink in contrast. Elphaba wears dark tones to express her personality and also emphasises the neglect of characters that don’t follow the Oz. Again the sets were really impressive which helped highlight performances whilst making me feel as if I was actually in Oz almost like a fly on the wall to the ultimate showdown about to happen.
Overall Thoughts
I feel the film is impactful in its story telling and does hold truth to the original. It helps tell dark tales through its film and the fates of all under the reign of Oz. As well as this it tells important lessons like standing up for what’s right through activism and treating everyone with equality.
Visually the film is stunning as well as the performance of all actors by making the characters believable and as thought they were real. Again my notes would be I feel we should have had more of the original story in act 2 for a stronger impact as well as keeping in some other original factors of the story.