“Wicked” doesn’t need a movie adaptation to be relevant — it’s already a cultural phenomenon, even before the behemoth two-part film adaptation hits theaters. The beloved Tony-winning Broadway musical is adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” a revisionist history of Frank L. Baum’s 1900 fantasy novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and that book’s iconic 1939 film adaptation “The Wizard of Oz.” While Dorothy’s tornado-twirl into Technicolor is burned into our collective consciousness, so too is the massive note sung at the end of Act 1 by the witch at the center of “Wicked,” Elphaba, in the show’s signature song, “Defying Gravity.” The battle cry that emerges from Elphaba (played here by Cynthia Erivo) is breathtaking. It’s just the preceding rising action that feels a bit underwhelming. “Wicked” seeks to understand the Wicked Witch of the West, and the movie, which is written by Dana Fox and Winnie Holzman (who wrote the musical book), starts off when a denizen of Munchkinland dares to ask Glinda the Good Witch (Ariana Grande), in her big, pink bubble, “Is it true you were friends with her?” inspiring a flashback to their days at Shiz University, where the pair first encountered each other. Elphaba, rejected by her father since birth due to the color of her green skin, finds herself enrolled at Shiz when she follows her sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) to school and accidentally unleashes some rough, untrained powers, catching the eye of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). She’s forced to bunk up with pretty, popular, pink-obsessed Galinda (the first iteration of the Good Witch’s name), and though they are at first at odds, Galinda can’t resist a makeover, or the intriguing powers of her new pal. It’s essentially a high school musical, with more magic, but not enough movie magic. The script has got to get Elphaba and Galinda to Oz to meet the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and hone Elphaba’s motivation for eventually defying the wizard (and gravity), which is wrapped up in a rushed subplot about talking animals being shunted out of a previously integrated society. Elphaba wants to help the animals because she feels connected with their plight as someone who is also physically different, but that desire doesn’t go beyond surface motivations. What makes Elphaba tick is clear — it’s just not always convincing. Grande is delightful as Galinda, but her character turns are also quite flat, and the world-building of this school could have been so much sharper and funnier. Bowen Yang does heroic work with a few ad libs and reactions as Galinda’s pal Pfannee, and Jonathan Bailey is terrific as the dashing prince Fiyero, but the setting doesn’t feel well-rounded on the screen. The camera is liberated (via CGI) in the song and dance numbers, but everything else is filmed in a boring fashion, the background melting into a dim, unfocused blur behind the actors. “Wicked” will delight fans of the stage production as a faithful adaptation that is at once playful but reverent to the iconic “Defying Gravity” and the story of understanding and togetherness despite social power structures that depend on fear and divisiveness. The weight of expectations is heavy to bear, and they bog down this movie. The film may struggle to take flight, but when it does, it is undeniably moving, with a message of freedom and defiance that resonates now more than ever. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
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