Well, it looks like Wicked is doing pretty well at the box office. I caught it on Sunday. Here's my $0.02.
Spoilers ahead, I guess. I mean, the trailers basically told the whole story, the play is 20 years old, the book is 30, and the franchise is over a century. But this thread allows full spoilers for both this movie and the next one.
The Good:
Sets and costumes - Probably the best part of the show, these really did a great job of setting the tone of the movie.
Ariana Grande - I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed her version of G(a)linda.
Homages - There were a couple of nice references/easter egss that I thought were subtle and clever. For example, the way the end credits were shown screen-by-screen instead of rolling, the same as the original movie. And the cameo duet was fun (well, and less subtle).
The Average:
Special effects - I'm going to be too harsh here; I have high expectations of special effects for anything Oz. The effects weren't amazing, groundbreaking, or breathtaking for me. There were a few bits of CGI that just didn't look that good (some of the animal stuff and the balloon come to mind). But overall the effects were visually cohesive and consistent. I could nitpick all day if I wanted, but stuff like the magic train and mechanical wizard did a good job of selling the story, and that's what's most important. Maybe it's fair to say "above average for the parts that mattered, cut a few corners here and there".
Cynthia Erivo - She did an acceptable job, but not great. Better than Mila Kunis, but she's just not in the same league as Margaret Hamilton or Idina Menzel.
The WTF?:
Lighting - Some really odd choices in a few scenes. Dark faces, weird background/foreground mix. I just didn't get it. Kinda felt like an abuse of high dynamic range. Maybe I'll understand it more after a home viewing or when Part 2 comes out.
Audio mixing - Surprisingly bad. Not so bad you couldn't hear things properly, but extremely disappointing for a high budget musical. I didn't see the movie in IMAX, and I'm wondering if the problem was that they just passed along a half-assed down-mix from the IMAX version for standard theaters. Still, not a good excuse.
Both of the above have me worried about home releases. I'm guessing there's going to be some re-mastering.
The Bad.
Pacing - Oh, man. What the heck happened here? For those that don't know, the movie is literally longer than the entire musical, even though it only covers Act 1. And it really feels like it in a bad way. Everything is dragged out so much; extended intros, long establishing and lingering shots. This would be excusable if they added a lot of material (maybe pulling from the book or adding new scenes), but they don't. Very little of any substance is added. This is most problematic with regards to the magical-animal-decline storyline; by dragging out other parts of the movie so much, this plot point actually feels like it's minimized by receiving comparatively less screen time. And considering it's the moral compass steering the main plot, that doesn't work well.
A special note here to how badly they killed any forward momentum of Defying Gravity. It reminded me of watching the ending of Return of the Kind on the extra-long extended cut DVD, just going on for-e-ver. Sing a line, add a scene. Sing a line, add a scene. Get on with it already!
The one good thing to come of the pacing was the joy of watching the movie in a large theater, and hearing a mixture of "What?", groans, and laughter when the "To Be Continued" screen came up
The "I'm Not Going to Bother Reviewing"
The Music - I'm a fan of the music in Wicked. Here it's slightly movie-ified, just as you would expect. I could spend a while talking about what changes I think were good or bad. But the bottom line is that if you liked the broadway play or musicals in general, you'll enjoy this. And if you don't like that kinda stuff, this won't be the movie that changes your mind.
The Oz-ness - It's a magitech/steampunk take on Oz. Of the dozen-odd re-imaginings of Oz that we've gotten from so many places, this is definitely one of them. I'm at the point where I've seen so many takes on Oz I'm in danger of burning out. But there's nothing wrong with this version.
That's all I can think of for now. If I can think of anything else I'll add it. What did you think?
Spoilers ahead, I guess. I mean, the trailers basically told the whole story, the play is 20 years old, the book is 30, and the franchise is over a century. But this thread allows full spoilers for both this movie and the next one.
The Good:
Sets and costumes - Probably the best part of the show, these really did a great job of setting the tone of the movie.
Ariana Grande - I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed her version of G(a)linda.
Homages - There were a couple of nice references/easter egss that I thought were subtle and clever. For example, the way the end credits were shown screen-by-screen instead of rolling, the same as the original movie. And the cameo duet was fun (well, and less subtle).
The Average:
Special effects - I'm going to be too harsh here; I have high expectations of special effects for anything Oz. The effects weren't amazing, groundbreaking, or breathtaking for me. There were a few bits of CGI that just didn't look that good (some of the animal stuff and the balloon come to mind). But overall the effects were visually cohesive and consistent. I could nitpick all day if I wanted, but stuff like the magic train and mechanical wizard did a good job of selling the story, and that's what's most important. Maybe it's fair to say "above average for the parts that mattered, cut a few corners here and there".
Cynthia Erivo - She did an acceptable job, but not great. Better than Mila Kunis, but she's just not in the same league as Margaret Hamilton or Idina Menzel.
The WTF?:
Lighting - Some really odd choices in a few scenes. Dark faces, weird background/foreground mix. I just didn't get it. Kinda felt like an abuse of high dynamic range. Maybe I'll understand it more after a home viewing or when Part 2 comes out.
Audio mixing - Surprisingly bad. Not so bad you couldn't hear things properly, but extremely disappointing for a high budget musical. I didn't see the movie in IMAX, and I'm wondering if the problem was that they just passed along a half-assed down-mix from the IMAX version for standard theaters. Still, not a good excuse.
Both of the above have me worried about home releases. I'm guessing there's going to be some re-mastering.
The Bad.
Pacing - Oh, man. What the heck happened here? For those that don't know, the movie is literally longer than the entire musical, even though it only covers Act 1. And it really feels like it in a bad way. Everything is dragged out so much; extended intros, long establishing and lingering shots. This would be excusable if they added a lot of material (maybe pulling from the book or adding new scenes), but they don't. Very little of any substance is added. This is most problematic with regards to the magical-animal-decline storyline; by dragging out other parts of the movie so much, this plot point actually feels like it's minimized by receiving comparatively less screen time. And considering it's the moral compass steering the main plot, that doesn't work well.
A special note here to how badly they killed any forward momentum of Defying Gravity. It reminded me of watching the ending of Return of the Kind on the extra-long extended cut DVD, just going on for-e-ver. Sing a line, add a scene. Sing a line, add a scene. Get on with it already!
The one good thing to come of the pacing was the joy of watching the movie in a large theater, and hearing a mixture of "What?", groans, and laughter when the "To Be Continued" screen came up
The "I'm Not Going to Bother Reviewing"
The Music - I'm a fan of the music in Wicked. Here it's slightly movie-ified, just as you would expect. I could spend a while talking about what changes I think were good or bad. But the bottom line is that if you liked the broadway play or musicals in general, you'll enjoy this. And if you don't like that kinda stuff, this won't be the movie that changes your mind.
The Oz-ness - It's a magitech/steampunk take on Oz. Of the dozen-odd re-imaginings of Oz that we've gotten from so many places, this is definitely one of them. I'm at the point where I've seen so many takes on Oz I'm in danger of burning out. But there's nothing wrong with this version.
That's all I can think of for now. If I can think of anything else I'll add it. What did you think?
