Geez, where to start? With what I thought of it? Not hardly. My humble old-white-guy opinion is more useless that usual in a movie that depends so strongly on who the individual viewer is. Okay, it’s a musical, a film adaptation of the tried-and-tested stage version, which means the singing and dancing has been thoroughly rehearsed and comes off as kinetic perfection, as thesethings go. But you’ll have to like musicals. Secondly, it looks great.
The film took home two Oscars out of ten nominations, for production and costume design. Let’s talk about Ariana Grande. This is a multitalented, industry-savvy, veteran performer who started out in a tweener Nickelodeon sitcom and then moved seemingly effortlessly into pop-singer stardom. She doesn’t miss a beat in her portrayal of Glinda. That said, she is arguably eclipsed by the amazing Cynthia Erivo as frenemy witch-in-training Elphaba. Ariana now says she wants to concentrate on an acting career. I’d say this is a pretty good place to start, except I didn’t see a lot of acting going on. The movie is so visually dense and cluttered with dazzle as to become distracting.
I won’t go into detail about the plot; you can find reams on that elsewhere. But beneath all the glitter is a deceptively playful reinterpretation of The Wizard of Oz that carries a subversive, sadly still salient message about power-hungry con artists who trade in bombastic theatrics in the place of competence. Sound familiar?
More gripes: It runs close to three hours, but this is somewhat eased by excellent timing and the terrific chemistry between the two leads. This would be a good point to mention that this is only the first half. Part 2 (plus a sequel) are already in the can.
Note: This will appeal greatly to those already familiar with the theatrical version, but less to those whose knowledge is limited to the iconic 1939 movie. Perhaps the best way to sum it all up is to tell you how I watched it. I went with some friends and their three young granddaughters. Bottom line: the kids adored it and will probably watch it again, repeatedly. Grandpa, well, not so much.
(160 min)
