A Discovery of Witches
I’m not a big fan of origin stories featuring villains. They always start out with the villain being good and, later, either being misunderstood – as Maleficent is in Maleficent, or completely unconvincing in their turn towards evil – as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels. Sometimes, villains are just evil and always were evil. No explanation needed. Wicked is the story of how the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz came to be so wicked.
Going into Wicked, I was a little worried about the two hour and forty-minute run time…and this was just part one. You read that correctly. I’ve read the book (by Gregory Maguire) and seen the stage play and I don’t remember either of them being particularly enthralling. They’re not Dune.
Perhaps the biggest thing Wicked gets right is it’s the origin story of not one, but two witches. Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) is the green Technicolor witch eventually melted by Dorothy, but Elphaba shares Wicked’s story with the bubble driving Glinda the Good Witch of the North (Ariana Grande). Excuse me – Galinda Upland, emphasis on the Ga- as lectured by Galinda to history professor and talking goat Doctor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage). Galinda is wicked in a Mean Girls way, caring only about clothes, being popular, and landing the hot guy, Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). Forced to room with Elphaba, Galinda sets about making Elphaba’s life miserable in the many petty, but very mean ways that bitchy, self-absorbed high school girls always resort to in movies.
The cleverness of the story is it asks the viewer/reader to think twice about who is actually the wicked one. While the main focus is on the dual witches, we also have to consider a few other characters’ level of wickedness. Elphaba’s father and governor of Munchkinland (Andy Nyman) openly despises Elphaba, even at her moment of birth. Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) is the Dean of Sorcery at Shiz University (where Galinda and Elphaba attend school) and is hoping to take advantage of Elphaba’s magical talents for her own ambitions. And we can’t forget Oz’s famous charlatan, the, ahem…Wonderful…Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum). In order to continue to stay in power, the wizard needs a true sorcerer to read a magical book called the Grimmerie. The title of wicked is up for grabs and, so far, Elphaba is bringing up the rear.
The broader story is one that will make a lot of people squirm in their seats – the authoritarian takeover of a country through lies, greed, manipulation, and bigotry. All of that will come to a head in Wicked Part 2 (due November 2025) but is very visible in part one, as well. Having green skin sets Elphaba apart from everyone else, and the discrimination comes from all directions. Only two other people treat Elphaba as simply a person, and both can relate. Elphaba’s sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode), who is paraplegic, and Doctor Dillamond, who, as I said earlier, is a talking goat. When Elphaba learns that there is an effort to cage and mute all talking animals (illustrated by racist graffiti), Elphaba decides to fight for their rights to remain free and is demonized for her efforts. Yes, I’m still describing Wicked, but I know what you’re thinking.
Surprisingly, stretching all of this out over two hours and forty minutes turned out to be a good decision. Another thing I’m not a fan of is musicals, but the long run time allowed the movie to breathe in between song numbers without having to cut any of the songs from the original stage musical. My twelve-year-old son was particularly worried about being bored by a long musical, but we both agreed that the movie never felt slow and didn’t have too much musical. It helps that Erivo and Grande are both exceptional singers and that everything in the movie – from the costuming, to the set design and production, to the CGI, to the actors – are very visually pleasing.
It’s been more than a decade since I read the book and attended the musical, and it left such little impression on me that I forgot nearly everything I read and saw. Not only did the movie bring it all back, but it did it so well that I enjoyed it much more this time around. While I went into the film wary of many things, I’m now looking forward to Part 2. It’s still no Dune though.
Rating: Don’t ask for any of your money back because even a twelve-year-old boy thinks it’s worth it.
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