Arts & Culture

Wicked
What: Movie, 161 mins.
When: Fri., Nov. 22
Where: : In theatres
Rating: NNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch:  Solid performances in a film that takes no chances and ultimately under-delivers.

AFTER A SEEMINGLY endless promotional cycle, John M. Chu’s big-screen adaptation of the beloved musical Wicked has finally materialized, and just like witches in the Land of Oz, there’s some good and some bad. The good is in the performances: Cynthia Erivo delivers an impressive turn as Elphaba, a young witch ostracized for being green, and Ariana Grande brings precise comedic timing to the shallow queen-bee, Galinda. The bad is a bit harder to identify, the pieces are all there — on top of the performances are the rousing songs, excellent production and costume design, and a compelling premise — but in terms of style, narrative and character, the film suffers because it takes no risks.

If you haven’t seen the musical (it’s been on stage for two decades) or read the 1995 novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire, Wicked tells the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz (1939), who once were not so opposed in terms of virtuousness; they were actually good friends. They meet at Shiz University where Elphaba (as she was known before gaining her infamous title) is taken under the wing of the sorcery teacher Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) to nurture her innate magical power, and Galinda — blonde, bubbly, and calculated — climbs to the top of the social ladder. But their differences ultimately bring them closer, and together, they travel to the Emerald City and right to the doorstep of the wonderful Wizard of Oz. But while their connection feels genuine, the film’s simplistic moral outlook limits the characters, forcing them to be good even when they’re supposedly being bad (Elphaba can only become the angry, liberated witch because of her revulsion at the mistreatment of others not because of her own desire for power or revenge).

Stephen Schwartz’s songs are the centrepiece of the film, and musically, the cast delivers, particularly Erivo, whose delivery is both passionate and effortless. But the musical numbers are directed with so little flair or imagination that they never really take off, and the lighting design is bafflingly boring, making the bright scenes flat and the dark scenes muddy. Particularly egregious is how Erivo is severely underlit in low-lit scenes, practically disappearing into the background next to Grande. It’s a testament to Erivo’s talent that she remains a dominating presence despite being hard to see, but for a film about a woman othered by the colour of her skin, it’s a serious misstep.

Wicked is certainly a crowd-pleaser, and thanks to its bottomless marketing budget, it’s shaping up to be a huge hit. But it’s precisely this eagerness to please that makes the film so forgettable, even as Part Two of the film is on the way. Die-hard fans of the original musical may disagree, but it’s unclear if making the film into two parts does much more than pad the plot and some very specific wallets.