Article by Olivia Simonson. Photo by Olivia Simonson.
Feb. 20 through Feb. 22, the Huskies Events and Activities Team (HEAT) at St. Cloud State University hosted a movie viewing in the Atwood Theater of Wicked, a 2024 movie starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. The movie has won a variety of awards this year alone, with the most recognizable being the Golden Globe for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement.
I will open by saying that this review will be biased, as it is my opinion, but I am going to try and back up my opinions with facts. I will be taking into consideration public perception and actual production quality/writing, while also discussing my thoughts as well.
Note that this is not my first time seeing this film. It is my fourth, and each time is just as good as the first, if not better.
There are a couple of good things to know before going to see this movie. The first being that this is a prequel to the Turner Classic Movie, The Wizard of Oz. It follows the Wicked Witch of the West, named Elphaba, and her transformation into this iconic character. The second being that it is based off the book Wicked, written by Gregory Maguire. This book explores a multitude of dark themes that are not present in the movie, but the characters and storyline are all based around this original twist.
The final thing to note is that this movie takes heavy influence from the Broadway musical of the same name, but this is only the first half of the musical. The second movie, which will finish with the second act, will come out in Nov. 2025.
With Wicked being one of Broadway’s most successful and long-running shows, the expectations for this movie were high, and they do not disappoint. The current ratings for this movie are in the high 90s on Rotten Tomatoes from both critics and audiences alike.
The film opens after the Wizard of Oz’s has ended, with the people of Munchkin land rejoicing in the Witch’s death. Glinda joins them in celebration, and it is then revealed that her and the witch were friends. The film follows their time at university and Elphaba’s eventual turn to villainy.
To start, the production quality of this movie is amazing, and I will highly encourage you to play this on the biggest screen you can find and dim the lights. The CGI work throughout the film is incredible, and it is hard to discern what was done with CGI and what was not. The colors of this movie also focus heavily on pinks and greens and blues, and the way the light utilizes these colors to depict different emotions or some of the character’s strongest moments is gorgeous.
It would be unfair to talk about this movie without mentioning the music, which packs a punch from start to finish. While the songs have been changed slightly from the original Broadway recording, the music still feels like Wicked, and songs like ‘Dancing Through Life’ and the closing song ‘Defying Gravity’ pack both a visual and audio punch to viewers. Erivo does a wonderful job capturing the emotion in ‘The Wizard and I’, Grande depicts Galinda’s complex feelings about Elphaba with ‘No One Mourns the Wicked’, and Bailey adds a laid-back, fun-loving attitude to ‘Dancing Through Life’.
The plot itself is easy to understand, as it is the Wicked Witch’s origin story, but there is so much beyond this that makes the movie interesting. It addresses being different, animal cruelty, and how perspective influences the story. My favorite take on the plot is that the Wizard of Oz is the propaganda told by the Wizard to the people, and Wicked is what actually happened.
This theme of propaganda and perspective is evident right away with the first song ‘No One Mourns the Wicked’, with fans playing with punctuation and the spelling of no vs. know in the title to emphasis and create different meanings (for example: No, One Mourns the Wicked). The film continues this theme of perspective, and audiences are left to figure out who was truly good and truly evil throughout the film.
Finally, the symbolism in this is amazing. There are so many references to the Wizard of Oz. It is good to note that all the important characters from the Wizard of Oz are present in Wicked, and there are little references throughout this movie that will tell you who’s who. Since I don’t want to spoil this movie for those who have not seen the musical’s second act, I won’t go into detail but know that the original characters are in this movie if you look hard enough.
Watching this film in Atwood was incredible. This is the biggest turnout I have seen for a film here on SCSU’s campus on opening night, and it made the experience much better. While some sang along quietly so as not to disturb their fellow audience, most watched with silence, so engrossed in the world that was created before them. At the end, as the credits started to roll, nearly everyone began to applaud and cheer, which was something I had not seen in this theater before.
Overall, the movie Wicked dives back into the iconic world of Oz and explores it in a new light that everyone, from die-hard fans to casual movie goers, can enjoy and appreciate. The production quality of the film overall is impressive and stunning and will immerse new fans into the world of Elphaba, leaving audiences begging for the second half to be released sooner rather than later.
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