Wicked

The revival of the cinema-packing musical can’t help but bring a smile to your face.

Whether it’s biopics, adaptations or originals, it’s lovely to see a more traditional and old-fashioned type of blockbuster reaching so many people and packing out multiplexes.

There was no doubt that Wicked was going to be a hugely popular undertaking regardless of trends but it looks set to take its crown as the top of this particular crop.

Pushing those nostalgia buttons but still feeling thoroughly modern, and with no expense spared on visuals and runtime, this is the Wizard-sent Christmas cinema spectacle it was destined to be.

If you’re wondering, this is very much ‘Part 1’ of this enterprise (the removal of this subtitle from the posters and trailers still slightly odd but it’s there on the screen) but is still stretched past the two and a half hour mark.

Remarkably, it doesn’t feel the weight of either of these things at all. There’s enough showstopping moments here to stand on its own and vanquish that runtime faster than a melting witch.

There’s a couple of slower and unnecessarily stretched moments but the runtime mainly just adds to the ‘epic’ feel of the thing.

And it really is epic in parts. Striving to hit the heights of matching one of the most iconic and important films of all time and also its wildly successful stage iteration.

The musical sections are seemingly staged to outdo each other with each outbreak raising the bar on its predecessor in terms of staging, action, dancing and vocals.

I can’t comment as to any differences between the stage version and screen as I’m one of the few who hasn’t seen it in the theatre but, as far as observations from that newbie angle, it’s a hugely entertaining film with an engaging story.

I’d say a knowledge of The Wizard of Oz will enhance enjoyment but even that isn’t mandatory although there are a couple of nice Easter Eggs.

Performance-wise, again without being able to comment on any comparisons, the leading pair here absolutely command the screen.

Awards nominations for musical performances often depend a lot on the film itself receiving them but expect Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande to be mentioned in those terms.

It takes a lot to command the screen whilst hanging around with Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum but these two achieve it here (although those legends are also brilliant.)

You don’t need any ‘seal of approval’ or recommendation to go and see this film but for anyone who is sceptical or wants to bandy around the ‘not a fan of musicals’ tag this will rebuff any doubt and give you some pre-Christmas childlike wonder. It's hard to defy (pun intended).

It maybe doesn’t have a huge amount of replay value (something which affected the adaptations of Les Misérables and West Side Story before it although I do expect the pitchforks to come out here with that comment) but in terms of pure spectacle and a true ‘night at the cinema’ this is truly wicked (in the Ali G sense of the word).

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️