Fun fact: This movie is based off of a play, which is in turn based on a book, which is in turn based on a movie, which is in turn based on a book. True franchise-ception going on here
It goes deeper. The Wicked adaptation was actually conceived as a movie before a stage musical, so this is a movie based on a musical based on a movie based on a book based on a movie based on a book.
10:35 in “The Wizard and I”, when Elphaba is singing about being de-greenified, the lighting from the stained glass makes her look more like her actress’ natural skin tone. I thought that was an incredible touch
Dude has no idea what he's talking about. He saw people in the reddit movies thread talking about color grading and ran with it. His lighting criticisms are some of the dumbest takes I've ever heard.
I do love how the celebrity gossip bullshit things with each of them reflect their character well. Cynthia has an overly emotional reaction to something like Elphaba. The guy playing Boq leaves his wife for Arianna. As Boq would ABSOLUTELY do for Glinda in a heartbeat.
Wait there's so much more to how insane the set design was. - They planted 9 million tulips for the Munchkinland scenes - The Wizard's mechanical face is a REAL SET with puppeteers moving it!! - Every book has actual text inside, some in english and others in the magical language! This movie NEEDS to win for best set design, it was absolutely stellar!
I can see a situation where “Wicked” and “Dune Part 2” are the two big main competitors for visual craft awards, the same way “Barbie” and “Poor Things” was last year. But yes, Wicked definitely deserves to win some of those craft awards, and also be nominated for pretty much almost all of them.
Honestly wicked the show moves at a really breakneck speed which is absolutely fine for musical theatre but would give you whiplash while watching a full scale movie, I absolutely think splitting it into two movies was the right move to make it more suitable for film.
Especially when you know how much stuff from the original Wicked book had to be left out or were only mentioned as happening in the background of the musical. Plus, Defying Gravity is such a high note to end a movie on.
@@AuraHero They mentioned in the making of this movie that they wanted to include elements from the book to justify the length, and since there weren’t any I could spot in this movie, I’m gonna assume Act 2 is gonna be pretty different.
@@8114梦见 Act 2 will be interesting to say the least. It’s shorter, and universally agreed to be weaker than Act 1. If they want to finish as strong as they started, some stuff if gonna have to get changed methinks
Also it's like. Not really possible to have Defying Gravity end like that and have an easy follow up. It's meant to drop the curtain so you can stretch. You can't do that with a movie, and any followup they had difficulty with.
i truly believe they made it two parts in order to fix the atrocious pacing in the musical. i dont think they extended it for money. i genuinely belive it was just to help the flow and pace
After doing research ya that was the reason They didn't want to omit anything and still wanted it to be a digestible film so they decided to split it into 2 parts
I read that they split it into two parts in order to not cut any plot points so it looks like they did it for artistic reasons though I’m sure making more $$$ was part of it too.
I accidentally saw the film in 3D, and I feel like it improved the visuals a lot. Not because of the 3D itself, nobody cares about that. It’s just that the 3D glasses have a bit of a dark blue tint to them, which helps cut down on the glare and makes everything feel more cinematic. And I kept swapping between wearing and not wearing those 3D glasses just to compare it with the intended lighting of the film, eventually deciding that the 3D was better.
When stuff is run in 3D the projection is brighter, because they expect it to be dulled by the glasses. So you weren't really seeing the "intended lighting" but the "intended for glasses lighting".
tbh if they were lighting it with the intent that it would be produced in 3D and not that it would be viewed on 2D screens That would explain the lighting issues.
I think people forget that Ariana Grande was also on Broadway. Yes, briefly in a show with material that wasn’t as vocally-demanding as Erivo’s, but a Broadway show nonetheless. It’s been weird seeing people act like she shouldn’t have been cast because they would’ve preferred actors like Amanda Seyfried and Dove Cameron. As someone who respects all three, I have to say that people have allowed their, understandable, issues with Ariana as a person to cloud their perception of her talent. She’s always had a very strong voice, but her music just doesn’t show off her range since she does pop music. Even in the songs where she lets loose, she’s still adhering to a very specific style of singing that’s not made for Broadway material (i.e.: breathiness, lax enunciation, etc.). But her strength is her range and flexibility. She can tackle many styles and genres of singing cause she’s a vocal chameleon. I have many, many issues with her as a person, however, I’ll always defend her skills as an actor, vocalist, and performer.
Exactly. I'm no stan or anything but I think she has a powerhouse of a voice, and she definitely can act, both on stage and on screen. Hope she does music that shows off her range in the future.
@@saraergonot Lea Michele was the last person I wanted honestly, lmao. She’s a very talented singer, but I think she would’ve made Glinda very unlikable. A good actor can deliver the humor and embody the conflict Glinda experiences and I don’t think Lea Michele as an actor can do those things. I also think she’s very one-note as a singer. Even on Glee where she had so many songs, it was obvious to me that she lacked the versatility of other singers like Amber, Riley, and Jenna. And if she ended up getting Elphaba, I don’t think she could capture the subtlety that Cynthia’s performance did. Even though she has a powerful voice, she can also deliver when it comes to softer, more subdued vocals. In contrast, the biggest complaint against Lea is her inability to dial back her voice to portray a wider range of emotions. Not a diss at all by the way, just my thoughts.
Not to mention this movie as did the impossible: Managed to put the original actors of the main characters in a cameo without making it feel shoved in. In “One Short Day”, the original witches in that street play are actually played by THE original witches in the broadway show! Idina Menzel (Girl in the pink dress) who played Elphaba and Kristin Chenoweth (Girl in the purple dress) who played Glinda interacted with their new film counterparts for a few seconds as well, making for sweet treat for fans of the original Broadway production!
@@neurotoxicity I was surprised they had a whole musical bit, I thought they'd just be extras in the crowd. And the OG Elphaba randomly doing a mini defying gravity battle cry was really funny.
@ i think it literally just depends on how invested the director is in paying homage to originators lol. regardless of how i feel about this musical and this adaptation, it seems like Chu genuinely cared about the source material which is the exception, not the rule. however he’s not the only person to ever have done this in a way that resonated with the true fans of the source material that was either remade or translated from stage to screen.
Fun Fact: The Latin Spanish dub (and some other dubs) have the voices of the original cast dubbing their respective roles from their own theatre productions.
Ceci de la cueva and Dana Paola are such great artists I'm going to be watching the movie once in Spanish and once in English The voice of Glinda is very different to all other Glindas I feel though, but that's still good
I literally turned to my friends (who never saw Wicked and aren't fans of musicals like I am) during No One Mourns The Wicked that Glinda sounded like Fabi Bang. I stayed until the end of the credits to confirm my suspicions that they got the original cast from São Paulo and it made me so, so happy
It definitely improved in my second viewing. I can feel how stretch the movie was in the first viewing but after seeing it second time aswell as getting used to the songs, I loved it even more. I only checked my watch once and was shocked to find out that it was already 2 hours in
@@delfi__arts It's better on rewatch, I was enjoying it just as much and noticed so many details. look out for the lens flares at key moments - they color graded them green and pink!
ive heard enough i think, seems highly rated and that alot of people were surprised how good of a movie it is, even people who i would NEVER guess would watch these kinds of movies actually enjoyed it and said they cant wait for part 2. I think im seeing it this Weekend or next
5:26 The Wizard, in particular, is one of those “comedic actor who can stay on pitch” parts, where Jeff Goldblum is a totally authentic fit for it anyways.
In the cinema at least, the colour and lighting looked PHENOMENAL. i think it's a film intended to be seen in the dark, on good quality screens, which unfortunately may not translate well to social media or casual streaming
man, having watched the movie at the cinemas, his criticisms about the lighting still stands. could barely see the characters at the scenes he pointed out. thought it was the cinema's fault, but lighting complaints seem to be prevalent
@@ajczajkowski4205 Wow I didn't know you had early access to the streaming version! Do you also happen have access to the hundreds of films that were made before home video? How many of those look better on a smaller lower resolution screen?
It depends on the cinema and projection really. At Vue in the United Kingdom, it suffered the same washed-out effect as the Marvel movies. But at Cineworld, it looked perfect.
@@davidanthonymercado7064 -left his wife and CHILD for ariana grande. yup, this man broke up with his wife, who he had a CHILD with, to smash with ariana grande. (obvs, i could be wrong on small details, but u can get the jist from my comment )- scroll down for more context about the ari/ethan discourse
The most unbelievable moment of the film for me was seeing the credits, and learning that Professor Dillamond was voiced by Peter Dinklage. Apparently, he CAN voice act, just only as a goat.
I really loved how energetic the actors' performance was, it really committed to the enduring whimsy of Wicked, like there was no suspension of disbelief and it was kind of just a fun time
And it's funny that both movies had its Book Writer being involved as a screen writer. One failed to make a faithful adaptation of his own source material and the other one succeed 😅
@@Erasureeraser What's more insane is Marc Platt- Ben Platt's father and the explicit only reason that DEH got to film- also was not only a producer for the original production of Wicked but also on the film adaptation.
@@Erasureeraser I highly disagree with that, personally. Jonathan Bailey was cast extremely well and Ben Platt would NOT be the right fit at all for the role of Fiyero.
@@Rori_Does_Arts Well duhh, obviously I wouldn't want Platt to play Fiyero but he still could've got the role if his father wanted to shoved his son in iy
when that last riff of defying gravity hit oh my god my body levitated out of me, i turned to my friends who don’t even like musicals and they were crying and we had like a universal out of body experience, might just go back to the movie theater to relive that one last note again
Absolutely, that song gave me chills. The way I feel about Wicked has changed a lot over the years, but seeing that moment made me feel like how I imagine people felt when the show first premiered like 20 years ago
I just did that exact thing, and it was once again WORTH IT. Holy hell, my eyes were watering when she did that legendary riff at the end. People can say whatever they want about this movie, but MAN, it’s one of my favorite films of the year. One last thing to point out, Cynthia also adds in a few riffs in the song "The Wizard and I" which also gave me chills! So damn good. Ariana and Cynthia are gems… ❤❤❤
All the songs are incredible. I wish they hadn't kept breaking up "Defying Gravity", but it still gave me chills, especially that final note. Cynthia Eviro has a fantastic voice.
The way they kept KILLING the momentum in Defying Gravity by pausing or cutting to the guards had me furious. The singing was fantastic but the pace of the song was just destroyed
There's an specific camera direction that i LOVE, that's when glinda and elphaba start arguining in "what is this feeling?" and the camera looks down when glinda says "your clothing!". It immediately reminded me of La La Land for some reason.
I was truly blown away by Ariana's performance. I was expecting to see another pop star try their feet in acting, but I eventually forgot it was even Ariana as the movie went on. She was phenomenal.
she started out in broadway and galinda has been her dream role since she was 10! i’m no ari stan im not even a fan of her music but she actually did so well and im so happy for her honestly
@ she’s been in 13 on broadway as well, she’s a theatre kid at heart. she even said that before one of her shows she listens to musical theatre not pop 😭😭
Fun fact: The nickelodeon YT channel streamed the Spongebob Squarepants broadway musical FOR FREE (And it's still being streamed) and IDK I find that hilarious that they chose to do that the day Wicked released
They're trying to market off of Ethan Slater being in Wicked, but I don't know if that would really work. I mean Ethan didn't get to do a lot of press for Wicked.
I really liked the film and didn't particularly notice the weird lighting. The thing I was most annoyed about was how they kept stopping the songs, most of the time was fine, but defying gravity, while performed incredibly, just didn't feel like one song. I don't need emotional flashbacks just before the climax, it's an emotional enough song as is
While I agree the recording version is more cohesive than stage, I also do think they kept stopping defying gravity way too much especially with the last part… not really appreciating the part they separate the final climax with the rest of the phrase I was not a fan of the new section on one short day despite loving the easter egg
@@talia_al_gabagool While I do prefer the movie version, this is not very true. The Spotify version is 5 minutes, the stage version is 7 minutes while the movie version goes up to like 15 minutes.
the Spotify version is also 7 minutes for the movie version and 6 min for the stage version. Have you seen Defying Gravity performed on stage? Also songs are not always going to be broken up and how it was done in the movie was absolutely phenomenal
Fun fact: in a get-to-know-the-cast interview for Victorious, Ariana Grande said she wanted to do Wicked when asked what musical she would do if she went back to Broadway. Liz Gillies said pretty much what you would expect.
Funfact: they filmed most of the outdoor scenes in UK, complete with their own lighting rig on a bunch of cranes to compensate for that classic sunny brittain weather.
I feel it was uneven. In some scenes, like that one, the lighting was stunning but the over-use of backlight in other scenes obscured the actors and flattened out the scene and I really don't know how the same person did both scenarios.
"Hey! You know how iconic the Broadway poster is for Wicked? We should recreate that for the film!" "I have never been more insulted in my life." What the hell?
To be fair, I heard that the actress was harassed a lot when the casting was revealed, so her meltdown made sense. Unfortunately, she was fighting the wrong people.
Nah, might have seemed like an overreaction at the time but the erasure is a full on problem. She’s English ffs and I’m EMBARASSED at how every single tabloid is plastered with pictures of Ariana and not Cynthia as the LEAD of the film, if you just went off of the tabloids alone you wouldn’t even know she was part of the damn movie. As a reaction to a fan it was quite a lot, but in the grand scheme of everything, she was still rightly concerned and upset.
Black erasure is definitely an issue and given how chuds rampage whenever a black person, female, or just non-white male is cast in anything, I’m sure she felt it was a symptom of that outrage. She did overreact a bit but let’s not kid ourselves that she probably did worry with some justified reason it was out of racism.
I work at a cinema, opening day for Wicked was yesterday and we showed the movie back to back all day. I was on screen cleaning duty and I got carried away multiple times just standing at the back of the seats and watching when I was meant to be just briefly checking everything was working. This movie is so good from what I’ve seen and I can’t wait to see all of it.
Remember that Wicked was supposed to come out in December 2019 but Universal Pictures swapped that with Cats as Cats was ready for production whereas Wicked was still searching for writers, stars, and the rest of the film crews (Stephen Daldry signed on as director but the movie had a very slow development under his belt whereas Tom Hooper fast tracked Cats as he finished the script way earlier). Be glad that Wicked took it's time properly to developed it's production that ended up being a great movie even if it's still Part 1 but atleast, it's already a huge promising start
4:51 THAT'S BECAUSE THIS PRODUCER DIDN'T ABUSE THEIR ACTORS! Like seriously watch Sideways' take on the movie les mis. , he puts it better than I ever could. But there are some nightmarishly awful stories about the stuff they did on set
There are a couple of good movies that have been released in the last month. If you have a chance, give Anora a shot. Its probably my favorite film of the year
The whole reason everything was able to be put together so well and be so cohesive and good across all departments (costume design, production design, performances, score, VFX, etc) is because of Jon M Chu. I think he deserves a Best Director nomination for adapting this so well. Also visually I thought it was actually pretty good. Some of the shots they got, specifically in the opening and dancing through life with the ladders, were really well done on the part of the cinematographer and camera operators. Sometimes the back lighting was a bit much but I do think it deserves to be in consideration for best cinematography. Great review as usual!
yeah, i was thinking almost the same thing. now i haven’t seen the movie and i don’t know too much about directing but i was also thinking he wasn’t giving chu enough credit for the film being good 😅 like i don’t want to downplay all the amazing work of everyone else that worked on the movie but the director has a pretty big impact on how it turns out right?
@@princbubblegum Yeah a lot of people equate director with the cinematographer but the director is involved in every single department, and the director is responsible for bringing it all together and making something cohesive. So I don't think he was giving Jon M Chu enough credit because if the movie was good, a lot of credit goes to the director.
100% agreed. Between In the Heights and Wicked Pt 1, I want all musical movie adaptations to come to me from Jon Chu. He knows how to put together a movie that's beautiful and inspiring and musical numbers that have all the right spectacle and energy. He's the reason I decided to see this in theaters despite the runtime and my general apathy about Wicked, and I was not disappointed.
I was also worried about Arianna Grande as Glinda, I thought she would be bad at it. I’m so happy I was completely wrong, her performance really made me feel like I was watching the character, not the actress. Like, I literally forgot Arianna was in this movie in some scenes
I was also very skeptical. I watched Victorious as a kid and I have some of her songs in my playlist, so I knew that she could act and her singing is great but I didn't know if she could do the film justice but I was blown away by her performance. And just like you said, at the beginning of the film I could only think "that's Arianna Grande, that's Arianna Grande" but by the half point of the movie I forgot that Glinda was her. The raw emotion during the party scene and her performance of Popular were just so good
The Wicked adaptation was actually conceived as a movie before a stage musical, so this is a movie based on a musical based on a movie based on a book based on a movie based on a book.
The movie adaptation of the musical that inspired Twisted is here! And I'm so glad it's actually good. Everyone really understood their characters and the songs are breath-taking. I'm interested to see how part 2 is handled.
I know there was a lot of stuff that happened in the background of the second act, so there's a chance we'll be able to see all of those events happen. Plus you still have the original events of Wizard of Oz happening, so they might be able to weave that into the movie.
I think this is an example of a good Part 1 because while it definitely ends with a cliffhanger, it's still a movie that managed to stand on it's own in building it's conflict with an extended climax on Defying Gravity that worked so well
When Glinda gave Elfie the red slippers my whole theatre gasped in unison and I heard people mumble “oh that’s dark…” They do a lot of subtle dark references to the original story, very powerful
@@Kalnari14 I mean just, like, watch The Wizard of Oz? It's one of the best movies of all time, it's very short, and you're definitely going to want to be familiar with it before Part 2
The lighting is baffling. I know everyone keeps talking about dancing through life but I was shocked when defying gravity started in that atrociously dark lighting. You have the most iconic, famous song of your show starting, and it’s one of the most famous iconic musical theatre songs in the world, and I can barely see Elphaba’s face?!?!? I get it’s an attic and it’s a little dark but like what the hell. How can you let that happen lol
i don’t know, i don’t mind that bit. it’s dark in the stage play as well cuz yeah its an attic, and also to be fair it builds up to the climax and then it’s really colourful because she’s outside and flying and stuff, that bit is very visually stunning
Gotta say, It’s pretty funny that Disney released Oz the great and powerful on Disney plus, simply just cash in on the release of wicked to say”Hey guys, we have a wizard of Oz prequel too if anyone is interested “😂
That movie was HORRIBLE oh my god I completely blocked it out of my memory until they did that. James Franco and Mila Kunis deserve both prison and perhaps some sort of special award for simultaneously giving two of the worst acting performances I've ever seen in the same movie in completely different ways
Agreed about the pacing! I was floored it didn’t drag for me and didn’t feel like they unnecessarily added scenes. I went into Wicked very doubtful and walked out incredibly impressed. So now I’m hopeful they’ll fix Act II.
I watched this in cinema yesterday, and I didn't feel like it was gonna be good. Since most movie musicals tend to have directors who are ashamed of the fact they're making a movie musical. But this, this movie-embraced that fact. And truly it's so good.
I got the opportunity to go to New York City for my high school senior class trip. When I went, we saw wicked on Broadway. It's the only chance I've gotten in my life so far to see a live musical made by professionals. I did the musicals when I was in high school, so getting to watch professional actors on Broadway show me how it's done will forever give Wicked a special place in my heart
I'm glad that this movie is getting rave reviews, thanks to the sublime chemistry between Cynthia and Ariana, which is important to portray Elphaba and Glinda's bond.
Sorry but one annoying insta story should not be enough for you to completely wave off someone’s incredible singing and acting (can’t defend Ariana though. She’s talented but why the fuck did she do all that)
@@BirdyboysWhat about racist behavior, getting angry at a fancast for Hercules because she considers the Muses as ensemble roles that are beneath her, and generally being difficult to work with? Just like Ariana, she’s talented but why the fuck did she do all that
John M Chu really gets what makes musicals work, the production value, the choreography, the staging, just everything that makes a musical movie amazing
6:30 this is why she was by far the most popular character on victorious. I know you didn't watch it, but she was everyone's favorite. And you can probably understand why
A good reminder that just because an actor says some horribly stupid things doesn't mean their films are going to stink. If that were true, than Tom Hanks' career would be in the toilet.
It doesn't, but makes people less inclined to watch it. Wicked didn't had only this controversy, there was also the dolls "accident" and the actors questionable behaviors.
the color grading surprisingly didn't bother me as much as I thought it would? I think especially when we get to the Emerald City a lot more POP would've put the film at a 10/10 for me but it wasn't off-putting. I have more of a nitpick with the framing (to me it looks like a lot of the film was shot to perfectly crop to 9:16 for short-form promo and I noticed it enough to knock down the rating) but like with you, the good elements still wowed me more than the nitpicks bothered me. I am curious about how they're going to tackle Act II. I would argue the songs are WAY stronger so I'm hopeful that next year the plot will have as much time to breathe and expand as it did this time.
The thing is this is ecactly how the musical is. And its funny they keep mentioning the wizard of oz. This is wicked not the wizard of oz and dull lighting hinting a not so magical world is part of the story. the overbright windows to save on CGI cost is the only problem with the visual.
@@2freeIvXi know the "Wicked is NOT the Wizard of Oz" argument in regards to the color grading, but when your main character is quite literally GREEN and a university professor is a GOAT there can still be a suspension of disbelief that can allow for a bump of vibrancy, especially because Oz is not the "real world" compared to, well, where the Wizard is from. I think the Emerald City specifically could've been more vibrant to mimick the illusion that Elphaba had of Oz growing up before she learns the truth about the Wizard. storytelling! after a second watch I definitely agree about the backlighting - my only con with the Dancing Through Life library sequence.
I definitely agree with the criticisms of the visuals and blocking. SOMETIMES. But then there are sequences like Dancing Through Life and One Short Day that have excellent direction and blocking. So I don’t know seems like just certain sequences could’ve been a little better. I still think this is as close to a perfect adaptation of the stage show we were ever gonna get
I think the reason Wicked is so good is that it was made with actual love and passion. You can very clearly see that everyone’s at least happy to be there. It’s not like Cats where you have to sit through Reba Wilson and James Corden preemptively shit on the source material while being _HILARIOUS_ with their improv comedy
You are joking right? I Les Mis 2015 is my favorite film musicsl of all time, even over phantom of the opera! It is perfect in my eyes and yes, I have read the original 400+ page original book
watched it today. really liked it. went into it blind and thought the last 30 mins or so was the best.. when it ended for part 2 i was like whatttt. i will def watch part 2 when its out
i really really REALLY hope they fix the lighting problem in act 2. i can assume that jon m chu will see the criticism and hopefully make part 2 more appealing to the eye. aside from that, IM SO EXCITED TO SEE IT!!! im going with my friends, and i literally cant wait. the wizard of oz was a childhood favourite of mine, and when i discovered the musical i was instantly obsessed. this is like a full circle moment for me, im so hyped
11:30 I’d actually blame the DOP. Like, I get the director had a vision and he had most of the creative control, but as it seems, the Director of Photography messed up on all the lighting and the Director never changed it. Either way, with the budget they had, it’s amazing.
In defense of Jeff Goldblum, he is the lead of his own Jazz Band and tours, plus the Wizards big song comes in the next movie and I’m sure he’ll do great,
I really truly and deeply enjoyed it. I wish the colors were a bit better but they pulled it off. So glad they didn’t mess it up like I thought they were going to.
Literally just watched the movie, like 7 hours ago. Was a pretty good watch. Pacing was really good and it genuinely made me laugh a lot more than it should. Was a lot better than I thought it would be going in. Great film overall
You are the first person to express what I’ve felt about Wicked. Act 2 is sloppy. It’s rushed to account for all the Wizard of Oz tie ins and they blow through any real emotional moments. I’m really hoping that the fact they did such a good job by not screwing up Part 1 which is already a solid act of a musical means that they will be able to fix the shortcomings of Act 2 given the extra time.
By splitting it into two they were able to add so much context, characterization, background, and introduce the setting so much better. The weakest part of Wicked the musical has always been the book, the movie (part one at least, so far) has fixed so many of the plot problems that come with the stage version.
My one critique is the lighting as well especially when Fiyero and Elphie were in the forest like even in the theater you could barley see it was so dark
i truly believe that the story being made in two parts is to fix the big issues the second half of the musical had expand the story and make it overall a fantastical two parts
I kept hoping the strange lighting choices had something to do with Morrible and her influence (via her control of the weather, keeping things sunny to an uncanny degree esp at Shiz) but I couldn’t decide if it felt intentional or not…
to be honest, i was watching this video as someone not very familiar with musicals, but about the lighting complaints, i think you're definitely right that they could've used a LOT less bloom, but i adore the way they designed and lit the sets (with that glaring, pun intended) issue is a recreation of the original wizard of oz! i think that's quite charming, it's close to being very, very good, just a little too bloom-y for its own good
I’ve wanted to see this story for years and it has never lined up for me to see the Broadway show…totally obsessed after seeing the movie! And that’s just based on the original story and characters, not just the movie hype itself. Not to mention the singing and choreography! WOW!!!
Even as someone who’s not the biggest fan of musicals, this film honestly ended up surprising me with how enjoyable and well-made it is. It serves as a solid prequel to Wizard of Oz while still standing strong on its own, and does justice to both the play and its source material while also having plenty of memorable scenes and musical moments to both. The third act especially is a big highlight, where I wasn’t expecting both a body horror scene *and* a jumpscare in a Wicked film, of all things. It definitely almost makes you feel bad for the flying monkeys. I also didn’t really notice the weird lighting anywhere as much as you did, but I saw the film on a big and colorful Dolby Atmos screen, so that probably mitigated it to some degree.
From all the interviews I've seen, I get the impression that, even if Jon M Chu hadn't done the best job at, well directing, it seems like he certainly did help foster the environment around him which did contribute to the movie being great in so many ways. I think the movie certainly could have been better in a few specific areas, but that's a tall order when so many other aspects are this good. I agree, 8/10
Some context if anyone wants it for the Cynthia poster “drama”: in the UK (where she lives) they pretty much exclude her from any tabloids or whatever about the movie, so that post might’ve been a “straw to break the camel’s back” as it were. Still not great but I thought it was interesting.
Fun fact: This movie is based off of a play, which is in turn based on a book, which is in turn based on a movie, which is in turn based on a book. True franchise-ception going on here
And Wicked 2: Elphaba Boogaloo is going to be a movie based on a movie based on a book based on a movie based on a book!
It goes deeper. The Wicked adaptation was actually conceived as a movie before a stage musical, so this is a movie based on a musical based on a movie based on a book based on a movie based on a book.
whoah dude
Ok, but how BASED it is?
Eat your heart out, Kingdom hearts
The best musical film about the discrimination faced by a green skinned protagonist since
Shrek 2
But shrek 2 isn't.... a... musi- ah fuck it I NEED A HEEEEROOOOOO
So Thats why schaffrillas liked
Still waiting for the musical Mike and Sully are in. Yknow, the one called “Put that kid back where it came from or so help me!”
@mikeyy525 We already got it in the credits
@@ronaldeliascorderocalles ik but like i need the movie adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg
10:35 in “The Wizard and I”, when Elphaba is singing about being de-greenified, the lighting from the stained glass makes her look more like her actress’ natural skin tone. I thought that was an incredible touch
im so glad i wasnt the only one who noticed this!
That was the part in the movie when I realized it might actually be good
@@soliloquy113 I had faith it’d be good. But then again, Wicked is my favorite musical
Dude has no idea what he's talking about. He saw people in the reddit movies thread talking about color grading and ran with it. His lighting criticisms are some of the dumbest takes I've ever heard.
@@RememberRushmore you okay, bro?
I do love how the celebrity gossip bullshit things with each of them reflect their character well. Cynthia has an overly emotional reaction to something like Elphaba. The guy playing Boq leaves his wife for Arianna. As Boq would ABSOLUTELY do for Glinda in a heartbeat.
Got the perfect guy for the role
Maybe all of that was a publicity meta stunt
Their characters are possessing them like demons
@@josefagomezschmeisser8356
I also choose to believe this.
Nothing is real. Everything is for views
Method acting goes crazy
Wait there's so much more to how insane the set design was.
- They planted 9 million tulips for the Munchkinland scenes
- The Wizard's mechanical face is a REAL SET with puppeteers moving it!!
- Every book has actual text inside, some in english and others in the magical language!
This movie NEEDS to win for best set design, it was absolutely stellar!
I can see a situation where “Wicked” and “Dune Part 2” are the two big main competitors for visual craft awards, the same way “Barbie” and “Poor Things” was last year.
But yes, Wicked definitely deserves to win some of those craft awards, and also be nominated for pretty much almost all of them.
the tulips bit feels unnecessarily extra. could they not have just filmed on a tulip farm??
And that is REAL 16 ton, 106 foot long train engine they built for the movie.
Woah really? That's so cool!
🤢🤮🤮🤮
Honestly wicked the show moves at a really breakneck speed which is absolutely fine for musical theatre but would give you whiplash while watching a full scale movie, I absolutely think splitting it into two movies was the right move to make it more suitable for film.
Especially when you know how much stuff from the original Wicked book had to be left out or were only mentioned as happening in the background of the musical. Plus, Defying Gravity is such a high note to end a movie on.
@@AuraHero They mentioned in the making of this movie that they wanted to include elements from the book to justify the length, and since there weren’t any I could spot in this movie, I’m gonna assume Act 2 is gonna be pretty different.
@@rigatonipastagiven that act 2 is the shorter act, I would not be surprised if you are correct.
@@8114梦见 Act 2 will be interesting to say the least. It’s shorter, and universally agreed to be weaker than Act 1. If they want to finish as strong as they started, some stuff if gonna have to get changed methinks
Also it's like. Not really possible to have Defying Gravity end like that and have an easy follow up. It's meant to drop the curtain so you can stretch. You can't do that with a movie, and any followup they had difficulty with.
i truly believe they made it two parts in order to fix the atrocious pacing in the musical. i dont think they extended it for money. i genuinely belive it was just to help the flow and pace
After doing research ya that was the reason
They didn't want to omit anything and still wanted it to be a digestible film so they decided to split it into 2 parts
it didnt actually feel like too long either i think it actually felt perfect
hell the movie actually added some stuff to improve the story, among other changes, like making Morrible less obviously villainious
The people behind it are fans.
I read that they split it into two parts in order to not cut any plot points so it looks like they did it for artistic reasons though I’m sure making more $$$ was part of it too.
I accidentally saw the film in 3D, and I feel like it improved the visuals a lot. Not because of the 3D itself, nobody cares about that. It’s just that the 3D glasses have a bit of a dark blue tint to them, which helps cut down on the glare and makes everything feel more cinematic. And I kept swapping between wearing and not wearing those 3D glasses just to compare it with the intended lighting of the film, eventually deciding that the 3D was better.
Did the exact same and I totally agree
To be honest, didn't even realize they still made 3d movies 😅
When stuff is run in 3D the projection is brighter, because they expect it to be dulled by the glasses. So you weren't really seeing the "intended lighting" but the "intended for glasses lighting".
tbh if they were lighting it with the intent that it would be produced in 3D and not that it would be viewed on 2D screens That would explain the lighting issues.
I also saw the movie in 3D accidentally and I didn’t really notice the issue with the lighting much
I think people forget that Ariana Grande was also on Broadway. Yes, briefly in a show with material that wasn’t as vocally-demanding as Erivo’s, but a Broadway show nonetheless. It’s been weird seeing people act like she shouldn’t have been cast because they would’ve preferred actors like Amanda Seyfried and Dove Cameron. As someone who respects all three, I have to say that people have allowed their, understandable, issues with Ariana as a person to cloud their perception of her talent.
She’s always had a very strong voice, but her music just doesn’t show off her range since she does pop music. Even in the songs where she lets loose, she’s still adhering to a very specific style of singing that’s not made for Broadway material (i.e.: breathiness, lax enunciation, etc.). But her strength is her range and flexibility. She can tackle many styles and genres of singing cause she’s a vocal chameleon. I have many, many issues with her as a person, however, I’ll always defend her skills as an actor, vocalist, and performer.
Happy to see Ariana proving everyone wrong and how talented she really is!!
Exactly. I'm no stan or anything but I think she has a powerhouse of a voice, and she definitely can act, both on stage and on screen. Hope she does music that shows off her range in the future.
Amanda Seyfried definelty not but I could a seen dove Cameron but I think Ariana did an amazing job and think they made the right decision
I have the same stance on Lea Michelle, I wanted her so bad in here🥹
@@saraergonot Lea Michele was the last person I wanted honestly, lmao. She’s a very talented singer, but I think she would’ve made Glinda very unlikable. A good actor can deliver the humor and embody the conflict Glinda experiences and I don’t think Lea Michele as an actor can do those things. I also think she’s very one-note as a singer. Even on Glee where she had so many songs, it was obvious to me that she lacked the versatility of other singers like Amber, Riley, and Jenna.
And if she ended up getting Elphaba, I don’t think she could capture the subtlety that Cynthia’s performance did. Even though she has a powerful voice, she can also deliver when it comes to softer, more subdued vocals. In contrast, the biggest complaint against Lea is her inability to dial back her voice to portray a wider range of emotions. Not a diss at all by the way, just my thoughts.
Not to mention this movie as did the impossible: Managed to put the original actors of the main characters in a cameo without making it feel shoved in.
In “One Short Day”, the original witches in that street play are actually played by THE original witches in the broadway show! Idina Menzel (Girl in the pink dress) who played Elphaba and Kristin Chenoweth (Girl in the purple dress) who played Glinda interacted with their new film counterparts for a few seconds as well, making for sweet treat for fans of the original Broadway production!
tbh i think people would have absolutely rioted had they not had the cameo lmao I don't think there was much of a real choice
@@neurotoxicity I was surprised they had a whole musical bit, I thought they'd just be extras in the crowd. And the OG Elphaba randomly doing a mini defying gravity battle cry was really funny.
@@neurotoxicity I mean, considering the fact how the past examples have completely screwed it up I am surprised that it was actually good
@ i think it literally just depends on how invested the director is in paying homage to originators lol. regardless of how i feel about this musical and this adaptation, it seems like Chu genuinely cared about the source material which is the exception, not the rule. however he’s not the only person to ever have done this in a way that resonated with the true fans of the source material that was either remade or translated from stage to screen.
i mean it did feel shoved in though
My friend was cringing a little bit during Glinda’s early scenes, and I put my hand in their knee and said “Dude this is 100% accurate”
like inside their knee? That's a bit rude
That's really hot
This feels like something that Caitlyn would tell Vi when they’re watching something lol
Never seen the musical but I know what musicals are. I was bored and cringing in the beginning, but settled into apathy for the rest of the movie.
@@Owl_BunnyXDnooo just finished the finale and this comment just took me back, literally makes my heart explode in anguish 😭😭
Fun Fact: The Latin Spanish dub (and some other dubs) have the voices of the original cast dubbing their respective roles from their own theatre productions.
Ceci de la cueva and Dana Paola are such great artists I'm going to be watching the movie once in Spanish and once in English
The voice of Glinda is very different to all other Glindas I feel though, but that's still good
Same with the Brazillian dub (Myra Ruiz for Elphaba and Fabi Bang for Glinda.)
Italy too!
I literally turned to my friends (who never saw Wicked and aren't fans of musicals like I am) during No One Mourns The Wicked that Glinda sounded like Fabi Bang. I stayed until the end of the credits to confirm my suspicions that they got the original cast from São Paulo and it made me so, so happy
UNDERRATED COMMENT!! That is so cool!!
The pacing was astounding. It didn't feel like 2 1/2 hours long. I had a really fun time with Wicked. Hopefully part 2 is solid
It definitely improved in my second viewing. I can feel how stretch the movie was in the first viewing but after seeing it second time aswell as getting used to the songs, I loved it even more. I only checked my watch once and was shocked to find out that it was already 2 hours in
@@Erasureeraser I hope I feel the same on rewartch, the second half really dragged for me
@@delfi__arts It's better on rewatch, I was enjoying it just as much and noticed so many details. look out for the lens flares at key moments - they color graded them green and pink!
Same! I was shocked when I realized the movie was that long but in a good way! It was fantastic!
ive heard enough i think, seems highly rated and that alot of people were surprised how good of a movie it is, even people who i would NEVER guess would watch these kinds of movies actually enjoyed it and said they cant wait for part 2. I think im seeing it this Weekend or next
5:26 The Wizard, in particular, is one of those “comedic actor who can stay on pitch” parts, where Jeff Goldblum is a totally authentic fit for it anyways.
In the cinema at least, the colour and lighting looked PHENOMENAL. i think it's a film intended to be seen in the dark, on good quality screens, which unfortunately may not translate well to social media or casual streaming
man, having watched the movie at the cinemas, his criticisms about the lighting still stands. could barely see the characters at the scenes he pointed out. thought it was the cinema's fault, but lighting complaints seem to be prevalent
Brother if a movie only looks good in theaters it’s not a good looking film.
@@ajczajkowski4205 Wow I didn't know you had early access to the streaming version! Do you also happen have access to the hundreds of films that were made before home video? How many of those look better on a smaller lower resolution screen?
It depends on the cinema and projection really. At Vue in the United Kingdom, it suffered the same washed-out effect as the Marvel movies. But at Cineworld, it looked perfect.
THIS. It felt so different in the cinema and I genuinly didn’t think the colour was bad as compared to scenes I see on my phone
theatre kids r never recovering from this movies pr 😭🙏
They do it to themselves
Radiohead reference @@base4yrface
Real @@Charles_Stewart_Parnell
Good
Nuh uhhhh- 💀
wow im happy to hear Wicked is actually good despite all the nonsensical stuff that happene-WAIT THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL GUY DID WHAT-
Me learning about the weird poster situation bcz why would you freak out over that
What did he do exactly?
@@davidanthonymercado7064cheated on his wife
@@davidanthonymercado7064 -left his wife and CHILD for ariana grande. yup, this man broke up with his wife, who he had a CHILD with, to smash with ariana grande. (obvs, i could be wrong on small details, but u can get the jist from my comment )-
scroll down for more context about the ari/ethan discourse
i guess that when he sang about The End that was Coming he was talking about his morals
Finally, the movie version of the musical which inspired Twisted.
This!!!
Now we need Twisted the movie
@Idk-e9l9hyou ok?
@Idk-e9l9h Yes.
@@joviczzzreal
The most unbelievable moment of the film for me was seeing the credits, and learning that Professor Dillamond was voiced by Peter Dinklage. Apparently, he CAN voice act, just only as a goat.
I really loved how energetic the actors' performance was, it really committed to the enduring whimsy of Wicked, like there was no suspension of disbelief and it was kind of just a fun time
The glow up from Dear Evan Hansen to Wicked is insane.
And it's funny that both movies had its Book Writer being involved as a screen writer. One failed to make a faithful adaptation of his own source material and the other one succeed 😅
@@Erasureeraser What's more insane is Marc Platt- Ben Platt's father and the explicit only reason that DEH got to film- also was not only a producer for the original production of Wicked but also on the film adaptation.
@@gabbyhaynes5394 If Marc Platt wanted too, he could've easily shoved Ben to play Fiyero instead of Jonathan Bailey 😅
@@Erasureeraser I highly disagree with that, personally. Jonathan Bailey was cast extremely well and Ben Platt would NOT be the right fit at all for the role of Fiyero.
@@Rori_Does_Arts Well duhh, obviously I wouldn't want Platt to play Fiyero but he still could've got the role if his father wanted to shoved his son in iy
when that last riff of defying gravity hit oh my god my body levitated out of me, i turned to my friends who don’t even like musicals and they were crying and we had like a universal out of body experience, might just go back to the movie theater to relive that one last note again
Absolutely, that song gave me chills. The way I feel about Wicked has changed a lot over the years, but seeing that moment made me feel like how I imagine people felt when the show first premiered like 20 years ago
I hated her riffing at the end lmao
I just did that exact thing, and it was once again WORTH IT. Holy hell, my eyes were watering when she did that legendary riff at the end. People can say whatever they want about this movie, but MAN, it’s one of my favorite films of the year. One last thing to point out, Cynthia also adds in a few riffs in the song "The Wizard and I" which also gave me chills! So damn good. Ariana and Cynthia are gems… ❤❤❤
@@mcbill7352 Shwartz suggested that she record and try multiple variations of the ending.
I literally stopped breathing a couple times
All the songs are incredible. I wish they hadn't kept breaking up "Defying Gravity", but it still gave me chills, especially that final note. Cynthia Eviro has a fantastic voice.
Yeah that was so annoying 😂🤣 im like COME ON, HURRY UP, I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM 😂😂😂
I honestly love that they paused a few times in Defying Gravity, it gave a much needed depth and tension for the last final few lines of the song
The way they kept KILLING the momentum in Defying Gravity by pausing or cutting to the guards had me furious. The singing was fantastic but the pace of the song was just destroyed
Defying Gravity is like that in the stage show too. Most of the pauses were as originally written
@@graceohanrahan2865That’s what happens in the Broadway show as well.
There's an specific camera direction that i LOVE, that's when glinda and elphaba start arguining in "what is this feeling?" and the camera looks down when glinda says "your clothing!". It immediately reminded me of La La Land for some reason.
I was truly blown away by Ariana's performance. I was expecting to see another pop star try their feet in acting, but I eventually forgot it was even Ariana as the movie went on. She was phenomenal.
she started out in broadway and galinda has been her dream role since she was 10! i’m no ari stan im not even a fan of her music but she actually did so well and im so happy for her honestly
Didn’t Ariana’s whole career start in acting? She used to be the Victorious girlie when I was a kid.
we forget she started out as an actor rather then a singer, so she knows how to act!
“Try their feet in acting”? She literally started her career in acting, are we forgetting victorious or something
@ she’s been in 13 on broadway as well, she’s a theatre kid at heart. she even said that before one of her shows she listens to musical theatre not pop 😭😭
Fun fact: The nickelodeon YT channel streamed the Spongebob Squarepants broadway musical FOR FREE (And it's still being streamed) and IDK I find that hilarious that they chose to do that the day Wicked released
They're trying to market off of Ethan Slater being in Wicked, but I don't know if that would really work. I mean Ethan didn't get to do a lot of press for Wicked.
@@turnipcrazyplus, I think they might not want to bank off Ethan Slater after his relationship with Ariana Grande came out
I really liked the film and didn't particularly notice the weird lighting. The thing I was most annoyed about was how they kept stopping the songs, most of the time was fine, but defying gravity, while performed incredibly, just didn't feel like one song. I don't need emotional flashbacks just before the climax, it's an emotional enough song as is
That’s how the song is done on stage. How you hear it on Spotify is not how it’s presented on stage. (Same with most musicals)
While I agree the recording version is more cohesive than stage, I also do think they kept stopping defying gravity way too much especially with the last part… not really appreciating the part they separate the final climax with the rest of the phrase
I was not a fan of the new section on one short day despite loving the easter egg
Yeah that’s a song I wanna hear to its completion, all the stopping is unnecessary
@@talia_al_gabagool While I do prefer the movie version, this is not very true.
The Spotify version is 5 minutes, the stage version is 7 minutes while the movie version goes up to like 15 minutes.
the Spotify version is also 7 minutes for the movie version and 6 min for the stage version. Have you seen Defying Gravity performed on stage?
Also songs are not always going to be broken up and how it was done in the movie was absolutely phenomenal
Fun fact: in a get-to-know-the-cast interview for Victorious, Ariana Grande said she wanted to do Wicked when asked what musical she would do if she went back to Broadway. Liz Gillies said pretty much what you would expect.
Funfact: they filmed most of the outdoor scenes in UK, complete with their own lighting rig on a bunch of cranes to compensate for that classic sunny brittain weather.
Big disagree about creative lighting. Wizard and I deliberately used a light catcher to show Elphaba in the actor’s skin tone. C’mon now.
I feel it was uneven. In some scenes, like that one, the lighting was stunning but the over-use of backlight in other scenes obscured the actors and flattened out the scene and I really don't know how the same person did both scenarios.
"Hey! You know how iconic the Broadway poster is for Wicked? We should recreate that for the film!"
"I have never been more insulted in my life."
What the hell?
To be fair, I heard that the actress was harassed a lot when the casting was revealed, so her meltdown made sense. Unfortunately, she was fighting the wrong people.
She stated later that she regretted reacting to that extent and “should’ve talked to her friends first”
Nah, might have seemed like an overreaction at the time but the erasure is a full on problem. She’s English ffs and I’m EMBARASSED at how every single tabloid is plastered with pictures of Ariana and not Cynthia as the LEAD of the film, if you just went off of the tabloids alone you wouldn’t even know she was part of the damn movie. As a reaction to a fan it was quite a lot, but in the grand scheme of everything, she was still rightly concerned and upset.
@@Ambino47 Also, why are black people often given roles, where they have unnatural skin color?
Black erasure is definitely an issue and given how chuds rampage whenever a black person, female, or just non-white male is cast in anything, I’m sure she felt it was a symptom of that outrage. She did overreact a bit but let’s not kid ourselves that she probably did worry with some justified reason it was out of racism.
I work at a cinema, opening day for Wicked was yesterday and we showed the movie back to back all day. I was on screen cleaning duty and I got carried away multiple times just standing at the back of the seats and watching when I was meant to be just briefly checking everything was working. This movie is so good from what I’ve seen and I can’t wait to see all of it.
I work at a theater too. Attendance has been insane. It's been doing 3x the attendance of gladiator
@@Z-Mikes00huge w for wicked in terms of premise gladiator sucks and I hope it fails
glad to see theatres making more money!!
Almost every ticket sold out on wicked so I had to rush to get a ticket the theater was filled to
Almost full
Remember that Wicked was supposed to come out in December 2019 but Universal Pictures swapped that with Cats as Cats was ready for production whereas Wicked was still searching for writers, stars, and the rest of the film crews (Stephen Daldry signed on as director but the movie had a very slow development under his belt whereas Tom Hooper fast tracked Cats as he finished the script way earlier). Be glad that Wicked took it's time properly to developed it's production that ended up being a great movie even if it's still Part 1 but atleast, it's already a huge promising start
Sometimes you need to make a godawful mistake to remind yourself why filmmakers need time to cook.
Glad this movie had a lot of time for planning & development 'cause IT WAS WORTH IT!!
So you're saying.. Cats lept so Wicked could defy gravity?
4:51 THAT'S BECAUSE THIS PRODUCER DIDN'T ABUSE THEIR ACTORS! Like seriously watch Sideways' take on the movie les mis. , he puts it better than I ever could. But there are some nightmarishly awful stories about the stuff they did on set
8:27 idk y but Moai struggling in the background of this bit was really funny to me 😭
LMAO😭😭😭
😭😭
🗿
Honestly James, it warms my heart when you talk about a recent movie that's actually good. Gives me hope for the Film Industry.
Eh, I don't have that much hope over the film industry.
Puss in boots last wish and spider verse beg to differ..
There are a couple of good movies that have been released in the last month. If you have a chance, give Anora a shot. Its probably my favorite film of the year
The Wild robot has left the chat
He ignored The Substance
The whole reason everything was able to be put together so well and be so cohesive and good across all departments (costume design, production design, performances, score, VFX, etc) is because of Jon M Chu. I think he deserves a Best Director nomination for adapting this so well.
Also visually I thought it was actually pretty good. Some of the shots they got, specifically in the opening and dancing through life with the ladders, were really well done on the part of the cinematographer and camera operators. Sometimes the back lighting was a bit much but I do think it deserves to be in consideration for best cinematography. Great review as usual!
yeah, i was thinking almost the same thing. now i haven’t seen the movie and i don’t know too much about directing but i was also thinking he wasn’t giving chu enough credit for the film being good 😅 like i don’t want to downplay all the amazing work of everyone else that worked on the movie but the director has a pretty big impact on how it turns out right?
@@princbubblegum Yeah a lot of people equate director with the cinematographer but the director is involved in every single department, and the director is responsible for bringing it all together and making something cohesive. So I don't think he was giving Jon M Chu enough credit because if the movie was good, a lot of credit goes to the director.
100% agreed. Between In the Heights and Wicked Pt 1, I want all musical movie adaptations to come to me from Jon Chu. He knows how to put together a movie that's beautiful and inspiring and musical numbers that have all the right spectacle and energy. He's the reason I decided to see this in theaters despite the runtime and my general apathy about Wicked, and I was not disappointed.
Yeah. I admire how he went all out with this, especially with the use of practical sets. He made the movie memorable and enjoyable!!!
Schaffrillas a MOANA behind YOU 💜
Moana 2 ❤
you only capitalize the last WORD 💜
Don’t hold your breath he isn’t reviewing that pile of SHIT 💛
@@flyingdisk898 but isnt moana 1 one of his favorrite movies?
@@kamota8523 they are not a DIVA💜
I actually really liked Jeff Goldblum's singing. It brought out a gentleness that the Wizard has, even if he left that in Kansas to rule Oz.
I was also worried about Arianna Grande as Glinda, I thought she would be bad at it. I’m so happy I was completely wrong, her performance really made me feel like I was watching the character, not the actress. Like, I literally forgot Arianna was in this movie in some scenes
I was also very skeptical. I watched Victorious as a kid and I have some of her songs in my playlist, so I knew that she could act and her singing is great but I didn't know if she could do the film justice but I was blown away by her performance. And just like you said, at the beginning of the film I could only think "that's Arianna Grande, that's Arianna Grande" but by the half point of the movie I forgot that Glinda was her. The raw emotion during the party scene and her performance of Popular were just so good
The Wicked adaptation was actually conceived as a movie before a stage musical, so this is a movie based on a musical based on a movie based on a book based on a movie based on a book.
The movie adaptation of the musical that inspired Twisted is here! And I'm so glad it's actually good. Everyone really understood their characters and the songs are breath-taking. I'm interested to see how part 2 is handled.
I know there was a lot of stuff that happened in the background of the second act, so there's a chance we'll be able to see all of those events happen. Plus you still have the original events of Wizard of Oz happening, so they might be able to weave that into the movie.
I think this is an example of a good Part 1 because while it definitely ends with a cliffhanger, it's still a movie that managed to stand on it's own in building it's conflict with an extended climax on Defying Gravity that worked so well
Honestly, it feels complete to me, because it's basically a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, and Act II is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz.
When Glinda gave Elfie the red slippers my whole theatre gasped in unison and I heard people mumble “oh that’s dark…”
They do a lot of subtle dark references to the original story, very powerful
Wait why? I don't know the original story so😭
@@Kalnari14 I mean just, like, watch The Wizard of Oz? It's one of the best movies of all time, it's very short, and you're definitely going to want to be familiar with it before Part 2
@legendaccount3247 Okokay thanks
The lighting is baffling. I know everyone keeps talking about dancing through life but I was shocked when defying gravity started in that atrociously dark lighting. You have the most iconic, famous song of your show starting, and it’s one of the most famous iconic musical theatre songs in the world, and I can barely see Elphaba’s face?!?!? I get it’s an attic and it’s a little dark but like what the hell. How can you let that happen lol
I was thinking this too!!
i don’t know, i don’t mind that bit. it’s dark in the stage play as well cuz yeah its an attic, and also to be fair it builds up to the climax and then it’s really colourful because she’s outside and flying and stuff, that bit is very visually stunning
Gotta say, It’s pretty funny that Disney released Oz the great and powerful on Disney plus, simply just cash in on the release of wicked to say”Hey guys, we have a wizard of Oz prequel too if anyone is interested “😂
@Idk-e9l9hNo what ?
@@BugsyFoga I think it's a new bot thing, each comment I've seen so far had a completely unrelated answer of "no"
That movie was HORRIBLE oh my god I completely blocked it out of my memory until they did that. James Franco and Mila Kunis deserve both prison and perhaps some sort of special award for simultaneously giving two of the worst acting performances I've ever seen in the same movie in completely different ways
@@cityboy2092 Nah James Franco deserves prison for different reasons
@@nocty7356 For the time his pet monkey caused the apocalypse, or the time he tried to kill Spider-Man?
Agreed about the pacing! I was floored it didn’t drag for me and didn’t feel like they unnecessarily added scenes. I went into Wicked very doubtful and walked out incredibly impressed. So now I’m hopeful they’ll fix Act II.
I watched this in cinema yesterday, and I didn't feel like it was gonna be good. Since most movie musicals tend to have directors who are ashamed of the fact they're making a movie musical. But this, this movie-embraced that fact. And truly it's so good.
Honestly James, it warms my heart when you talk about a recent movie that's actually good. makes me optimistic about the film industry.
I got the opportunity to go to New York City for my high school senior class trip. When I went, we saw wicked on Broadway. It's the only chance I've gotten in my life so far to see a live musical made by professionals. I did the musicals when I was in high school, so getting to watch professional actors on Broadway show me how it's done will forever give Wicked a special place in my heart
I'm glad that this movie is getting rave reviews, thanks to the sublime chemistry between Cynthia and Ariana, which is important to portray Elphaba and Glinda's bond.
Nah, Ariana is a terrible brat while Cynthia is a drama queen
Sorry but one annoying insta story should not be enough for you to completely wave off someone’s incredible singing and acting (can’t defend Ariana though. She’s talented but why the fuck did she do all that)
@@danielgudinojuarez6729who cares, theyre good actors
@@BirdyboysWhat about racist behavior, getting angry at a fancast for Hercules because she considers the Muses as ensemble roles that are beneath her, and generally being difficult to work with? Just like Ariana, she’s talented but why the fuck did she do all that
@@LovelyLivelyV that still has nothing to do with her acting and singing abilities
Wicked peaked with that one Evangelion Popular animation by Nate Sandhart
Yep
Yes
Link?
@@crunchyscarfdeluxe8491 links get deleted, creator is Nate Sandhart
@@crunchyscarfdeluxe8491 it's called "Evangelion: the Musical"
John M Chu really gets what makes musicals work, the production value, the choreography, the staging, just everything that makes a musical movie amazing
6:30 this is why she was by far the most popular character on victorious. I know you didn't watch it, but she was everyone's favorite. And you can probably understand why
A good reminder that just because an actor says some horribly stupid things doesn't mean their films are going to stink. If that were true, than Tom Hanks' career would be in the toilet.
It doesn't, but makes people less inclined to watch it. Wicked didn't had only this controversy, there was also the dolls "accident" and the actors questionable behaviors.
the color grading surprisingly didn't bother me as much as I thought it would? I think especially when we get to the Emerald City a lot more POP would've put the film at a 10/10 for me but it wasn't off-putting. I have more of a nitpick with the framing (to me it looks like a lot of the film was shot to perfectly crop to 9:16 for short-form promo and I noticed it enough to knock down the rating) but like with you, the good elements still wowed me more than the nitpicks bothered me.
I am curious about how they're going to tackle Act II. I would argue the songs are WAY stronger so I'm hopeful that next year the plot will have as much time to breathe and expand as it did this time.
The thing is this is ecactly how the musical is. And its funny they keep mentioning the wizard of oz. This is wicked not the wizard of oz and dull lighting hinting a not so magical world is part of the story. the overbright windows to save on CGI cost is the only problem with the visual.
@@2freeIvXi know the "Wicked is NOT the Wizard of Oz" argument in regards to the color grading, but when your main character is quite literally GREEN and a university professor is a GOAT there can still be a suspension of disbelief that can allow for a bump of vibrancy, especially because Oz is not the "real world" compared to, well, where the Wizard is from. I think the Emerald City specifically could've been more vibrant to mimick the illusion that Elphaba had of Oz growing up before she learns the truth about the Wizard. storytelling!
after a second watch I definitely agree about the backlighting - my only con with the Dancing Through Life library sequence.
I just cant wait for movie goers who have never seen the musical to be surprised by everything in act two
nah
Act 2 was beyond insane😭
@ sure was
Can't wait to see their reaction to where Nessa and Boq end up
@ yep 😢
I definitely agree with the criticisms of the visuals and blocking. SOMETIMES. But then there are sequences like Dancing Through Life and One Short Day that have excellent direction and blocking. So I don’t know seems like just certain sequences could’ve been a little better. I still think this is as close to a perfect adaptation of the stage show we were ever gonna get
I think the reason Wicked is so good is that it was made with actual love and passion. You can very clearly see that everyone’s at least happy to be there. It’s not like Cats where you have to sit through Reba Wilson and James Corden preemptively shit on the source material while being _HILARIOUS_ with their improv comedy
I was the munchkin boy running through the field! I have to say the behind the scenes is crazy 💚
I like that when talking about bad movie musicals, Schaff didn’t talk about the one he has the most burning hatred for.
Which one?
@@z.s.r.h Dear Evan Hansen
@@z.s.r.h Dear Evan Hansen
You are joking right? I Les Mis 2015 is my favorite film musicsl of all time, even over phantom of the opera! It is perfect in my eyes and yes, I have read the original 400+ page original book
@@MaxRamos8 I was referring to “Dear Even Hansen”, a.k.a: “The maddest Schaffrillas ever got before Doom Syndicate.”
How dare TH-cam hold this masterpiece from me for a full 2 minutes
This copy pasta comment isn’t as bad as “i liked my own comment”…
watched it today. really liked it. went into it blind and thought the last 30 mins or so was the best.. when it ended for part 2 i was like whatttt. i will def watch part 2 when its out
i really really REALLY hope they fix the lighting problem in act 2. i can assume that jon m chu will see the criticism and hopefully make part 2 more appealing to the eye. aside from that, IM SO EXCITED TO SEE IT!!! im going with my friends, and i literally cant wait. the wizard of oz was a childhood favourite of mine, and when i discovered the musical i was instantly obsessed. this is like a full circle moment for me, im so hyped
Ariana and Cynthia were absolute stars! I was lucky to see Cynthia on opening night and everyone cheered and clapped for the singing!
I mean, if the problem with act 2 is the pacing and being clunky, an expanded runtime could fix it
It’s been a while since we actually had something from the world of Oz. It just feels good to come back to this.
@Idk-e9l9h I concur. No.
3:44 thats why i always thought i hated musicals. But the prince of egypt made me realise that musicals can be good
Funnily enough,that movie has the same song writer as wicked
@@azural8347 He was also the lyricist for the animated and stage versions of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
stephen schwartz one of the greats
I believe the popular musicals are loved by many, the majority that are less known and doesn't have interesting songs are the problem.
11:30 I’d actually blame the DOP. Like, I get the director had a vision and he had most of the creative control, but as it seems, the Director of Photography messed up on all the lighting and the Director never changed it. Either way, with the budget they had, it’s amazing.
In defense of Jeff Goldblum, he is the lead of his own Jazz Band and tours, plus the Wizards big song comes in the next movie and I’m sure he’ll do great,
Anyone can form a band you know...
Do I care about Wicked. Not really.
Do I care about Shaff sharing his opinion about Wicked? HELL YEAH BROTHER!!!
Average Schaffrilous fan
Same
TRUE
Schaff fans after regurgitating someone else's opinion for a movie they haven't watched:
@imstupid7614 yeah I mean do you expect me to formulate my own opinions? When a perfectly good opinion is right there?
I really truly and deeply enjoyed it. I wish the colors were a bit better but they pulled it off. So glad they didn’t mess it up like I thought they were going to.
Literally just watched the movie, like 7 hours ago. Was a pretty good watch. Pacing was really good and it genuinely made me laugh a lot more than it should. Was a lot better than I thought it would be going in. Great film overall
2:36 "Musical to movie adaptations are notoriously easy to screw up" shows the single best part of the Into The Woods movie 😂
Agony!
Granted, I don’t think anyone would have missed Sentimental Man.
I thought the same thing 😂
I really like the way Jon m chu directs movie musicals personally over and would love to see him do more movie musicals in the future
A quickie so that Schaff can continue working on the monster 4 hour free birds appreciation vid next week.
0:47 PIPPIN APPRECIATION POST LETS GOOOO
You are the first person to express what I’ve felt about Wicked. Act 2 is sloppy. It’s rushed to account for all the Wizard of Oz tie ins and they blow through any real emotional moments. I’m really hoping that the fact they did such a good job by not screwing up Part 1 which is already a solid act of a musical means that they will be able to fix the shortcomings of Act 2 given the extra time.
despite all the off-set shenanigans, the movie was SPECTACULAR. The final cinematography and vocals for "Defying Gravity".. oh my gooood. Next level.
By splitting it into two they were able to add so much context, characterization, background, and introduce the setting so much better. The weakest part of Wicked the musical has always been the book, the movie (part one at least, so far) has fixed so many of the plot problems that come with the stage version.
My one critique is the lighting as well especially when Fiyero and Elphie were in the forest like even in the theater you could barley see it was so dark
i truly believe that the story being made in two parts is to fix the big issues the second half of the musical had expand the story and make it overall a fantastical two parts
I kept hoping the strange lighting choices had something to do with Morrible and her influence (via her control of the weather, keeping things sunny to an uncanny degree esp at Shiz) but I couldn’t decide if it felt intentional or not…
to be honest, i was watching this video as someone not very familiar with musicals, but about the lighting complaints, i think you're definitely right that they could've used a LOT less bloom, but i adore the way they designed and lit the sets (with that glaring, pun intended) issue is a recreation of the original wizard of oz! i think that's quite charming, it's close to being very, very good, just a little too bloom-y for its own good
Hard agree on the lighting. That’s literally my only issue with the movie.
We should campaign #ReleaseTheTechnicolorCut once both parts are out.
2:48 why stupei ace defective in a musical
There have been stage productions of 3, 4, & 5 that to IIRC have never been brought overseas.
"More like stupid f-"
The insane world of stage plays of absolutely anything in Japan
I had to rewind like "Is that fuckign junpei?""
@@GKplus8are these publicly available at least? Like on yt
I’ve wanted to see this story for years and it has never lined up for me to see the Broadway show…totally obsessed after seeing the movie! And that’s just based on the original story and characters, not just the movie hype itself.
Not to mention the singing and choreography! WOW!!!
Even as someone who’s not the biggest fan of musicals, this film honestly ended up surprising me with how enjoyable and well-made it is. It serves as a solid prequel to Wizard of Oz while still standing strong on its own, and does justice to both the play and its source material while also having plenty of memorable scenes and musical moments to both. The third act especially is a big highlight, where I wasn’t expecting both a body horror scene *and* a jumpscare in a Wicked film, of all things. It definitely almost makes you feel bad for the flying monkeys.
I also didn’t really notice the weird lighting anywhere as much as you did, but I saw the film on a big and colorful Dolby Atmos screen, so that probably mitigated it to some degree.
Casting professional singers in a musical? And it turned out great? Who would’ve thought!
I find it funny how Wizard of Oz themed productions are almost always a disaster but the actual movie is good. 😂
From all the interviews I've seen, I get the impression that, even if Jon M Chu hadn't done the best job at, well directing, it seems like he certainly did help foster the environment around him which did contribute to the movie being great in so many ways.
I think the movie certainly could have been better in a few specific areas, but that's a tall order when so many other aspects are this good. I agree, 8/10
1:50 me when I’m running the maze
They had her flying like Superman, this movie gets extra points from me for unexpected epicness.
Some context if anyone wants it for the Cynthia poster “drama”: in the UK (where she lives) they pretty much exclude her from any tabloids or whatever about the movie, so that post might’ve been a “straw to break the camel’s back” as it were. Still not great but I thought it was interesting.
the hunter x hunter stage show in the backround kills me
I only noticed the Persona 3 musical😂
If Schaff thinks a Movie adaptation of a Stage Musical is good, then it must be good!
It might also be called personal preference
They should make a movie about what happens after this story. I bet it would be pretty interesting to see the fallout between the witches.
This comment sent me😂😂😂
I liked the lighting! It felt dreamy!
My god that opening scene with Glinda and the munchkins is absolutely heartbreaking. Ariana really nailed that scene.