I may not know much about The Wizard of Oz or Wicked, but it feels like something is missing - even though it's long and exhausting. 

Wicked is a catchy musical that had me pleasantly surprised. I am not a musical person, so I knew I was not going to like it as much as others going into it. I still stand by that, but I will say that it was very entertaining.

I knew nothing about Wicked, The Wizard of Oz, or anything of that sort. I was going in blind. I’m glad I did because I was able to judge the movie based on how good it is rather than being blinded by the history of the franchise. I will say that I do think some people are blinded by the catchy songs, emotional moments, and colorful story. It is sort of an exhausting watch. I think one of the reasons for this is that the original Broadway musical was around 3 hours long, while Wicked Part 1 was 2 hours and 40 minutes. While the movie was fairly long, I do feel that some things were rushed in the story. I can’t quite put my finger on it. In some ways, I felt that the friendship between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) was sort of rushed. And maybe it’s like that in the original, but it is almost as if we spent more time with them hating each other than them actually being friends. I believe that’s why the end feels ingenuine. It’s this emotional moment between Elphaba and Glinda, but I don’t believe the sadness they share in their goodbye. The time they spent as friends doesn't convince me that they would give that reaction when having to leave each other's side.

One thing I think was done phenomenally was the casting. I felt that this movie had one of the best casts I have ever seen. Each person fits their role perfectly and they all care about this movie so much. I can tell that they are all theater kids that were in need of a big project.

Overall, I think Wicked is a solid movie. As someone who doesn't like musicals, I quite enjoyed it. I do think that I am not the best person to come to for this because I don’t know anything about this world, the Broadway musical, or the book. In conclusion, it was not my cup of tea, but I am still excited for part 2 to come out.

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I was numb about 90 minutes into Wicked - and it still had another hour to go. The performances are solid, it's just not for me. 

I can enjoy live musicals, but I enjoy musicals on the big screen less—especially when they’re approaching three hours in length and only tell half of the story. I don’t have full context because I haven’t seen the musical, but Wicked: Part I feels well done. However, I struggled to enjoy it.

Going into it, I thought my disdain for Ariana Grande might taint the film for me, but that wasn’t the case. She was fabulous in a theatrical sense, playing a ditzy, self-absorbed witch. Prior to Wicked, I wasn’t familiar with Cynthia Erivo (although I did see a movie in which she had a small part). Like Grande, she does well in playing her role. I’m also interested to see if Jeff Goldblum is featured more in next year’s Part II. The musical numbers are catchy—as they’re supposed to be—some more so than others. Fortunately, the theater didn’t have anyone singing along (although there were several people in costume).

I found myself snickering at some of the humor, but never found it overly funny. Random pockets of moviegoers were bursting into laughter at certain scenes, so I can only guess they were devout fans of the musical with some real inside knowledge.

The Land of Oz looks great. I’d imagine most of it was filmed with a green screen and enhanced with CGI, but that’s not to its detriment. Expect Wicked to be nominated for Best VFX. Actually, it will probably be nominated for many Oscars, although I can’t say I’d agree with all the nominations.

Wicked: Part II is due in theaters in November 2025, and I’ll be there when it releases, prepared with lots of caffeine. I struggled to pay attention past the 90-minute mark when there was over an hour to go. In preparation for Part II, I will not be rewatching Part I. Instead, I’ll be rewatching The Wizard of Oz.

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