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 these
things 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)