Wicked Part One
Currently Only in Theaters
Runtime: 2 hours and 40 Minutes
Rated PG
Based on the award-winning hit Broadway musical (the musical is inspired by a book) comes the true story of the Wicked Witch of the West. Elphaba had only intended to help drop her wheelchair-bound sister off at The Land of Oz’s Shiz University, however after accidentally revealing she has special powers tied to her emotions the the school’s headmistress, Madame Morrible, recruits her for private training. This is where Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, meets her new roommate Glinda (or GA-linda), the Good which starts them down a “yellow brick road” to an unlikely, but deep friendship.
Themes:
The Wizard of Oz, being different, friendship, adultery, college, pink, green, lies, the unexpected, control, power, magic, jealousy, history, being tragically beautiful, crushes, secrets, loss, blame, how to be POPULAR, repression, silencing people, influence, proving oneself, taking a stand, fakes, animals, your heart’s desire, witches, a common enemy, being torn between two worlds, bullying, love, and defying gravity.
Language:
Minor name-calling and bullying.
Oz is used a few times in the place of God. For example, it is said, “Oz bless you.”
Stuff to be aware of:
Sexual - An early scene in the movie shows a man going out of the house after kissing his wife. His wife then turns around, takes some clothing off, and moves toward the camera in a revealing top. She then lets another man into her house who hands her a bottle of something to drink. They dance around and kiss and then the scene changes to the woman having a baby with her husband by her side. Her adulterous relationship leads to an odd baby being born. These scenes are brief and do not include anything over the PG rating.
There is a guy who is considered to be very handsome and there are a bunch of girls (and a guy or two) that oogle over how good he looks. Some characters flirt with him. He approaches one male character, who seems to be portrayed as a very stereotypical gay man, who doesn’t know what to do with himself when the handsome man talks to him. He flirts with him a little. The attractive man later kisses an older woman on the cheek and a girl his age several times.
Scary - When one character gets angry things fly around and stuff gets damaged or broken. This isn’t necessarily meant to be frightening, but sometimes it happens so suddenly it could cause a jump scare. Like in the Wizard of Oz, the Wizard has a fake robotic face he uses to talk to people. While this might not be a big deal for adults, it might scare younger viewers.
There is a scene where Elphaba (this could be considered a spoiler) casts a spell and is very absorbed/entranced in it. The spell causes a monkey, and later a bunch of monkeys, to fall on the ground in pain and eventually sprout wings. These monkeys later chase characters and pop up in windows (the first time this happened it caused my wife to jump). The monkeys also break the windows and try to grab characters.
Violence - It is mentioned several times about the witch being dead or how someone needs to kill the witch. There is a talking goat that is drug violently from his classroom by several guards. There are several scenes where monkeys and guards chase characters.
Other - There is also a quick scene of men and woman getting their nails done and both sexes are wearing elaborate makeup. The students at the university wear what looks like uniforms. Some are pants and some look kind of like a dress or robe. Male and female characters wear both.
Overall: “The best way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy.”
From a parent’s perspective, the bit at the beginning showing a woman cheating on her husband and some of the brief sexual hints were the worst parts. However, these scenes are brief and younger viewers might not even grasp what is going on. Nothing really scared my children, but they did jump once or twice at some of the quick, jarring scene changes which were likely designed to be jump scares. Who hasn’t been afraid of a flying monkey at some point?
As far as what I thought about the movie…
Through my years I have enjoyed being part of theater and watching productions, so I cannot give my thoughts on it without that in mind. I have seen Wicked performed and I have to say if you are a Wicked fan you will likely leave the theater after seeing this with a frown that defyes gravity (see what I did there…a frown that defies gravity is a smile). If you have never watched Wicked I think you will still enjoy it, but go in knowing that this is only part one of this story.
The story does a superb job taking the live musical production and molding it into a great musical movie. The actors and actresses all do a great job, and the singing is amazing. It’s hard not to compare the music to Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, but Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo do a wickedly good job paying homage to what came before while also making these songs their own. I almost clapped several times at the end of songs. I’m not sure I have ever felt compelled to do that when watching a movie before.
The visuals are stunning. The cities and fashion feel like a mix of paying homage to the original movie with a splash of pazazz from the Capital in the Hunger Games. The entire movie does a good job sucking you into this universe and keeping you there for almost three hours and I found myself being totally fine with it (Don’t drink anything before or during the film!). My only complaint is that some of the set pieces could have used a few more pieces of decor and flair. For example some of the school areas needed a bit more odds and ends (or furniture) to make them stand out and be unique from other areas. Also, sometimes scenes seem a little washed out. Glinda’s pink outfits also get lost in the background colors sometimes. Overall, everything was pretty wicked though.
Yeah, the “part one” is almost as long as the entire Broadway musical, but the extra scenes here and there, in my opinion, are worth every second to develop these characters and for world-building. If you were hoping this movie would be great I think you will find that not only does it “defy gravity,” but I think we will see it end up being very “popular” with at the box-office.