Wicked Now Streaming: Revisiting the “Popular” Movie Adaptation

One of the most common trends in Hollywood is to take an existing musical and to turn it into a movie. Recently, this has resulted in a string of mediocre adoptions: Cats (2019), Dear Evan Hansen (2021), Mean Girls (2024). Compared to its peers, Wicked stands out for being different. It is great. Highly faithful to the original, in Wicked, every joke from the original musical keeps its punchline, the sets are gorgeous, and perhaps most importantly, the soundtrack is a pleasure to listen to. For fans of the original musical, there are plenty of great easter eggs, including cameo appearances by Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel.

At the recent 97th Academy Awards on March 2, Wicked won the Academy Award for Best Production Design, an award that recognizes a film’s art direction. When viewing the film, it becomes clear why the film won; the sets for Wicked are gorgeous. From the over nine million tulips planted for the opening scenes in Munchkinland to the Venice-like Shiv University, Wicked is a wonderful piece of eye-candy.

In addition to the ingenious set design, Wicked features a star-studded cast. Cynthia Ervio (Elphaba) exceeds expectations and puts on a performance rivaling Idina Menzel. While Ariana Grande (Galinda) is certainly no Kristin Chenoweth, she delivers a faithful performance worthy of her nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Meanwhile Jonathan Bailey (Prince Fiyero) manages to steal the show while delivering a dazzling performance in the middle of the movie.

The set design and cast come together for “Dancing Through Life.” Featuring a spinning library, stunning acrobatics, and dreamy tenor vocals from Bailey, the song stands as one of the Wicked’s highlights. Unfortunately, the scene also contains one of the film’s greatest flaws: back lighting.  Much of the film features heavy backlighting causing the color to feel washed out. While not inherently bad, it creates a whiplash from viewers expecting a more colorful experience akin to the 1939 Wizard of Oz.

“Dancing Through Life” also showcases another one of the film’s flaws: length. At 160 minutes, Wicked is an odyssey. In the original Broadway musical, “Dancing Through Life” takes around 10 minutes; meanwhile in the movie, between instrumental sections and diegetic audio, the number takes over 21 minutes. Despite this, Wicked does not feel particularly long until it nears its climax. 

True to the original, Wicked ends in a spectacle; Cynthia Eviro delivers a stellar vocal performance in “Defying Gravity,” bringing one of Broadway’s most iconic moments to the big screen. Despite this, the moment is not without its flaws. For one of the most quintessential songs in Broadway,  the film pulls its punches and delays for as long as possible before finally releasing “Defying Gravity.” While the delay is not ideal, “Defying Gravity” is still spectacular as ever and ends the movie on a high note.

While one can measure Wicked by its flaws, it is more accurate to measure it by its strengths. Wicked is great. Watch it.