Wicked Reviews – Starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande [Updated]

"Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are a blast in sugar-rush Wizard of Oz fantasy"

"Stephen Schwartz’s musical prequel has been brought to the big screen, with Erivo’s charismatic Elphaba exerting a planetary pull over a star-studded cast"

"It’s a sugar-rush fantasy with the overpowering star presence of Cynthia Erivo; it basically dunks you face-down in a hyperreal ball pit of M&Ms for two and three-quarter hours. I don’t have showtune-rapture in my DNA but this movie made a cleaner, sharper, cartoonier kind of sense to me than the stage show which I saw back in 2011."

"The Wizard is played with his usual drolly syncopated line-readings by Jeff Goldblum; Michelle Yeoh is stately school principal Madame Morrible; Jonathan Bailey uncorks an outrageous scene-stealer as the heterocamp Fiyero, a performance to put alongside Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride; and Andy Nyman is winningly melancholy as Elphaba’s dad, the governor of Munchkinland."

"Ariana Grande plays Galinda, an almost translucent figure of gauzy delicacy, appearing as if perched on top of an invisible Christmas tree and though not a natural comic like Reese Witherspoon or Alicia Silverstone, she gets the laughs like the smart player she is. But the sledgehammer punch is delivered by Erivo as the wounded, angry, alienated Elphaba. In Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond famously said that the movies once only needed faces – and Erivo’s face is the ground zero of this film’s blast of entertainment power. She is the film’s Rushmore: charismatic, haughty and vulnerable."

"Wicked: it’s a dazzling Mean Girls with broomsticks"

"Ariana Grande brings a manic perfection to Glinda in this lavish musical adaptation — but the true star is Cynthia Erivo"

"Chu’s film is a success on every level — production design, music, performance — except economy. At 160 minutes, Wicked bulges with one dazzling showstopping tune after another until song-and-dance numbers almost become their own exalted state of being — an extended libretto whose feet barely touch the ground and will bowl over even sceptics in the audience."

"Grande is excellent as Glinda, bringing a manic perfection to the dance routines, such as the one for the song Popular where she schools Elphaba in the art of the all-conquering hair flick. But the star is undoubtedly Erivo, who conveys beneath thick green make-up a lifetime of hope and hurt in her soaring, intimate soprano."

"Chu’s film pushes its own glitzy production design to the point where it becomes both entrancing and suspicious, like the opium seeds that rain from Elphaba’s poppies, lulling her classmates to sleep. So there’s genuine power and pathos in her determination to stay awake and flip the script on a much-loved movie classic. We’re not in Kansas any more, Toto."

"Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande make the magic happen"

"The stars enchant as young rival witches in Jon M Chu’s impossibly slick first instalment of his two-part adaptation of musical juggernaut Wicked"

"If, like me, you’re one of the very few people who hasn’t already seen the blockbuster stage musical Wicked (it’s the second-highest-grossing Broadway show of all time, so that’s an awful lot of bums on seats), you may approach this shiny, high-energy, relentlessly marketed movie adaptation with low to moderate expectations."

"But here’s the thing: reservations are soon extinguished and grumbles about the release strategy swiftly quashed. Wicked matches its polished razzle-dazzle with real heart. Driven by knockout performances from Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, Jon M Chu’s impossibly slick charm assault of an adaptation zips along so enjoyably that you almost wish it were longer (your bladder may disagree). With its all too timely themes of bullying, corrupt leaders and the demonisation of difference, this is a movie that promises a froth of pink and green escapism but delivers considerably more in the way of depth and darkness."

"It's a fabulous spectacle, which demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible"

"From what I remember of the original, the film cleaves to it very closely – unsurprisingly, as one of the screenwriters is Winnie Holzman, who wrote the stage version. But Chu also makes the most of all available cinematic bells and whistles. It’s a fabulous spectacle, which demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible."

"Erivo and Grande are both pitch-perfect and altogether sensational."

"There will doubtless be suggestions that it’s all a bit derivative, and certainly Hogwarts got there first as a school of sorcery; inevitably, there are numerous parallels. But it’s done with such tremendous pizazz, and the sets and costumes are so gloriously, preposterously, over the top, that I just about forgave the insanely long running-time"

"Cynthia Erivo turns a Broadway hit into cinematic gold"

"Hollywood finally delivers a worthy successor to The Wizard of Oz with this musical adaptation, starring the superb Erivo as Elphaba and a startlingly good Ariana Grande as Glinda"

"Ding dong! The curse is lifted. Hail, hail an end to decades of mangled Wizard of Oz revamps, sequels and prequels (see The Wiz, Return to Oz and Oz: The Great and Powerful) as Hollywood finally delivers a worthy successor with this Broadway musical adaptation, which arrives in two whopping instalments (the second is due in November 2025)."

"this film’s protracted production process (12 years in the making) seems a testament to careful development and, crucially, exquisite casting decisions. Chief among these is Cynthia Erivo as the green-skinned broom-riding protagonist Elphaba Thropp."

"Elphaba’s volatile chemistry with Galinda (soon to be Glinda the Good Witch of the North) energises the film."

"Chu teases the hit number in notes and musical phrases long before it’s unleashed. And when it comes, complete with super-charged aerial action sequence, Erivo’s knockout vocals seem to drive everything around her into a swooping, roaring apotheosis. Roll on next November."

"Cynthia Erivo excels and Ariana Grande steals scenes in zesty return to Oz"

"The green-faced witch gets a sympathetic origin story in a musical of endless glittering pizzazz"

"What a piece of work is Wicked. Seriously: take that as a deafened compliment. A tale of misfit empowerment set to full-throated show tunes, the sheer industrial feelgood may impress even those outside the core demographic of musical theatre fans. Frankly, you might as well enjoy it. To watch this revisionist riff on The Wizard of Oz is to stand directly under the landing path of a melodious passenger jet, then be dipped headfirst in glue and glitter. At a certain point, you can only give in to the experience."

"The treatment is witty, zesty and respectful. Yet director Jon M Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) also makes the movie a movie."

"Erivo is very good. Her performance has punch beyond the essential task of belting out the songs. Still, let’s not belittle that. Every one is big enough that even the gentlest number can end in literal fireworks. The star has the lungs and dexterity to cope. Yet scenes are stolen by colleague Ariana Grande as hyper-popular Good-Witch-in-waiting, Glinda. That the four-octave pop star crushes the tunes is no particular shock. The surprise is her knack for cracked comedy, with the deadpan air of a living mannequin."

"Sure, it’s only half the story but Jon M Chu’s stage-to-screen musical is still a thrillifying ride"

"You’d need an army of flying monkeys to find a Wicked fan with any grumbles about the results. The Crazy Rich Asians director’s screen version pops with vibrancy and energy, effervescence and sincerity, adding the odd tweak, expanding the occasional storyline, but largely visualising the musical in a way that will delight the many millions who have seen it on stage since its Broadway premiere in 2003."

"With the exception of an over-caffeinated Loathing, where boisterousness tips into freneticism, the musical numbers are memorably staged – sometimes in the spirit of the MGM original (One Short Day), occasionally with a more modern twist (The Wizard and I). The tingling silence of Elphaba and Galdina’s ballroom dance is a delicate moment in a musical that never stands still for long."

"Of course, the ‘To be continued’ inscribed on the end card will get up the nose of anyone who believes that every movie (apart from The Empire Strikes Back) should have an actual ending. Then again, when you visit a place as fun and flamboyant as this, what’s the hurry to leave?"

"The early story of Oz’s future Wicked Witch Of The West, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and her perky college roommate, Galinda (Ariana Grande). "

"Full marks for bravery, then, to director Jon M. Chu and stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who not only fill these big, ruby slippers but tap-tap gaily away in them."

"Chu uses every bell and whistle possible to turn the stage show into a movie epic."

"His best decision, however, was his casting. Cynthia Erivo is defiant as the devastatingly misunderstood Elphaba, channelling vulnerability and strength in a layered, complex role. Chu knows what he has, leaving the camera locked close on Erivo’s face and letting her do the emotional heavy lifting"

"Impressively, Ariana Grande more than holds her own against that towering performance. Her Galinda is self-centred and monstrously entitled, but she is not quite bad."

"The supporting cast are solid but less well served, with Michelle Yeoh shining brightest as a magic teacher, Jeff Goldblum doing his thing as the Wizard and Peter Dinklage breaking out his accent again as a goat professor. Jonathan Bailey’s caddish Fiyero and Ethan Slater’s lovelorn Boq mostly establish a starting point for part two of this epic (this is nearly three hours long), but Bailey, in particular, is charming."

"Will cast a spell on fanatics but its pacing needs a bit more va va broom"

"This story of self-acceptance and female empowerment is visually ravishing but with part one an hour longer than The Wizard of Oz even the superfans may wish they’d get a move on"

"Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s stage musical filling in the backstory of the witches in the Wizard of Oz inspires devotion bordering on derangement in its fans. Jon M. Chu’s lavish cinematic adaptation won’t disappoint them. It’s a visually ravishing, emotionally freighted vehicle for the prodigious vocal and considerable acting talents of Cynthia Erivo as the shunned, green-skinned Elphaba and Ariana Grande as the vacuously beautiful Galinda/Glinda (for those who haven’t seen it she changes her name halfway through)."

"Once we’re there, Jeff Goldblum seems to put less energy into his supporting role as the Wizard than was expended in writing his paycheque (there are also cameos by Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, Broadway’s original witchy pair, as an Easter egg for the nerds)."

"In some ways Chu’s version mitigates the irksome, eyes-aloft, this-is-my-moment self-consciousness of the big numbers in the stage show."

"This 'drawn-out' and 'self-important' film proves the musical didn't need to be split into two part"

"There are decent performances from Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande – but this flat opening instalment of The Wizard of Oz prequel may not convert those who aren't already super-fans."

"Whatever the film-makers' reasons, you can't help resenting their arrogance. The implication is that their narrative is so profound that it demands a full five hours of screentime. And Wicked won't convince everyone that that's the case."

"If you're already a fan of the musical, you'll probably be happy with the painstaking job that director John M Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) has done in transferring it to the silver screen."

"If you're not already a devotee of the musical, though, you may not be converted. The film ends with a song called Defying Gravity, so it's only fair to say that that's precisely what Wicked doesn't manage to achieve. It doesn't take flight. It doesn't have the terrific jokes, the startling twists or the stunning dance routines that might have cast a spell on you, and it's weighed down by under-developed subplots and under-used supporting characters (who presumably have their moment in Part Two), as well as by its own sense of self-importance."

"The Wicked movie is fun and well acted – but why does it look so terrible?"

"Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande showcase phenomenal vocal ability in this adaptation of the blockbuster musical, but they’re let down by a film that is aggressively overlit and shot like a TV advert"

"Characters are aggressively backlit, so that the audience can feel what it’s like to watch events unfold while also staring directly into the sun. There are ferocious performances here, and it’s clear that hours upon hours of intricate craftwork have taken place on the film’s sets, but director Jon M Chu (of In the Heights and Crazy Rich Asians fame) treats his Oz as if it were as mundane as a city block. And if there were ever a film that demanded Hollywood finally put to rest its obsession with flat, stark realism and return to colourful expressionism, it would surely be Wicked. In theory, it’s pure spectacle – its emotional resonance powered almost entirely by the lungs of lead Cynthia Erivo, as she nails those notorious high notes on “Defying Gravity”."

"Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande are fantastic as witchy BFFs"

"As one might say in Oz, “Wicked” is thrillifying in its melodiousness even if overlongical and ponderrific."

"Even with a few missteps, it’s easy to get swept up in director Jon M. Chu’s colorful spectacle (★★★ out of four; rated PG; in theaters Friday), adapted from the popular Broadway musical (based on the Gregory Maguire book) and a revelatory prequel to “The Wizard of Oz.” The song-filled character study of the Wicked Witch of the West’s early years ekes out great performances from Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande that’ll wow musical theater kids and old-school “Oz” fans alike. And while it hasn’t been marketed as such, this “Wicked” is the first of a two-part epic that – unlike, say, “Dune” – at least pulls off a truly soaring closing cliffhanger."

"Cannily cast"

"Giddy, garish and spectacular version of the hit musical, with terrific lead performances from Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande"

"Director Jon M Chu (In the Heights, Crazy Rich Asians) conjures up a blast of inglorious Technicolor, a giddy, garish film that goes big on spectacle and remains faithful to its source material – although that fidelity is its biggest problem, too. The inheritance is overwhelming, layers on layers of things to do justice to, people to please. It nods constantly to The Wizard of Oz, as well as to Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s stage musical, which itself was making constant nods to The Wizard of Oz, creating something that’s so busy nodding that it often forgets to do anything else."

"Yet within those confines, Cynthia Erivo as misunderstood green witch Elphaba and Ariana Grande as best frenemy Galinda still manage to deliver a couple of really strong leading performances."

"Utterly exhausting and hopelessly miscast"

"Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo don’t come close to defying gravity in this bloated, beige screen adaptation of the Wizard of Oz prequel"

"Considering its signature number is called Defying Gravity, it’s unfortunate that Wicked has all the buoyancy of a grand piano being heaved off the roof of St Paul’s Cathedral."

"No, this smacks of bloat for bloat’s sake, reminiscent of Peter Jackson’s mindlessly overextended Hobbit trilogy, full of scenes in which almost nothing happens with maximum fuss. Amazingly, after an hour, the film is still working through the songs which introduce the main characters, by which point I was idly hoping some dwarves might appear to wash some dishes and liven things up."

"Cynthia Erivo, as the green-skinned future Oz villainess Elphaba, certainly has the pipes required, but she plays the character with a wet-eyed severity that lends a grim medicinal quality to the film’s more emotional passages. Then there’s Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good, Elphaba’s sugar-and-spice counterpart: again, the voice fits, and she gamely throws herself at the vain hair-tosses and other recurring bits of comic business. But she also lacks the manic stage-school brittleness the role demands, and the sense you’re primarily watching a pop star having fun while broadening her CV never dissipates."

"Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande Make a Strong Case for Hiring Legit Musical Theater Talents in Captivating Screen Adaptation"

"Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum also star in Jon M. Chu's 'Wizard of Oz'-inspired fantasy, based on the $1.7 billion Broadway blockbuster."

"Producers have been in no rush to bring the goldmine property to the screen, and their patience now pays off handsomely in Jon M. Chu’s eye-popping movie version, which enriches the source material while saluting the Golden Age of Technicolor MGM musicals, chief among them The Wizard of Oz."

"If you found Wicked on stage too girly or frothy for your taste, or too emphatic in its messaging about otherness being a convenient target for rising fascism, you will likely feel the same about the movie."

"Chu might not be Vincente Minnelli, his busy production numbers occasionally threatening to spin into chaos, but he nails what matters most. That would be the shifting affections between two young witches."

"Grande and Erivo give Stephen Schwartz’s songs — comedy numbers, introspective ballads, power anthems — effortless spontaneity."

"Holzman and Fox’s screenplay mines plenty of humor from Ozian linguistic peculiarities (“hideousity,” “scandalicious,” “moodified,” etc.) and especially from Glinda’s conceited condescension. Grande, lovely in her biggest movie role to date, enacts that quality with a liberal sprinkling of sugar and appealing comedy instincts. Her dizzy rendition of “Popular” while attempting to give Elphaba a makeover is a delight. But the script also heightens dramatic themes of injustice, persecution and the concept of evil as a useful scapegoating tool."

"Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande Make Movie Magic in a Mostly Great Musical"

"The first half of Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the Broadway hit defies the odds – and, yes, gravity"

"Fans of the Broadway musical are likely to be enchanted by this epic production. People who are only vaguely aware of it, but have probably at least heard “Defying Gravity” unless they’ve been living in seclusion for two decades, may also find it familiar … and not necessarily in a good way."

"The complexity of the character dynamics in “Wicked,” matched by Erivo’s deeply committed performance and Grande’s superb physical comedy, do a fine job of keeping Chu’s film rooted in reality. The rest of the movie looks quite fake, adopting a production design philosophy that emphasizes the theatricality of Oz, which may be fanciful but isn’t immersive or particularly convincing."

"Still, it’s hard to shake the feeling that despite the film’s giant budget, it often looks like it was filmed at a local amusement park, with CGI that ranges from effective to … let’s just be kind and say “not.”"

"Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande Give Iconic Turns in the Year’s Must-See Musical"

"Split into two halves — but satisfying enough to stand alone — the fabulous big-screen version of Broadway’s what-makes-a-villain spin on 'The Wizard of Oz' feels more relevant than ever."

"Instead of feeling bloated, “Wicked” has found its ideal form, where every frame comes crammed with the kind of detail that could easily have been distracting, had a lesser talent than Cynthia Erivo been asked to carry it. As the enchantress with the verdigris complexion, Erivo can hit the notes no problem, but it’s the work she does in close-up, conveying the emotional nuances of Elphaba’s formative years, that distinguishes this performance from Menzel’s. The latter won a Tony for playing it big, whereas Erivo’s subtler approach invites audiences under the character’s (green-tinted) skin."

"Meanwhile, getting what her heart most desires, Ariana Grande steps into the Glinda role originated by Kristin Chenoweth, proving a talented mimic of the Broadway star’s singing style but a slightly stiffer presence on-screen."

"Unlike several recent tuners, which tried to hide their musical dimension from audiences, “Wicked” embraces its identity the way Elphaba does her emerald skin. Turns out such confidence makes all the difference in how they’re perceived."

"Wicked Soars, Roars, and Casts a Heady Spell"

"A long awaited film adaptation of the Broadway musical more than delivers."

"All parts seem aligned for Wicked to be a success. Maybe. Most important to the film’s prospects is that Wicked is, well, good. Chu has a natural flair for the shape and movement of musicals, knowing just when to slow for a poignant moment and when to go whooshing through a montage of change, to send his camera spinning around a stage full of sprightly dancers."

"Also of crucial importance: the Wicked movie (part 1, anyway) does justice to the spirit of the stage musical, balancing its silliness with its pathos, its magical flights of fancy with its more grounded entreaties about tolerance and decency."

"Much of that technical wobbliness is offset by the work of the film’s two leads. Erivo and Grande give lively, soulful performances in their dialogue scenes—the Ozdust Ballroom sequence is especially effective, a scene of communion and apology that resonates with surprising timbre. And they are in fine voice in each of this first act’s iconic songs."

"We’re Off to See the Witches"

"Cynthia Erivo is the strongest draw in this splashy, overly long movie, which is the first installment in a two-part adaptation of the Broadway show."

"The director Jon M. Chu opens “Wicked” big and only goes bigger, at times to a fault. His credits include “Crazy Rich Asians” and the musical “In the Heights,” but “Wicked” is a horse of another color and it’s filled with huge sets, some dozen musical numbers and many moving parts that generations of fans know intimately. From the start, Chu gives “Wicked” an accelerated pace, amping it with restless, swooping camerawork and overloading it with a surfeit of everything, with ceaselessly moving bodies and eye-popping props. There’s much to ooh and ahh over, be it Elphaba’s eyeglasses with their seashell spiral or her beautiful Issey Miyake-style pleats, but Chu’s revved-up maximalism doesn’t leave much room to savor it."

"A nerve-testing variation on the dumb blonde cliché, Glinda doesn’t make it easy. Grande throws herself into the role, wringing comedy from Glinda’s vacuity and self-regard, but Glinda doesn’t have the wit or enough sharp lines to upend the stereotype"

"Despite its bumps, the movie is consistently amusing simply because it is “The Wizard of Oz” and it’s fun watching colorful, off-kilter characters singing, dancing and sometimes flying through the air (without a superhero suit)."

"Erivo and Grande work nicely together from the get-go, their chemistry only becoming more persuasive as the comedy gives way to heavier themes"

"Even a Magical Cynthia Erivo Can’t Cast a Spell Strong Enough to Save Wicked"

"... if you fail to feel the transformative magic of Chu’s Wicked, there are some good reasons: The movie is so aggressively colorful, so manic in its insistence that it’s OK to be different, that it practically mows you down. And this is only part one of the saga—the second installment arrives in November 2025. Wicked pulls off a distinctive but dismal magic trick: it turns other people’s cherished Broadway memories into a protracted form of punishment for the rest of us."

"There are so many characters, so many plot points, so many metaphors in Wicked—they're like a traffic pileup of flying monkeys."

"And yet—there’s Erivo. She’s the one force in Wicked that didn’t make me feel ground down to a nub. As Elphaba, she channels something like real pain rather than just showtune self-pity. You feel for her in her greenness, in her persistent state of being an outsider, in her frustration at being underestimated and unloved. Erivo nearly rises above the material, and not just on a broomstick. But not even she is strong enough to counteract the cyclone of Entertainment with a capital E swirling around her."