The last I heard, the Wicked Witch of the West (WWW) died after Dorothy, stuck in the Land of Oz, threw water on her and she melted. Dorothy, frustratingly stuck in Oz, ended up clicking her ruby red shoes and magically returning home to Kansas with her faithful dog, Toto. The film ends with the famous line, “There’s no place like home.”
This happened in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) which was seen by my mother when she was 11 years old. Since then, “The Wizard of Oz” was bought by CBS in 1956 and my mother watched it with me on tv. I was 7. We eagerly watched it again in 1959 when it was re-broadcast a second time. Then I read the book, which was disconcertedly and, frankly, disappointedly different.
“Wicked,” a sequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” begins in Oz after Dorothy has returned home. Glinda, known as Glinda the Good in the first movie, was the one who told Dorothy that trick about clicking her shoes to return home. But let me pause … Glinda gave Dorothy those shoes early on and didn’t tell Dorothy the trick, even though she knew Dorothy wanted to get home. Poor Dorothy, in the meantime, went through several hair-rising, very scary experiences, in her quest to get back to Kansas. So already, those of us who know the early story were a little confused about sweet, golden-haired Glinda.
In “Wicked,” Glinda the Good shows up in a liberated town that used to be under the WWW’s rule. The townspeople celebrate their liberation and an effigy of the WWW fires up.
However, someone recalls that Glinda and the WWW used to be friends, right? Glinda, not wanting to lie, hesitates and then begins telling the story of how they met.
This is the story of “Wicked.” It’s something like Barbie meets Godzilla at Hogwarts where they both fall in love with the opposing sides of Jack Sparrow.
I think I’m getting off to a negative start here. My best friend and 6-year-old film critic colleague gives her critique in one number. That’s all that’s important. She gave “Wicked” an excited 5 out of 5. No analysis.
But I am shocked. A 5?
The environment of “Wicked” is just where we would both want to live. We like those stone houses with chimneys and attics. We love the dorm room at Shiz University, which specializes in instruction in magic like at Hogwarts, with the floral wallpaper and balcony that overlooks the school.
Glinda (Ariana Grande) is a gorgeous, string-thin, fairy book blond girl, much like Barbie, with a big dose of self-aggrandizement, who is always working angles that might benefit herself.
There by accident is green-skinned Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), whom we assume will become the WWW. Her father has allowed her to be at Shiz only to look after her younger sister, Nessarose, Elphaba’s paraplegic younger sister. Nessarose plays someone conflicted about having a different sister (aren’t they both different?) who is not accepted (because she is green), as she so desperately wants to be.
Propelling the plot of the story are the appearances of Michelle Yeoh, who plays a deliciously duplicitous dean at the university, and Jeff Goldblum, who gives a few creepy sides to the Wizard of Oz.
Already ingrained with the catchy tunes of “The Wizard of Oz,” I found this sequel’s music disappointedly ho-hum. Where were songs as catchy as “Over the Rainbow,” “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead,” “You’re Off to See the Wizard,” or any of the other hits in the original “The Wizard of Oz”?
The excitement, the delight, and drama of the first film, without all the special effects and animated environment of “Wicked,” is just not matched in this sequel – not the story, not the music and not the primary acting – which means, sorry to say, especially not the directing – though Eileen the Candid Critic emphatically disagrees. Perhaps I was just spoiled by the super-epic 1939 version.
Credits
Director: Jon M. Chu
Screenplay: Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox / based on earlier works by Stephen Schwartz and Winne Holzman, Gregory Maguire as well as the adapted screenplay of “The Wizard of Oz” by Victor Fleming, which was based on the book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum
Producers: Marc Platt and David Stone
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum
Cinematography: Alice Brooks
Editor: Myron Kerstein
Music: John Powell (score), Stephen Schwartz (score and songs)
Release: Nov. 22, 2024
Official Website and how to see: https://www.universalpictures.com/movies/wicked
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