Wicked film is overrated here's why

I want to preface this by saying that I am not the biggest fan of musicals in general. Don't have anything against them, its just that - more often than not- it's very hard to fit a movies worth of interesting and catchy music that will appeal to everyone, while also not narratively stalling the plot.

I admittedly made an exception for Wicked for two reasons: set design and cinematography. The film simply looked absolutely gorgeous. The sets and costumes have so much detail and vibrancy to them, and the colors just pop off the screen. The movie has pretty privilege and I admittedly fell for it.

The ending of the film was also fantastic. Cynthia's rendition of defying gravity and the footage of her flying through the air made for one of the best endings for a film that I have seen in a while.

Also the vocal performances from Ariana and Cynthia were also top notch.

So all in all the movie does have a few good things going for it.

The cons however were many.

The Plot & music;

Wicked has an editting problem. And I don't mean weird cuts or equipmen left in a shot that one forgot to take out. I mean that there were entire scenes that were just wholly uncesscary and do nothing to serve the plot or move it forward at all.

There are scenes that run on for far too long to the point that they can become a little awkward, (ex. Elphabas weird silent dance solo).

There were also musical sequences and songs that were absolutely forgettable that did not serve to move either the plot forward, or depen characterization.

Take for example Prince Fiyiros library sequence where he sings about not wanting to study. Not only is the song bland and forgettable, but it was just not necessary for the narrative.

In order for musicals to work, not only do the songs have to explain something about the character i.e, their deepest desires, motivations and thoughts; they also have to serve - in some capacity - to move the story along by setting the foundation that would explain a character's actions and behaviors later on.

Take for example the Little Mermaid. The reason songs like "Part of your world", "Poor unfortunate souls", "under the sea" are so memorable - apart from just being really good songs - is that they explain what the characters are thinking and feeling without stalling the plot. "Part of your world" is about Ariels deepest desire to experience the surface and being human, which explains why she goes the sea witch to impulsively sign that contract. "Poor unfortunate souls" shows you how sleazy, and manipulative Ursula is, establishing her as the villain and that Ariel is making a huge mistake.

All in all, the songs serve to explain the deepest desires of their characters without stalling the plot.

Prince Fiyiros library song is not only forgettable it was also wholly uncesscary for the story. It allegedly set him up to be this shallow character that only knows how to have fun, but they veto that a few scenes later showing that he isn't as "shallow " as he seems. If he's not that much of a shallow, vain character then why give him an entire musical sequence about his adversion to studying?

Luckily the choreography with the spinning set saved the scene a little bit and kept my attention, otherwise I would have checked out completely.

There are so many more examples I can give of characters singing and being given musical sequences that are just not that narratively interesting or important. The relationship between Nessa and Boq just comes out of nowhere with nothing prior to establish that Nessa had any feelings for him. All he did was ask her out, not even b/c he liked her, and she's already looking at him like a possible future husband.

So her having a musical sequence singing about how much likes him just seemed odd and out of touch.

The film also has major pacing issues. There's an animal cruelty subplot that's introduced, quickly forgotten about and then reintroduced in a way that was so abrupt its like the film suddenly remembered that it was supposed to have a main conflict outside of the animosity between glinda and elphaba.

The relationship between glinda and elphaba also developed in a way that was inorganic and inauthentic. I'm sorry but one night of reconciliation is not enough to make up for weeks of bullying someone for the way that they look , simply because you felt guilty that the person youve been bullying did something nice for you despite how you've treated them. I find it really hard to believe that they can go from being absolute enemies at the beginning of the film to a relationship where Elphaba would be totally ok with bringing Glinda along to oz.

And if you're still not convinced that this film has pacing issues. The run time for the Broadway musical is about 2 1/2 hours long. The film on just part ONE is 2 hrs and 52 minutes. How they managed to get 5+ hours of film content from that is beyond me.

The characters and performances:

Everyones performance was just decent. Putting aside the vocal performance, I think Ariana did very well showcasing the vain, narcissistic personality of Glindas character. I heard some people say that she was the comic relief of this film, but to be honest I only got one or two chuckles out of her. Not to say she wasn't entertaining though. If anything I would argue she was the life of the film, and was the most fun to watch. But I would hardly consider her performance Oscar worthy.

Cynthia as Elphaba wasn't as interesting as it could have been. I felt Elphaba was a little flat and one note. Cynthia did a good job portraying Elphaba as a sympathetic character to feel sorry for, but there wasn't that much dimension to her character. She lacked so little personality outside of being kind and a victim of society that it almost feels like she was written that way on purpose. Like she's a blank slate for an audience member who had ever felt marginalized or excluded to project their feelings onto. Elphaba is supposed to eventually become the Wicked witch, but where's the wickedness? We see glimpses of her more mischievous nature when she scares Glinda and shuts up one of Glindas lackeys by magic. So it's evident that she has some level of pettiness and mischievousness to her, but it's barely shown. Also, as a kid we see her easily be able to levitate several rocks....but she can't lift a coin?

As for the other performances everyone again was decent. No one gave a performance to write home about. If anything there were some characters that should have been given way more attention and development than they got. Most notably Nessarose as she's supposed to eventually become the Wicked witch of the East. Its like the film forgot that there are two wicked witches brewing here not just one (pun intended).

All in all the film had a lot of issues that I can speak on all day, but this thread is long enough. In conclusion Wicked is very mediocre. If they had simply just taken out more of the musical sequences and dedicated more time into the developing the characters and their relationships, we would have had a far more focused and better film.

Let me know your thoughts. Feel free to agree or disagree.