SLAS TIMES 36
IS IT AS MAGICAL AS IT SEEMS ? by Chenille Zoe B . Manlangit
Wicked ; A movie so popular that almost everyone has to have heard about it once . It released in China on December 6 and still has showings even after a month , even if it isn ’ t popular here in China . For various reasons , Wicked has become the highest-grossing movie adaptation of a Broadway musical , surpassing other movies like Mamma Mia and its sequel , Mean Girls ( expected , honestly ), and The Greatest Showman . But what makes it so good ? Well , in this review , I ’ ll be saying my opinion on Wicked , and determine if it truly deserves the title the ticket sales have given them . Just a warning : This review IS NOT spoiler-free !
Plot
Wicked follows Elphaba Thropp , an illegitimate child , on a journey of self-discovery . After being discriminated by her skin color her whole life , she gets to go to her sister ’ s ( Nessarose ’ s ) school on accident , because of her magical powers . She rooms with Glinda , a popular blonde , and they immediately loathe each other . However , after a series of fortunate events , they became the best of friends . Elphaba shows compassion towards the animals ; In Oz , animals talked and acted like humans do- -at least , that ’ s how it used to be . Animals are losing their jobs and are being imprisoned , and it happens to Elphaba ’ s history teacher , Dr . Dillamond . When Elphaba brings this up with the Wizard of Oz when he invited her , he brings up the fact that this was his idea , and that Oz needed someone to blame for their hardships . Furious , Elphaba realizes that the Wizard didn ’ t have powers , despite telling everyone that he does . She rebels against the Wizard , becoming the Wicked Witch of the West .
Soundtrack
The Wicked movie starred Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda , and let ’ s just say they did absolutely amazing . The movie ’ s songs ? They were recorded as they were acting on set , meaning that other than the background voices , the main actor ’ s voices weren ’ t pre-recorded . Very impressive when you see the stunts Cynthia Erivo had to do while singing the hardest song in the movie , “ Defying Gravity ”. Cynthia Erivo was such a strong belter in the movie , and definitely lived up to the original Elphaba ’ s name ( Idina Menzel ). What I liked about her version better than the musical ’ s was that her voice felt fuller and more powerful , but this change makes sense considering that Idina Menzel had to do multiple shows a week .
Ariana Grande managed to surprise me as well ! As many of you know , Ariana ’ s a pop singer , meaning that I didn ’ t expect her to have the opera-style voice that the original Glinda , Kristen Chenoweth , did . However , she completely stunned me ! Although it ’ s definitely not comparable to Kristen Chenoweth ’ s performances , Ariana definitely didn ’ t disappoint when she sang “ No One Mourns The Wicked ”, a song where Glinda sings the highest notes in opera-style .
Acting and Cinematography
I ’ m definitely no expert when it comes