'Wicked' Review: A Towering 'Part One' That Stands On Its Own

Jon M. Chu's first "act" succeeds - with terrific turns from Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande - as a satisfying fantastical musical tragedy that doesn't feel like half a movie.

Wicked Part One (2024)
160 minutes
rated PG “some scary action, thematic elements and brief suggestive material”
Directed by Jon M.Chu
Produced by Marc Platt and David Stone
Written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox
Based on Wicked (by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman)
Based on Wicked (the book by Gregory Maguire)
Starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum
Cinematography by Alice Brooks
Editing by Myron Kerstein
Music by John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
Opening theatrical the week of November 22 courtesy of Universal Pictures

I was wrong. I’ve spent 2.5 years wondering what Universal was thinking in terms of splitting up their theatrical adaptation of Wicked into two films. While such a thing could be justified with a long book and/or as the conclusion of an ongoing cinematic franchise, I imagine some audiences are/were looking for something approximate to seeing the show on stage in a single serving. Do you love Wicked on stage? Now, you can see it in theaters with Hollywood production values and (relatively speaking) big movie stars at a fraction of the price of a Broadway ticket! Except… you’re only getting the first half of the play, and then you’ll have to trek back to the theaters this time next year for that second half.

Even those caught unaware will likely leave the theater mostly satisfied. Wicked Part One is a complete meal/movie and a big-budget spectacular that typifies the kind of over-the-moon craftsmanship and showmanship that used to typify tentpole-sized blockbusters. It also excels as a singular, mostly stand-alone tragedy that could be a one-and-done film if, by some fluke, we never got a Wicked Part Two. I wouldn’t worry too much about getting that sequel. Wicked Part One succeeds on its own terms as a rousing, witty, rambunctious adventure fantasy that embraces its musical elements while taking full advantage of the cinematic form. There are nits to be picked, mostly source material-related (I always preferred the show’s second act), but it’s mostly a striking triumph of intent.

Wicked Part One tells its imitators to get the hell off its lawn.

For the two of you who don’t know, Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, positing that the so-called Wicked Witch wasn’t so wicked and that she and Glinda were once friends before things went awry. While somewhat innovative at the time of the novel’s publication in 1995, this story device has been used by (offhand) Smallville, Transformers One and (source material fidelity notwithstanding) X-Men: First Class. The “teens go to fantastical magic school” bit has also been oft-copied, think Harry Potter, Sky High and The School for Good and Evil. It’s to Wicked Part One’s credit that it doesn’t feel overly derivative of the various fantasy flicks (Frozen) and shows (Once Upon a Time) that have aggressively “homaged” it over the decades.

Like Denis Villeneuve’s sprawling Dune adaptation (especially the second chapter), this Jon M. Chu-directed fantasy concentrates on being the best possible cinematic version of itself that it can be, to hell with the pretenders. That includes pie-in-the-sky production value that feels larger-than-life and “spared no expense” in a way fewer and fewer modern tentpoles do in this austerity-driven era. You know how I’m always complaining that many “big” movies look and feel smaller than their predecessors (think — quality notwithstanding — Contact versus Arrival)? Well, this isn’t that. Wicked Part One offers such off-the-cuff visual splendor, helmed by an industry vet who’s been playing in or around this sandbox for two decades, that you’d think it was made in the early 2000s amid the DVD boom.

Part One ends on a (very) high note…

Cynthia Erivo is as good as you’d expect if you’ve seen Bad Time at the El Royale, where she both starred and sang her soul out for her proverbial supper. And yes, having Erivo playing Elphaba allows this to be more text than subtext, even if the “othering” is due to her *green* skin. Ariana Grande is likewise spectacular as Glinda, which shouldn’t be a shock. She has killer pipes, and she’s a veteran of the Nickelodeon/Disney Channel sitcom boot camp, which has tended to foster accomplished triple-threat performers who (think Austin Butler or Victoria Justice) happen to be ridiculously good-looking, old-school heartthrobs. Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh offer sadly topical, underplayed villainy, while Jonathan Bailey gets a banger introductory number before fading into the background.

The film ends right when the shit is hitting the fan, climaxing with (spoilers if you don’t already know the lyrics) a blow-out rendition of the show’s signature tune. The top-flight showstopper of a climax — as two friends must decide to what extent they will remain true to themselves in a corrupt and unjust world — will spur much repeat viewership if Universal can keep the damn thing off social media. It’s emotionally on par — in terms of fist-pumping bravado — with the “What’s Up, Danger” sequence from Into the Spider-Verse but with a more complicated moral undercurrent. Not unlike Anne Hathaway’s Oscar-winning, tear-trenched rendition of “Dreamed a Dream” in Les Miserables, Eviro and Grande explicitly emphasize the tragedy behind a long-time karaoke favorite.

A comparatively “new to cinema” fantasy that’s going to be very “popular.”

Wicked Part One is a relentlessly entertaining three-star movie with a ten-star finale. The sheer high of its closing moments may make the film feel/seem better than it is. I’ve long said the same thing about the first Home Alone, but whether that’s a bug or a feature is a question that will require a second viewing. Give or take chopping the show into two movies, meaning we’ll see if we get a Dune Part Two-level upswing or a (comparatively speaking) Quantum of Solace-level downturn; this is arguably the best-case scenario for the project. It offers a sterling cast delivering on all cylinders, with the guy who directed Step Up: 3-D working that song-and-dance magic on a big budget with the backing of a major studio.

When first announced in 2016, I argued that a Wicked movie was a chance for Universal to show they could offer high-quality, large-scale, fairy-tale fantasy melodrama akin to Moana, Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon and Cinderella. In 2024, its relative artistic triumph and likely sky-high commercial success is an avalanche of flaming arrows shot by Disney’s chief competitor as the Mouse House triples down on fear-driven revivals targeting nostalgia for its current CEO’s prior reign. At the very least, Wicked qualifies as a “new” theatrical success story. It’s weird to call an adaptation of a 20-year-old stage show inspired by The Wizard of Oz “new,” but it may feel new(er) and fresh(er) to audiences too young to remember how often we had it at least this good.