I am a big fan of the Wicked musical. It’s one of my favourites. So I came to this movie with love for the material, along with high expectations. Shockingly, and happily, this film adaptation exceeded them all, and brought the musical wonderfully to cinematic life. I enjoyed the stage musical primarily for its soundtrack. The story was alright (though I seem to remember being rather impressed by the way it functioned as a Wizard of Oz prequel, and how many plot details were accounted for in some clever way). Unfortunately, most of that prequel magic is in the second half of the show (and therefore part of the second movie, not included). The first half of the stage show also includes all the best songs so, as a first movie, making those classics work is the key to success. By the time I heard Elphaba (who would eventually become the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz) sing the opening verse of “The Wizard and I”, the shivers of emotion that I felt told me that this movie was absolutely going to work.

Cynthia Erivo, the actress playing Elphaba, is incredible. Her voice is strong and she not only knows how to put emotion into her singing, she also does a great job with the parts of the songs which are essentially scene dialogue. Wicked’s songs often roll right in and out of what’s happening in a scene without stopping the plot action and the characters sing lines of dialogue as part of the song. This is not uncommon in modern musicals, but Wicked just has a lot of those and they work really smoothly in this film. In partnership with Erivo, pop star Ariana Grande plays Galinda (who eventually becomes the Good Witch of the North), starting out as Elphaba’s rival/antagonist/frenemy. She is the rich, spoiled, popular girl in school who gets everything she wants and yet Grande plays her very sympathetically and with a lot of warmth. We already knew that she could sing, but she pulls off her numbers even better than expected. Galinda has more “dialogue” songs than the other characters and she needs to deliver them with a lot of well-timed humour. Grande’s comedic timing is wonderful and she communicates as much with a long-lashed blink, a gracefully-skillful hair toss (which I suspect may have involved CGI effects), or an upbeat hilarious ditty. The two main characters’ performances are the core of the film, and they both do incredibly well. Their chemistry is easy and such a joy to watch as they transition from enemies to friends.

On top of the two leads, all of the cast was excellent (though neither Michelle Yeoh or Jeff Goldblum gave great musical performances, they played their characters with their usual impeccable charm). Additionally, the musical numbers all had awesome choreography. The scenes were bold and inventive and never felt stagey. The camera work gave it a flowing feeling, with a bit of a music video aesthetic. Plus, I do not know how they managed to get the performers to time their song lines so well with the movements and brought them together with quick editing to keep the momentum going. Again, there was zero staginess. My favourite spectacle in the film was the song, “Dancing Through Life” where new student/heartthrob Prince Fiyero (played by the charismatic Jonathan Bailey) arrives at the school to shake things up and all the students are in the library dancing around, climbing ladders (which, in this magical school, are rotating like something on a rocket ship). The scene is full of charm, energy and verve.

To complement the choreography and cinematography is the incredible art direction and design. Everything in this movie looks great. The land of Oz looks so real (but not in an ugly, muddy, gritty, run-down way). Everything looks shiny and new, but perhaps it’s the scale of all the buildings, chambers, courtyards, etc., which feel so much larger than life. That ironically make these settings feel like they’d actually exist. The costumes are also ornate and brilliant, with a lot of creative flair and attention to detail. Thirdly, the visuals and cinematography are gorgeous and expansive. Flight is a key motif of this story and the camera is often soaring on its own (this was most evident during the finale). Big skies, tall buildings, and nine million tulips come together to make even the yellow brick road feel mundane. The climactic finale of the movie (i.e. the marquee number, “Defying Gravity”) is breathtaking and pulse-pounding. I would argue that it’s worth the admission alone.

As I mentioned, I’m not really sure how  “Part 2” will do. All the banger songs (except a few) have already come out in this first film. I can’t say that I really remember much from the second half of the stage musical. I expect that it will be a more plot-driven film with focus on the prequel aspects. I don’t know that I’ll be expecting as much from the second film. I just hope it doesn’t squander the energy of this first film and fizzle out.

As the first part, this film was everything that I’ve been waiting for in an adaptation (and it’s been so long in coming that I’d forgotten that I have been waiting). Now that I’ve seen it and enjoyed it, it’s an easy 5 out of 5 for me. I cannot wait to watch it again.