This will probably be my longest post EVER. 💅
For ease of reading, here are links that take you to specific sections of this post:
I have been SO excited to see Wicked, despite (gasp) never having seen the musical.
I've only heard positive things about the musical, and of course I've heard all the big songs (and sung them loudly in the shower), so I had high hopes going into the film.
And all things considered, I really enjoyed the movie!
I enjoyed it so much, I decided to watch the first act of the musical immediately after watching the movie.
And of course, you know I had to write my thoughts in another installment of: ADAPTATION ANALYSIS!
I've done this previously for Heathers, which you can read here!
Before we get into all the little details, as you KNOW we will 💅, here's my overall analysis:
The Wicked film and its stage musical counterpart tell the same fundamental story, but despite several of the exact same lines appearing in both, they differ significantly in execution.
While the musical’s structure centralizes Elphaba's character and paves the way for a clearer throughline, the film struggles with nailing its focus, leaving certain elements underexplored or unnecessarily drawn out.
The main issues present in the musical aren't solved in the film's extended run time, but also some weak moments in the musical are turned into strong points in the film.
Both have their strengths and weaknesses, and both could benefit from further development of certain elements that drive the story.
Overall, this story would likely be best told through a mini-series, where the characters and world can be explored on a deeper level, and in a way that an audience can more easily digest. The themes, characters, and plot of this story are strong, but feel rushed in both the musical and the nearly 3-hour long film.
Soooo you can either stop reading now, or continue on for a more in-depth analysis of both versions of WICKED!
Act 1 (of the film): Recap / Comparison + Analysis
Recap / Comparison:
The film opens almost exactly the same way as the musical, with a huge celebration (and musical number!) over the death of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Interestingly, many of the exact same lines of dialogue from the musical are said on screen throughout the film, though often significantly spread out.
The first area that differs significantly from the musical is when we see a couple brief scenes from Elphaba's childhood, where we learn she was, of course, bullied because of her green skin, but also that she was shunned by her father and mainly raised by a bear.
The bear teaches her about the Wizard of Oz, and says than anyone who meets him will have their heart's desire granted by him.
Despite this extra focus on Elphaba, right after these scenes, the rest of the film's first act focuses heavily on establishing Galinda's character.
We go from these flashback scenes to seeing Galinda arriving at Shiz, where she immediately becomes the HBIC. She's also approached by Boq, a munchkin, who instantly develops a crush on her.
In the musical, we enter Shiz through Elphaba's perspective, and Galinda arrives on the scene only after we've spent some time with Elphaba.
In the film, it's only after Galinda has her moment singing "Dear Old Shiz" to uproarious applause from the other students that the focus shifts to Elphaba, who's there to help see her sister Nessa off on her college journey.
Galinda and Elphaba then have their famous interaction in the courtyard where Galinda points out:
From here, the students are all officially welcomed to the university and assigned their rooms.
Elphaba becomes frustrated that one of the professors won't let her paraplegic sister Nessa find her room without help, Elphaba's magical powers manifest and cause Nessa to fly away from the professor's grasp.
But her powers are a bit too strong, causing some of the surrounding architecture and artwork to crumble, revealing a crest of scholarly animals hidden underneath a crest of the Wizard of Oz, giving us a first look at the film's main themes.
Madame Morrible sees this and comes to Elphaba's rescue by saying she herself caused the wreckage.
She pulls Elphaba aside to offer her to be her sole sorcery student, after previously rejecting Galinda who desperately wanted that role for herself. When Elphaba reveals she isn't enrolled at the school and has nowhere to stay, Morrible says someone will be kind enough to share their room with her.
Galinda unknowingly volunteers herself while trying to get Morrible's attention, leading to the two officially becoming roommates.
This differs from the musical significantly, where Elphaba is enrolled in the school for the sole purpose of looking after her sister, and the only reason she doesn't have a room is, well, a mistake.
In both the musical and the film, Galinda unknowingly agrees to be Elphaba's roommate while trying to get Morrible's attention. But in the musical, this is actually the first time Galinda and Elphaba interact.
Then, as students head off to their dorms, Elphaba becomes angry she's being separated from her sister, and uses her magic to pull Nessa from Morrible's grasp and back to her.
It's at this point Morrible offers to teach Elphaba as her sole student.
In both the musical and film, the next beat is Elphaba singing her "I want" song "The Wizard and I" before we she makes her way to her shared room with Galinda.
And with that, our protagonist Elphaba is effectively "locked in" to this new world, and act 1 of the film is over.
Analysis:
Elphaba's Character
In the film, "The Wizard and I" song doesn't work nearly as well as it does in the musical.
You'd think it would work better because we're given further insight on Elphaba's character before this point, whereas in the musical this song occurs within the first few minutes of being introduced to Elphaba.
But that's actually exactly why the song lands better in the musical.
As soon as we're introduced to her, we see her future classmates and even professors gawking and laughing at her.
So when she sings her "I want" song, expressing her desire for power, admiration, and skin that isn't green, it makes complete sense because she wants the exact opposite of what her life has just been established as.
In the film, when we see Elphaba briefly as a shy child, then jump straight into her being a confident young adult, it feels like we've missed the most significant part of her journey: how she gained her confidence.
This does a couple things that have a negative impact on the song:
It separates the audience from her character -- we obviously missed A LOT between the scenes from her childhood and her arrival at Shiz. The character we've been introduced to and connected with so far is young Elphaba. But it's the adult version of her, who we're not as familiar with, that's singing the "I want" song. This makes it significantly more difficult to connect with her character. We simply don't know her as well.
We see clearly that Elphaba has gone from shy/insecure to confident in her own skin (literally), but the song expresses a desire to remove the green color from her skin. If she's already gone through a journey of accepting this and being confident in herself, her "want" seems hypocritical to the character she's now being presented as.
In the musical, knowing less about her past works better, even though she's portrayed as confident here too.
When she sings her "I want" song, this is essentially the first moment her mask isn't up. She puts on a confident front, but deep down, she wants to change who she is.
Without having seen her go from childhood to adulthood, we can assume she's always been this way -- masking her insecurities with a "confident" attitude.
Structure + Establishing the Protagonist
As mentioned in the recap / comparison to the musical, the film puts more emphasis on establishing Galinda's character in this first act, to the point where she takes over the story.
Even though Elphaba's "I want" song solidifies her role as the protagonist, we spend so much time with Galinda before and after this, and we get such a strong sense of her personality in a way that isn't achieved with Elphaba, that Galinda truly starts to feel like the protagonist.
Galinda clearly has the most room to grow as a character too. She's selfish, fake-nice, and cares way too much about others' opinions, which is all established across multiple moments during Shiz orientation.
At this point, we don't know Elphaba's flaws, and we don't know her yet as an adult, making Galinda the easier character to connect to.
All of this, coupled with the fact Galinda opens the film by introducing the story of her and Elphaba, sets Galinda up to lead the rest of the story. The musical handles this better by introducing us to Shiz through Elphaba's perspective, clarifying right away who the protagonist is.
Establishing the Theme
One of the strongest changes the film made was including earlier moments that establish the conspiracy to prevent animals from speaking.
In the musical and film, the first explicit mention of this is in act 2.
But with the small addition to the film where we see the crest of scholarly animals hidden underneath a crest of Oz, we know immediately that something larger is going on at this school, and maybe even Oz as a whole. It's such a quick beat, but it's extremely effective.
By the time we get to "Something Bad" in act 2, we have at least something to recall from act 1 to make this big world-building beat feel less like a random exposition dump.
Act 2 (of the film): Recap / Comparison + Analysis
Recap / Comparison:
In the film, Galinda makes a huge show of how kind she's being by offering Elphaba a (little) space in their dorm room.
Much of the scene focuses on how excessively Galinda has packed and decorated the space, and how Elphaba is shunned to a small corner, before the two go to sleep for the night.
But they can't sleep -- they're too fired up over how much they loathe each other ("What is This Feeling?")
During this song, a montage of the girls' growing hatred plays. We see the two mess with each other's belongings, share angry looks during and between classes, and overall living completely different lives.
While Galinda has earned the adoration of the entire school, Elphaba often sits alone and far away from others -- partially because they're all scared of her.
But the most important thing shown is Galinda becoming jealous when, at the end of the song, she sees Elphaba and Morrible talking together after their class.
In the musical, obviously there's no way to have a montage during this song, so this entire beat is much more simple.
We go straight from "The Wizard and I" into the dorm room, where "What is This Feeling?" begins instantly.
During the song, we transition out of the dorm and onto campus as the chorus of other students voice their support for Galinda's hatred of Elphaba. Through stage blocking, we also clearly see how Elphaba is separated from the other students.
However, in no part of this do we see Elphaba interacting with Morrible.
Instead, as soon as the song ends, Elphaba and Galinda are now in their History lecture, led by Doctor Dillamond, the only animal teacher at Shiz.
During his lecture, he flips the blackboard over to show the students something, revealing a threatening message: "Animals should be seen and not heard." This is the first moment the musical's larger themes are hinted at.
He dismisses the class, but Elphaba stays behind to make sure he's alright and find out who could've done something like this.
Dillamond informs her of the conspiracy to prevent animals from having the ability to speak (expressed through the song "Something Bad"). Elphaba is disturbed by this injustice, and promises to tell the Wizard of Oz about this so he can put an end to it.
In the film, this plays out quite differently. Shortly after the blackboard scene happens, Elphaba finds Dillamond in a secret animal meeting, where he sings "Something Bad" to his animal friends.
Then comes the introduction of Fiyero, who Elphaba meets in the woods when he runs into her while riding his talking horse.
In the musical, Elphaba and Galinda both meet Fiyero at around the same time when he arrives on campus in his (non-talking)-horse-drawn carriage that nearly knocks Elphaba over in the Shiz courtyard.
Galinda tries to approach Fiyero, but is blocked by Boq, who she has her first major interaction with in this moment (as opposed to the film where he introduces himself to her the moment she arrives at Shiz) as he tries to divert her attention away from Fiyero and onto him.
This doesn't work, however, as Galinda becomes mesmerized by Fiyero and his himbo philosophy ("Dancing Through Life").
During this song, Fiyero invites all the students to an impromptu party he's throwing in the Ozdust Ballroom. When Boq overhears this, he swoops in to ask Galinda to be his date to the party, but Galinda redirects Boq to ask out Nessa, Elphaba's paraplegic sister.
In the film, we get a few more scenes showing Galinda and Fiyero's relationship developing before "Dancing Through Life," making this song more of a culmination than a starting point.
We also see further interaction between Boq and Nessa here, providing more space for the foundation of their relationship to be established.
In both the musical and the film, Elphaba expresses concern over Boq's sudden interest in Nessa. She especially becomes upset when she learns Galinda is the reason Boq asked Nessa out at all.
Elphaba quickly decides to just be happy for her sister (whether she truly believes Boq or Galinda have good intentions is unclear).
Back in Galinda and Elphaba's dorm, Galinda gets ready for the party with her friends, one of which finds a pointy black hat in Galinda's closet. Galinda says she would give it away, but she doesn't hate anyone that much.
Just then, Elphaba enters. Galinda convinces her to go to the party with her and her friends that night, wearing the hat.
Elphaba takes the hat and...
In the film, Elphaba goes to Madame Morrible just before the party, saying she needs to speak with her right then.
After this, she heads to the party, where a group of animal musicians play music for the students to dance to.
In the musical, we go from Elphaba accepting the hat straight into the party scene.
In both the movie and musical, after Boq and Nessa dance together, Madame Morrible arrives. She gives Galinda a training wand, stating that Elphaba said she'd leave the school unless Galinda were given the chance to study sorcery.
Galinda instantly feels guilty when Elphaba shows up to the dance, wearing the hat she gave her. Everyone laughs at Elphaba, but she decides to stand strong and dance like she came here to do.
In the musical, Galinda steps in to show Elphaba a more elegant/magical way to dance.
In the film, it's Elphaba who teaches Galinda how to do those same dance moves.
In both the movie and musical, this is the defining moment of Elphaba and Galinda's friendship. From this point on, they're besties. And back in their dorm room, Galinda solidifies this new friendship by telling Elphaba all the things she's gonna do to make her "Popular!"
On her way to class the next day, Elphaba takes some of Galinda's advice and practices tossing her hair, which of course Fiyero just happens to see. Fiyero expresses disappointment in her new attitude, saying she "[doesn't] need to do all that."
During class, Dr. Dillamond informs his students of his departure from the school, stating that animals are no longer allowed to teach at Shiz. He's forcefully escorted out of the room, and the new professor shows the students a cage that's designed to keep animals under control / prevent them from speaking.
In the musical, Elphaba's anger translates into magic as she makes everyone in the room dance uncontrollably, except herself and Fiyero.
In the film, Elphaba's magic makes the poppy flowers in the room put everyone to sleep, except herself and Fiyero.
In both the film and musical, Fiyero asks how Elphaba did that, and why she did it to everyone but him. She explains she can't control it, and Fiyero says they should use this opportunity to rescue the animal trapped in the cage.
When they take the animal to the forest to release it, Elphaba and Fiyero share a brief moment of attraction / understanding. Elphaba sees clearly that he's more than the himbo he presents himself as -- he has strong beliefs. The same ones she has.
Despite this, Elphaba feels Fiyero would never choose her over Galinda ("I'm Not That Girl").
In the film at this point, he's already in a full-blown relationship with Galinda.
In the musical, there still seems to be a chance for Elphaba here, since Galinda and Fiyero have only been on one date.
In both the movie and musical, shortly after this scene, Elphaba receives an invite to meet The Wizard! Everyone in school goes to see Elphaba off on her trip to Oz.
Galinda confides in Elphaba, telling her that Fiyero has been acting different. He's been having (gasp) thoughts!
Just then, Fiyero arrives to say goodbye to Elphaba. He tells her he thinks about that fateful day in Dr. Dillamond's class a lot.
Becoming jealous of their bond, Galinda declares she's changing her name to "Glinda" in honor of Dr. Dillamond, who, as a goat, couldn't pronounce her name as "Ga-linda" and instead called her "Glinda."
Fiyero leaves immediately after this, not saying anything to "Glinda" as he goes.
In the musical, when Fiyero leaves, Glinda cries about how different and distant he is now. Seeing how upset Glinda is, Elphaba offers for her to join her in Oz.
In the film, Elphaba only offers Glinda to join her in Oz as the train is leaving. It's more of a last-minute decision, one that seems riskier because it's been established multiple times (in the film only) that the ticket to Oz is for one person and one person alone.
Galinda runs to jump onto the train and be with Elphaba, foreshadowing what's to come in act 3...
Also during this final act 2 scene:
In the musical, Boq becomes frustrated when Galinda simply refuses to acknowledge him, and he storms away from Nessa, saying he "can't do this anymore." Nessa tells Elphaba not to worry about her, and that she knows she herself is the problem, not Boq.
In the film, Boq and Nessa's relationship seems to be at an all-time high here. They appear happy, and are clearly a couple.
Now let's get into:
Analysis:
So obviously this second act covers A LOT of ground.
We've seen Galinda and Elphaba's relationship go through a complete 180, we've been introduced to a new character, the overarching plot and themes have come into play, and now we're about to see these characters head into a whole new world.
Elphaba and Galinda's Relationship
While the movie provides more space for this friendship to develop and deepen, it still doesn't quite get to a point where it's convincing enough that these characters would hate each other in the beginning of this act, and it definitely doesn't feel authentic that they became besties so quickly in the end of this act.
The musical of course has far less space to establish their relationship while so many other world and plot-building beats are being introduced. But the brevity works in the musical's favor, at first.
In the musical, we go from Galinda being rejected by Morrible AND seeing Elphaba immediately taken under her wing, straight into "What is This Feeling?", there's a direct and immediate reason why Galinda would hate Elphaba, and why Elphaba would hate Galinda.
Galinda just saw Elphaba get everything she wanted for herself without even trying. Elphaba just saw this spoiled girl make the whole thing about herself. Tensions are still high when we jump to them in their dorm. The song is more emotionally charged, and therefore more impactful.
In the film, there's a looooot of breathing room between the courtyard scene and "What is This Feeling?". A majority of which is taken up by establishing how much of the dorm Galinda has made her own, leaving only a tiny space for Elphaba.
This, in theory, would make the tension between them even higher. But in practice, this scene is played more for laughs, and Elphaba and Galinda's attitudes are calm overall. They keep their composure and don't show the anger they're feeling.
With more established time for them to cool off after the courtyard scene, and tensions being relatively low in the dorm, their hatred for each other doesn't land as well as it does in the musical.
In both the film and musical, it's unclear what it is exactly that incites Elphaba's decision to make Morrible include Galinda in the sorcery class.
This beat happens right after Nessa tells Elphaba that Boq asked her out because Galinda encouraged him to, and also after Galinda gives Elphaba the hat to wear to the dance.
Because of the timing of these beats, it's implied either one or both of these interactions is what caused Elphaba to get Galinda in on the sorcery class.
But... It's been clearly established thusfar that Elphaba is a smart person. It's kinda her whole thing, aside from, well, being green.
This core character trait makes it difficult to understand why Elphaba seems to genuinely believe Galinda has done either of these things for the right reasons.
It felt there could have been a clearer, more definitive, and undeniable moment where Elphaba sees Galinda being "good" in order to strengthen her motivations for this significant action she takes.
In the film, when Elphaba does her dance at the party, it feels like an act of defiance against Galinda. She's showing her that, even in this ugly af hat, she's still going to stand strong. This again further muddies her motivations for doing something good for Galinda.
In the musical, this is handled a bit differently -- everyone's laughing at Elphaba seemingly just because she showed up at all. It's not necessarily about her hat, like it is in the film. This makes her dancing feel less like a stance against Galinda, and more so a stance for herself.
In both the film and musical, there seems to be a lot of relationship development missing as we jump from the dance scene to "Popular" to the girls' departure for Oz. They seem so close by the end of act 2, but all the relationship-building between them has been shoved into the last 3 scenes.
As mentioned, there was obviously a lot of ground to cover, between the world-building and fleshing out the supporting characters, but because so much needed to be established, this left less time for Galinda and Elphaba's relationship to unfold in an organic, effective way.
World-Building
One of the biggest missed opportunities in the musical is its lack of emphasis on the broader world-building, particularly the plight of the animals. This thematic thread is crucial to Elphaba’s character and progression of the plot, but it feels deeply underexplored in the musical.
Even in the film, although this aspect of the story is certainly touched on more (and earlier in the story!), it still felt like we were only scratching the surface of this conspiracy to stop animals from talking.
We know it's happening, based on Dillamond's account of other animals losing their ability to speak ("Something Bad"), but we don't have any sense of WHY this would be happening and what the stakes are.
There's a brief glimpse in act 1 of the film that shows a crest of animal professors hidden beneath a crest of the Wizard, showing very quickly that people are trying to cover up the fact that animals used to be a larger part of society. But again... Why?
In both the movie and musical, it makes sense that Elphaba, who's been an outsider her whole life, feels so much empathy for the animals who are also being treated like outsiders.
But the film taps into something really interesting that really could've benefitted from being played out further.
We see Elphaba was mainly raised by a bear after her father rejected her as an infant. This gives her a powerful personal connection to the larger plot, and provides strong stakes / an even better reason for her to care so much.
With such a powerful new element to Elphaba's backstory, it felt like it would've come up again at some point when she found out what was happening to the animals in Oz. But this connection is never directly made, and Elphaba's bear mother is simply treated as part of her backstory in a couple scenes in act 1.
There's a similar missed opportunity with Fiyero. When Fiyero bumps into Elphaba in the woods, his horse is talking occasionally throughout their interaction.
This plants the seeds for Fiyero's decision later in act 2 to save the caged animal, but his talking horse is never explicitly mentioned at any point in the film. Even Elphaba doesn't say anything about it, despite being right there and hearing the horse talk.
Focusing on this a bit more would've been a great opportunity to deepen Elphaba and Fiyero's connection from the start, providing a clear reason for them to be interested in each other immediately.
And instead of it feeling a bit random that she decides to spare him from the spell she casts on the classroom, it would be clearly motivated because she's already seen that he cares about animals the same way she does.
And on that note, let's talk about:
Elphaba and Fiyero's Relationship
The relationship between Elphaba and Fiyero feels underdeveloped in both the film and musical, but the musical particularly struggles to justify its inclusion.
There's seemingly no reason for her to spare him in the classroom other than the moment in the hallway right before where he tells her he doesn't like that she's been "Galinda-fied."
While this is a nice moment that proves to Elphaba she doesn't need to change who she is in order for people to like her, it doesn't fully motivate Elphaba sparing him.
At this point, she just became besties with Galinda. Why would Elphaba risk it all by pursuing the guy Galinda's with who, until this moment, Elphaba doesn't seem to like at all?
This lack of clarity makes Elphaba much less accessible, because her actions truly make no sense / her WANT is unclear.
The film does a better job making their interest in each other feel more organic by having them meet each other for the first time alone in the woods. Their conversation is a bit longer, and their interaction more intimate than it plays out in the musical. There's a chemistry between them that's obvious in this scene.
But still... It's not enough to justify Elphaba saving only him from her spell in the classroom.
Despite the opportunity being right there in their introduction scene to make this plot point really work, the film still doesn't explicitly connect these two's shared empathy for and connection to animals.
In both the musical and film, it almost would work better if the implication is that Elphaba isn't able to control that Fiyero wasn't affected by her spell. It would make more sense if she didn't intentionally spare him, but the spell itself did, because it spared the people in the room who were brave and passionate enough to stop the injustice happening right in front of them.
Elphaba could even question herself why Fiyero wasn't affected by the spell, only to see immediately that he wants to help save the animal. This would instantly give her, and the audience, a clearer understanding for WHY she falls for him.
Elphaba's Powers
In the film, this aspect of the story is focused on far more. We see a couple quick scenes where Elphaba is being taught magic by Morrible, whereas the musical provides no moments where we see what she's learning.
This emphasis on Elphaba building up her skills makes her transformation into full-on Wicked Witch in act 3 feel much more natural than it feels in the musical.
Despite these scenes adding more to Elphaba's magic journey than the musical does, it still doesn't feel like enough. We see only a few brief moments where Elphaba tries to harness her powers, but she never is able to perform magic in a controlled way.
So by the time act 3 rolls around and she's suddenly the most powerful sorcerer ever, it feels like there's a huge gap between what her magic level has been established as and where it ends up so shortly after.
Both the film and musical would've benefitted from providing a clearer progression of her powers and her control over them growing.
Act 3 (of the film): Recap / Comparison + Analysis
Recap / Comparison:
In both the film and musical, Elphaba and Glinda enjoy all the fun Oz has to offer ("One Short Day.")
The film extends the lyrics of the song to include some backstory about the Wizard, but mainly to add space for an Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth cameo.
From here, the events in the musical and the film play out almost exactly the same way, just longer in the film.
Galinda and Elphaba meet The Wizard, who hides behind a giant mechanical mask that he uses when people approach him, because everyone expects the Wizard to be a great, powerful figure.
In the film, there's an added beat where he shows Elphaba and Galinda "the future of Oz," a miniature version of his new design for the city (which we're all familiar with from The Wizard of Oz movie). He offers the girls a chance to help him choose the color of the road leading to the city, and they of course choose yellow, creating the iconic yellow brick road.
The Wizard then tells the girls he can grant them anything their heart desires, but only after Elphaba proves herself worthy.
In the musical, this is where Morrible shows up and reveals she's the new press secretary for the Wizard.
In the film, this revelation is delayed until after the Wizard has Elphaba read from the Grimmerie (a book of spells written in a language only people with natural magical abilities can read).
The Wizard tells Elphaba he wants her to use a levitation spell on his guard monkey, who loves to watch birds fly.
Elphaba reads a spell, which makes the monkey painfully sprout wings from his back. Soon after, ALL the guard monkeys start sprouting wings, screaming in pain as the transformation occurs.
Elphaba begs the Wizard to tell her how to reverse the spell, but he says all spells cast from the Grimmirie are permanent.
Also, the Wizard doesn't seem to care about the wellbeing of his monkeys -- he only cares about Elphaba's power. This reaction makes Elphaba realize he has no real power, which is why he needed someone like her to come perform these spells for him.
She steals the Grimmerie and makes for an escape. Morrible commands Galinda to bring her back at once, then makes an announcement to all of Oz that Elphaba is a "wicked witch" who must be seized.
Galinda follows Elphaba into a storage room, which Elphaba locks them in so they can talk without the guards interrupting ("Defying Gravity").
In the film, Elphaba beckons Galinda onto a hot air balloon they can use to escape together. Galinda joins her, but the balloon pops, and they must find a new way out.
In both the film and musical, Elphaba offers Galinda to join her on a broomstick and fly out of there together.
Galinda seems convinced at first, but ultimately sends Elphaba off on her own, giving her a black cape to keep her warm on her flight. This fully solidifies Elphaba's transformation into the "Wicked Witch."
The guards break into the room, and Elphaba uses her powers to fly away before she can be captured.
In the film, she loses her grip on her broomstick, nearly falling to her death. But when she sees a reflection of herself in the skyscraper she's falling from, she imagines seeing her younger self falling. This gives her the strength to magically pull the broomstick back towards her, and she flies off above the city!
And that's the end of the movie!
Analysis:
Themes
The film puts far more emphasis on the injustice the animals in Oz are facing. We're shown firsthand how several animals in the Emerald City have lost their ability to speak, but have not lost their ability to understand and serve humans.
The scene where the monkeys sprout wings is also much longer than in the musical, and genuinely disturbing to see (especially if you really love animals. This scene was very difficult for me to watch). A bigger point is made of this moment and the effect it's having on the animals.
The film nails the themes in act 3 in a way that is never achieved at this point in the musical, making the final act of the film feel much stronger and more emotionally impactful overall than the musical.
The Wizard's Introduction
The film devotes significant amount of time to fleshing out the Wizard’s character, presenting him as a "humble" and well-meaning figure -- at first.
In the musical, we of course see the "great and powerful Oz" mask come down (literally and figuratively), but there's less focus on making the Wizard appear to be a likeable character.
It’s clear the filmmakers' intention was to make the audience warm to the Wizard early on, only for him to be revealed as the antagonist shortly after, which in theory would make his betrayal feel more personal.
But this revelation plays out a bit stronger in the musical where there's less focus on establishing the Wizard as a character.
Throughout the story, he's known only as an mysterious but important figure.
Without much emphasis on fleshing him out, he still is known to the girls and the audience as a mysterious and important figure, not as a person with a personality.
When we discover he's actually a bad guy, this lands with greater impact in the musical, as it's easier to feel the weight of an entire system of belief crumbling, as opposed to "oh, this guy who was acting nice isn't actually nice?"
While it's obvious the film was trying to go for both -- because there's SO MUCH focus on this guy's personality, this is the main thing about the revelation that stands out, and it has the reverse intended effect on what would otherwise be a very impactful moment.
Specific Beats
In the film, the end of act 2 makes such a huge point about the ticket to Oz being for only one person.
It's odd that this has no effect on the story, especially since this was added specifically for the film. It introduces a certain level of stakes that never end up being realized in act 3.
I expected to see the consequences of Elphaba bringing an uninvited guest to Oz, but no one cares Glinda is there, not even the Wizard. This makes it unclear why this detail was added to the film at all.
In the musical, Madame Morrible is more clearly established as a potentially evil character from the start.
The film provides no hints that she's secretly on the Wizard's side all along, but in the musical her character often acts in ways that show she has almost no sympathy / empathy, and is quite snippy or outright rude to most people she interacts with.
So by the end, it's no surprise she would side with the Wizard.
In the film, she seems to be a much more compassionate character. She's not necessarily depicted as kind, but she's definitely depicted as more "good" than she is in the musical.
This makes her motivations for siding with the Wizard quite vague, rendering this revelation to feel confusing rather than natural to the story.
If you made it this far, I hope you held space for the lyrics of Defying Gravity.
You KNOW I did. 😌
But seriously, thank you for reading my ridiculously long Wicked analysis.
If you saw Wicked, did you like it more or less than the musical?
If you haven't seen it, are there any movies or TV shows you want to see me analyze next?
Let me know in the comments below!
Until next time..... BYEEEEEE!
Love to see your analysis of "My cousin Vinny."
I saw the play back when it was first on Broadway and loved it. I liked the movie too and how the other characters are a bigger part of it. Excited for part 2, a whole year from now!
You should do a review of a classic Christmas movie next.
was waiting for this one 🙏 😮💨 love the write up mic!
I love when you do deep dives. Agree completely with your analysis. Put into words what I was thinking watching the movie.