I went into “Wicked” knowing absolutely nothing about the musical. The most I had seen about the film came from the one trailer I had seen at a separate screening of “Gladiator II.” However the hype from this film felt impossible to escape and so I knew it would be first on my weekend watchlist. Now having seen it, I can confidently say it lives up to the hype.

Not only did the film exceed my expectations, it pushed me to reimagine the original film in a new light. Ariana Grande’s reintroduction to the world of acting was masterclass, and she nailed the role. At first her vocals caught me off guard, but as I grew to know her character I grew to realize that everything she did with her voice was extremely intentional which was extremely impressive. 

Cynthia Erivo absolutely steals the show, every song, every moment and honestly just her screen presence speaks volumes to her talent as a performer. It’s so refreshing to see someone so classically trained nail a role like this in such a major production. Not to mention the makeup team’s amazing job at making the green really come to life on screen. Technicolor may be lost to time in its purest form, but I really appreciated this film’s attempts to harken back to the times of bright blues and magical yellows.

This movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes, a fact which I only learned when prompted to look it up afterwards. If you had asked me after we left the theatre how long I thought the film was I would’ve said somewhere around 2 hours. Sometimes movies this long feel this long, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is a great example, but “Wicked” does not suffer the same fate. If you are scared of the runtime, don’t be.

Visually the film is pretty average for a film of its budget. It doesn’t push the envelope in any traditional ways, but it definitely does not disappoint. The camera can feel very present sometimes, but it really doesn’t detract from the film at all. The biggest compliment I can give the film visually is that all of its CGI characters look great on screen. Without getting into spoilers some of my favorite scenes involve the flying monkeys, which are entirely computer generated.

Overall this film is everything you could want it to be. The music is catchy and the new performances hold up really well on the big screen. The acting feels very natural and the film looks exactly like it should for a film of its scale. To “Wicked” fans who have been waiting on this film their entire lives, I don’t think you could really ask for much more. I’m excited to see how successful this film is, and I hope that means they’ll give the sequel even more love.