Wicked (Part 2 of 2) FULL MOVIE REACTION

WOW! I watched the broadway show on tour years ago when it came to my city, and I loved it. I was not expecting this movie to be this fantastic, or this emotionally charged. Fabulous performances all around! Cynthia's voice is just spectacular. Glad I waited until the second part was out before watching though, I wouldn't have liked the long wait in between. Thanks for the reaction Tim!

Also notice that the clip in Glinda’s hair in the end is GREEN

Btw, during One Short Day, the woman who said “he can read it, he must be a wizard” is Winnie Holzman who wrote the book of the musical and was one of the screenwriters. The man who said “The Wizard will see you now” is Stephen Schwartz, who I hope needs no introduction

I saw part two twice now and...ya definitely not as strong as part one. I never saw the Broadway version, however I did know where the story was generally going and the common critiques of act two of the musical itself. For Part two I really liked the acting and the singing still, especially No Good Deed, and Wonderful. However I generally felt the staging was overall weaker especially For Good at the end. Though overall my biggest issue was...two fold I guess, I felt the Wizard of Oz plot was poorly mixed in. I felt it could have been way better integrated then it was and that really hurt it. In a few cases it was fine like with the Witch of the East, or the Tin Man; there I actually felt that was pretty decently mixed in. However, man the rest just did not gel as well for me personally. I will also say my second issue was Fiyero; I really liked him in part one, as even if he was just a supporting character/ love interest, he was charming and I liked the small development he was having. Nothing outstanding in part one but solid enough. In part two I really felt he did not integrate as well; due to them wanting to hide a plot twist with him till later. Which in my opinion just really hurts my enjoyment of his relationship with Elphaba. I know he is just the side love interest but they still did enough with Boq and Nessa for what their roles were I just felt...disappointed. Though Speaking of Spongebob lol, there are actually quite a few original songs from the show that could be fun to examine. Tom Kenny is actually quite a good singer, especially considering he's doing a character voice.

I do believe Glinda had the same reason for dropping the Ga in the stage musical as the film... At least I'm pretty sure it was part of it when I saw it in the West End back in 2013, but I could be wrong. It was a long time ago. They did film the train journey too but it was cut for time. It's in the deleted scenes on the blu-ray. They used blue screen rather than green screen in this film, which sounds quite old fashioned. The reasons for doing so are two-fold. The most obvious reason is that the protagonist is literally green. Using green screen, they'd risk accidentally keying Elphaba's face or hands out of a shot. The less obvious reason as I've understood it is that blue screen is actually better than green screen for big physical sets and practical effects, which this film uses a lot of, even if there's a great deal of CGI as well. As for part 2, I already mentioned this on the server, but I really liked it. The one thing that felt lacklustre to me was the As Long As You're Mine scene. It just didn't work for me and maybe that's partly because it doesn't feel like a particularly heterosexual movie xD Or maybe it was just the way it was directed. There was a distinct lack of passion to the whole thing, which is a shame because the lyrics have so much of it. If you can't play that kind of passion sincerely the lyrics just end up falling flat. Other than that I had no major complaints at all. I know a lot of people felt like all the good songs were in the first film but No Good Deed is my favourite song and Cynthia really delivered on that one. I know I'm not the most critical audience, though. It takes a lot for a piece of media to truly disappoint me if the story appeals and the acting performances are good. Both these films have what I want out of a film adaptation of a musical, which is faithfulness to the source material (while also bringing something new and the new was good), excellent vocal performances and well produced music. That to me means that there are limitations to how badly they're able to screw it up, and they certainly didn't do so to any extent that made me enjoy the film any less. I guess it's possible I'll like it less after a rewatch or two, but I'll always have the memory of how it felt to watch it in the cinema that first time. I laughed and I cried and I was in awe of both Cynthia and Ariana's performances, and that's good enough for me.

I watched the movie last night, and (this is my opinion) it was a bit of a letdown. I think I went into it with too high an expectation. I have been thinking about why since last night, since I have seen the musical 3 times on Broadway, and it is one of my favorites. I do believe in the musical; you hit the climax of Defying Gravity, have an intermission, and then you go straight into act 2. Still on the high of Act 1, they bring you into a more serious tone, and the ending is fitting of the story. Then you leave the musical with the emotions of both Act 1 and 2, and ah, it is amazing! Versus the movie, we have an AMAZING Act 1 movie, then a year gap before the second movie. We are starting emotionally from the baseline, and they couldn't take me up the same way as movie 1. I had hoped adding more time would make the story feel more fully developed, but I found it dragged at times instead. It also wasn't as funny as Act 1, and I personally prefer the songs in Act 1. Also, seeing the Wicked: One Wonderful Night performance of "For Good" took away the initial novelty of seeing Cynthia and Ari sing it together in the movie. I am not saying the performances were bad. Cynthia, Ariana, and the cast were amazing. These thoughts are part of the movie's overall tone and story, and, of course, my opinion. I am sure others will tell me they thought it was amazing. But still, I would tell friends to remember it is a more serious storyline and to temper expectations when watching. Then I do think you will have a good experience.

Wicked screenwriter Dana Fox, was featured on the “Scriptnotes” podcast last week. It was fun because she was host John August’s assistant years back.