Warning: This review mentions spoilers!

Since the initial release of “Wicked,” many people on and off social media talked nonstop about it for months. People ranked the songs, trying to recreate the iconic battle cry in “Defy Gravity” (sung by Cynthia Erivo), and I’ve even seen people try the iconic hair flip from Ariana Grande. The movie was released in 2024, but recently became available to stream at home.

Movie Facts and Summary:
“Wicked” is a reimagining of the original Broadway musical from 2003. The original Broadway cast stars were Idina Menzel (Elphaba) and Kristen Chenoweth (Glinda). The musical was based on the 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch.” The movie starts with the Munchkins celebrating the death of the Wicked Witch of the West, who just melted and died (due to the events of The Wizard of Oz). There is a giant statue of the Wicked Witch of the West, and everyone is cheering for the aftermath. Glinda then appears in a bubble and explains the witch’s backstory. Glinda even mentions that she was friends with the Wicked Witch of the West back when they went to Shiz University.
Then a flashback to a long time ago: The witch’s name was Elphaba, and Glinda was Galinda (GA-lin-DA). When Elphaba arrives at Shiz University, everyone is flabbergasted and afraid of the fact that she is green, something that has followed her since childhood. Madame Morrible decides to accept Elphaba as a student even though Elphaba didn’t originally intend to be a student. Elphaba later sings about how she wants to meet the wizard to ask him to change her green skin color. Galinda and Elphaba ended up being roommates, and at first, they did not get along.
Galinda and Elphaba shared a class. Their professor is Dr. Dillamond, a talking goat who warns his students about the situation with the animals. Elphaba is very heartbroken to learn that animals are being oppressed. Dr. Dillamond also mispronounces Galinda’s name as Glinda, which Galinda gets offended by and corrects him. Fiyero (a really good-looking prince) arrives at school, and everyone is excited, especially Glinda– she develops a crush on Fiyero and wants to go to the Ozdust Ball with him. During the Ozdust Ball, everyone makes fun of Elphaba and her dance moves. However, Galinda and Elphaba have formed a friendship. Later, Elphaba gets ready to go on the train to visit the wizard. There is a huge crowd of people who are waiting to say goodbye.
Galinda decides to change her name to Glinda. Glinda also decides to go on the train to Oz with Elphaba. Elphaba and Glinda then meet the wizard. Madame Morrible shows up for “support” and Elphaba performs a spell from the spellbook. Elphaba’s spell accidentally causes harm to the monkeys. Elphaba realizes that the wizard is a fraud. Elphaba says that she is going to get revenge, and she is leaving Oz. Elphaba asks Glinda to come with her, but Glinda decides she wants to stay with the wizard and Madame Morrible. She flies off on her broomstick, and so the movie ends on a cliffhanger. We will have to wait for part two to see what happens.

Review:
Characters + Plot

So, you might be wondering, what did I think about the movie? Well, as someone who never saw the original Broadway musical, I thought it was an amazing movie! It was three hours long, and it felt like I was watching an hour-long movie. The characters were super entertaining and even at times funny to watch.
I feel like the other background characters (or at least most of them) did not serve too much of a purpose, and were instead filler. I felt like the love triangle was unnecessary. This movie has a lot of action but also has some good comedic moments. Both Elphaba and Glinda are very nuanced and fleshed-out characters.
I also love the part when Elphaba calls out Madame Morrible and the wizard for what they are doing to the animals and the wizard for being a phony. I think the only thing I would change in the movie is the Ozdust Ballroom scene where Glinda and Elphaba started dancing together, because I found the whole scene to be very awkward.
Glinda also has already had some good character development in the first movie, which is only half of the story of Wicked. Glinda starts as this kinda selfish, a bit of an entitled, self-absorbed, mean girl when we first meet her at Shiz University, but after a while, she seems to accept Elphaba and others around her. She tries to become a better person throughout the movie, and it comes off as genuine and not as forced.
Songs

Here is my ranking of the songs:

1. Popular
2. Defying Gravity
3. No One Mourns the Wicked
4. The Wizard and I
5. I’m Not That Girl
6. What is the Feeling
7. One Short Day
8. Dancing Through Life
9. Dear Old Shiz
10. Sentimental Man

Let’s talk about the songs on this soundtrack, because they are amazing! Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are amazing vocalists. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s vocals melt together like butter. Ariana and Cynthia both have different voices. Cynthia has more of a soulful, thick, and rich singing voice, while Ariana has a more airy, buttery, soft voice. Both of them have powerful voices that work well together.
The rest of the cast are also good singers. I feel like the issue with a lot of musicals that have been released in recent years is that the cast is people who are good at singing, but not acting. Or the people are good at acting, but not singing. The cast of “Wicked” is good at both!