The First Reactions To The Wicked Movie Have Critics United
by Jeremy Smith · /FilmMoviegoers, get ready. This November promises to be one of the most competitive months at the multiplex since the summer, with a handful of big-ticket event films getting ultra-wide releases as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. As for whether these movies will be worth your time, we've already heard some enthusiastic reactions to Ridley Scott's "Gladiator II," and been duly warned that Robert Zemeckis' "Here" is not where it's at (for more on that, read Chris Evangelista's review of the experimental single-camera drama for /Film). We should also be getting social media reactions to "Red One" and "Moana 2" any day now, but today is "Wicked" day on Twitter.
Before we check the tweets, keep in mind that John M. Chu's adaptation of the beloved, long-running Broadway musical riff on "The Wizard of Oz" has been viewed, sight-unseen, with tremendous skepticism due to its 160-minute runtime. Given that Chu's first "Wicked" film is just half of the story (with "Wicked Part Two" due to drop next November), fans of the show are wondering how closely it's going to resemble the stage version, which runs 165 minutes total. Sounds a little bloated, no?
Hopefully, Chu and the screenwriting duo of Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox haven't overextended themselves by getting deeper into the relationship between Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande). So, what did the folks fortunate enough to get the first look at "Wicked" think?
The (five) critics agree! Wicked is wicked good!
Judging from this smattering of tweets, John M. Chu has done the next best thing to brokering of world peace.
This is a ludicrously small sample size, but the early word out of an early screening is that "Wicked" simply "rocks," in the words of Variety's Clayton Davis. "Galinda is the role Ariana Grande was born to play. Perfectly suited and genuinely a hilarious, scene-stealing performance," Davis wrote while also praising Erivo, stating her "heavenly vocals allow her to make Elphaba her own."
Davis's Variety colleague Jazz Tangcay cops to being one of the film's skeptics, but she was won over. In her estimation, the first "Wicked" film "is absolutely everything cinema should be. The crafts and acting are absolute SHIZ." Tangcay needed a second tweet to gush, "Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande have gifted us a musical masterpiece that is much more than we could have ever expected." A masterpiece!
On to Variety's Katcy Stephan (someone please keep an eye over the next few months on this film's Variety ad buy), who also called "Wicked" a masterpiece before raving that "Ariana Grande makes Glinda sparkle: she milks every moment with gusto, humor and hair flips. Jon M. Chu added so much new life to the story that I can see why it needed to be 2 parts! Well worth the 20-year wait."
Curious for a non-Variety perspective? Here's freelance journalist and BAFTA voter Simon Thompson, who said "Wicked" is "an Oz-some spectacle that pops and enchants on the big screen. An absolutely stunning vision. Leads Erivo and Grande knock it out of the park." Another unmitigated rave? Not quite. Thompson concludes, "While this perhaps won't convert many anti-musical folks, genre fans and die-hard Ozians (Wickhards?) will feast on this."
Universal has reportedly spent over $300 million on these two "Wicked" films, so it's obviously hoping for a far better return on its investment than it got with Tom Hooper's "Cats." Take the above reactions with a Lot-sized lump of salt, but the buzz is certainly more positive for "Wicked" than it was prior to this screening.
"Wicked" opens in theaters on November 22, 2024.