It’s time to defy gravity all over again as one of 2024’s highest-grossing movies is now available to stream — Wicked! In John M. Chu’s candy-colored adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, the origins of The Wizard of Oz’s two witches get the feature film treatment, complete with a massive 160-minute runtime.
That’s how long it takes to tell the story of Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), a green-skinned outcast at Shiz University who strikes up an unlikely friendship with the perky, blonde and popular Galinda (Ariana Grande). But can this friendship survive the handsome Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), who pulls at Elphaba’s heart, or the secret the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) is hiding from them all?
Wicked is unabashedly a musical, full of soaring ballads and power anthems about love and being free, and the filmmaking is like that, too. It’s a bit exhausting, but it’s also fun and easy on the eyes. Erivo is deadly serious as the proto-Wicked Witch of the West, while Grande is as bouncy and shiny as one of the bubbles she uses to fly around in.
