Wicked! Finally, finally, finally, they made a movie of it!
When I first saw the trailer, immediately sent Nick a message about it. He's the one that taught me about the stage play. I was both excited and terrified. Excited for the potential of an amazing film, and terrified in case they messed it up. In the message to Nick I said, "I'm gonna cry if they don't do it justice."
The two of us went to see it together. And when the movie started, it took us flying up over Oz, and to Munchkinland. Everyone there is celebrating Elphaba's death. And Glinda is celebrating with them, but you can just see the heartbreak she's trying to hide. And I started crying. So, Wicked did make me cry. But only because they did an awesome job.
I loved it. They really captured heart of the stage play. In fact, I only had one complaint, but I'll get to that later.
Spoilers, as well as some vague references to part 2.
The movie is long. Considering this is only the first half of the story, I expected they had added a ton of filler. But they didn't. I couldn't identify any random stuff they threw in. All they did was fill out the existing parts. And maybe some scenes were a little long. Like the dance. That was supposed to be super awkward, but they could have shortened it a bit.
I love the original Elphaba and Glinda so much that I thought it would be hard to like new versions of them. But both of the new ladies were awesome too. And I love that the two original stars got a cameo. A pretty hilarious one too. And it was so sweet to see them greet the new versions of their characters.
I love that the whole school is smitten with Fiyero. He looks too old to be in school, but the play does cover many years. So he'll fit the part when the next movie rolls around.
Madame Morrible is a nasty piece of work (especially in part 2). But damn, she has style.
Doctor Dillamund really got me this time. Maybe because I've gotten to be good friends with some goats. But his fate hit me a lot harder this time than it did during the play. Poor guy. TT^TT. I hope they include something in movie 2 about him getting help.
I also hope that movie 2 does a better job with Boq. I could never accept that the play version was anything like the corresponding character in The Wizard of Oz.
I like they way they framed "I'm Not That Girl." With the green plants and pink flowers in the background. Green and pink, representing Elphie and Glinda.
And Defying Gravity. Such a freaking awesome song. The new Elphie is an amazing singer. But this is where I had my only complaint about the movie. They broke up "Defying Gravity" into too many pieces. It kinda took some of the power out of it. It was broken up some in the original version, but not as much. I'm going to find the soundtrack and see if there's a version that's a little more fluid.
I managed to drag my parents to see it with me. Mom saw it in theaters with me and Nick (I kinda bullied her into coming, so she could drive XD It was a long time ago). Dad was familiar with many of the songs, after hearing me sing them dozens of times over the years. I was glad to find that Dad was getting hooked into the movie. At one point, Mom leaned over and whispered to me about Glinda, "what a little shit!" I laughed. She really is at first. Mom had forgotten that from the play. I had not.
And while Glinda may be a little shit to Elphie at first, I so love both characters.
The only question is, when they release part 2, will there be a special edition DVD set? And can I wait that long to get it?
