The reviews are finally in for the most-anticipated film of 2024.
Released later this week, the film adaptation of Wicked is finally almost here, after keeping fans of the original musical waiting for more than two decades.
As you’re probably already aware, the story serves as a retelling of The Wizard Of Oz from the perspective of its two central witches: Elphaba, known as the “Wicked Witch Of The West” and Glinda, the “Good Witch Of The North”.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande take the lead in a cast that also includes impressive names like Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum and recent Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh.
The question is, what are critics saying about the film?
Well, for the most part, they seem pretty impressed. While it was Ariana who received initial Oscar buzz, it’s Cynthia’s leading performance that has received near-unanimous acclaim, particularly for her vocal abilities and the way she brings nuance to Elphaba in smaller moments and character choices.
As is so often the case in 2024, the look of the film is one of its most polarising factor, with some criticising the heavy use of CGI, while others are still baffled by the running time and the decision to split the Wicked story into two.
Here’s a selection of what critics have had to say so far...
“The respective casting of [Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande] is the movie’s winning hand. Their vocals are clear and strong and supple to a degree many of us have learned not to expect after too many movie musicals that cast merely adequate singers and then Auto-Tune them to death [...] they help us buy into the intrinsic musical conceit that these characters are bursting into song to express feelings too large for spoken words.”
“Instead of feeling bloated, Wicked has found its ideal form, where every frame comes crammed with the kind of detail that could easily have been distracting, had a lesser talent than Cynthia Erivo been asked to carry it.”
The Guardian (4/5)
“In Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond famously said that the movies once only needed faces – and Erivo’s face is the ground zero of this film’s blast of entertainment power. She is the film’s Rushmore: charismatic, haughty and vulnerable. Her face exerts a planetary pull on everything else on screen and an impossible thing to look away from.”
Digital Spy (4/5)
“Wicked’s real strength is in the pairing of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande [...] Grande has terrific comic timing, which comes to the fore in Popular, while Erivo nails both the big numbers and the inner turmoil felt by Elphaba’s social rejection.
“It’s Jonathan Bailey who threatens to steal the show though, instantly charming during Flyero’s meet-cute with Elphaba. Anybody not swooning already will be with his excellent Dancing Through Life number.”
Metro (5/5)
“There has been a lot of talk about Grande as Glinda [...] But hers is not the performance of the movie. Erivo is more understated as perpetual outsider Elphaba, always having to excuse her greenness, but from the minute she opens her mouth for her first song The Wizard and I, she sent tingles down my spine. She’s a master at acting through song, à la Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia, but with a voice that is out of this world.”
The Daily Mail (4/5)
“Erivo and Grande are both pitch-perfect and altogether sensational. I confess to finding Wicked’s songs a little repetitive but it’s hard to imagine anyone delivering them better than those two, while Grande has proper comedic flair, which she brings to bear every time Glinda tosses her luxuriant tresses.”
The Times (4/5)
“On stage Elphaba can be a virtuous moaning Minnie. On screen, and pressed against the probing camera of the Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M Chu, she is transformed by Erivo into a character of uncommon depth [...] Erivo’s knockout vocals seem to drive everything around her into a swooping, roaring apotheosis. Roll on next November.”
Empire (3/5)
“Cynthia Erivo is defiant as the devastatingly misunderstood Elphaba, channelling vulnerability and strength in a layered, complex role. Chu knows what he has, leaving the camera locked close on Erivo’s face and letting her do the emotional heavy lifting as a woman bullied for her skin colour but holding true to her beliefs.
“Impressively, Ariana Grande more than holds her own against that towering performance.”
“Erivo is simply stunning in the juicy role of Elphaba, her voice a wonder and a perfect fit for Schwartz’s music, especially in the iconic Defying Gravity.
“She is matched in every way by a charming and very funny Grande, proving her acting chops and adjusting the pop vocal styles of her career to a voice that truly becomes Galinda — a popular choice indeed.”
“It’s hard to think of a recent turn in a big look-at-me studio movie, much less a brash movie musical, that manages to be so simultaneously buoyant and grounding. It’s not so much that Wicked doesn’t rise to meet her. It’s more like Erivo keeps soaring higher and higher above it.”
The Sun (4/5)
“The good news is . . . it was worth the wait. This spectacular Wizard of Oz origins story is a perfect slice of escapism from the miserable weather and even gloomier news [...] But there were moments when I wished I could tap my ruby-red shoes to speed things up a little as we learn how the Good and Wicked witches came to be.”
IndieWire (B-)
“It’s difficult to fully and accurately judge this story with literal half-measures. Musicals are meant to be big, expansive, overstuffed, emotionally rich, so consuming that the concept of singing and dancing about it make all the sense in the world. Just as Wicked starts hitting its highest notes, it’s over. For now. For another year.”
“The seams don’t show, but the movie can still drag [...] Wicked the movie’s images are big, to be sure, but they’re also often shallow; they don’t draw our attention further into the image, nor do they inspire curiosity about this world. They impress in scale but not in depth.”
The Independent (3/5)
“There are ferocious performances here, and it’s clear that hours upon hours of intricate craftwork have taken place on the film’s sets, but director Jon M Chu treats his Oz as if it were as mundane as a city block. And if there were ever a film that demanded Hollywood finally put to rest its obsession with flat, stark realism and return to colourful expressionism, it would surely be Wicked.”
BBC Culture (3/5)
“If you’re not already a devotee of the musical, though, you may not be converted [...] It doesn’t have the terrific jokes, the startling twists or the stunning dance routines that might have cast a spell on you, and it’s weighed down by under-developed subplots and under-used supporting characters.”
USA Today (3/4)
“The enchanting pair keeps Wicked watchable as many scenes drone on or feel stretched and overcooked. Chu’s movie lasts two hours and 41 minutes – almost the same runtime as the entire Broadway production (with intermission), even though it only covers the stage musical’s first act.
“You feel it, too, especially in an extended opening bit about the Wicked Witch’s demise and a busy Defying Gravity sequence that clocks in at a good 15 minutes. The latter still gets the job done, but some judicious editing would have gone a long way.”
Wicked hits cinemas on Friday 22 November.