Wicked Part 1

Wicked Part 1

Posted on November 21, 2024 at 12:35 pm

B +
Lowest Recommended Age: Middle School
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for some scary action, brief suggestive material, and thematic material
Profanity: None
Alcohol/ Drugs: None
Violence/ Scariness: Fantasy peril and violence
Diversity Issues: A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters: November 22, 2024

I feel confident that “Wicked,” this movie musical set in Oz is going to be POP-ular. It is, of course, adapted from the long-running, award-winning Broadway play, which was adapted from the book by Gregory Maguire, which was itself inspired by The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and the family classic MGM movie it inspired, starring Judy Garland, plus the funkified The Wiz, another musical play and movie. But this is not just some IP brand extension; it is as much an exploration of the nature of good and evil as it is a backstory about some of the world’s most iconic characters. It is also a lot–part one is nearly three hours long, with every minute a cornucopia of visuals, music, dancing, and ideas. Some will be overwhelmed, but many will find it dazzling and worth many repeat viewings.

Copyright 2024 Universal

The movie begins with the report that the Wicked Witch of the West has melted due to “a bucket of water thrown by a child.” Glinda the Good Witch arrives via bubble in Munchkin Country to confirm the news. This parallels Judy Garland’s arrival in the MGM film, her tornado-tossed house landing on the Wicked Witch of the East, and then Glinda arrives by bubble to ask Dorothy if she is a good witch or a bad witch. We will glimpse a few other references to the classic film, including a cute animal peeking out of a basket on the back of a bicycle, a shot of the four classic characters, plus Toto, walking through the poppy fields, and the first stop in the Emerald City a makeover musical number in a fantasy beauty salon. We also see the origins of some familiar elements, including the witch’s broom and Glinda’s name. As in the Baum book, the magical slippers are silver, not ruby.

One of the Munchkins asks a questions humans have been pondering since pondering began: Are people born wicked or do they become wicked, and if so, why? That is the theme of this version of the story.

Ariana Grande, appearing under the name on her birth certificate, Ariana Grande-Butera, plays Galinda (yes, that’s her name), a pampered princess who arrives at Oz’s most prestigious institute of higher learning, Shiz University. Think Hogwarts, because though the students are adults, it feels more like a boarding school. It is set in a fabulous compound that feels like a dream project (in both senses of the word) for brilliant production designer Nathan Crowley that is part Victorian, part Edmund Dulac fairy tale, with curves and curlicues everywhere inspired by Art Nouveau, and a sprinkle here and there of steampunk.

Also arriving are two sisters, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), with bright green skin, and her sister, Nessarose (played by Marissa Bode, who, like her character, does not have green skin and uses a wheelchair. Galinda is so confident she expects everyone to adore her and is so careless about mistakes that she often uses malapropisms that sort of sound like real words but are not. Elphaba is tentative and shy, but has internal strength of character and a sense of responsibility. She was the result of her late mother’s affair. The only father she has ever known, her mother’s husband, barely acknowledges her, except to order her to take care of Nessarose.

Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) immediately recognizes that Elphaba is gifted with extraordinary magical powers and takes her on for special tutoring. She also decides that the two young women should share a room. At first they dislike and mostly ignore one another, and Galinda pranks Elphaba by giving her an ugly hat to wear to a party. But when the other students laugh at Elphaba, who responds defiantly by dancing by herself, Galinda experiences her first spark of genuine empathy. Instead of claiming to be kind, she shows real kindness by joining Elphaba on the dance floor, and her unquestioned role as the arbiter of status soon has the rest of the crowd joining them in the dance.

Also at the party are Nessarose with Boq (Ethan Slater), who has a crush on Galinda but invited Nessarose because Galinda told him to, and the extremely handsome and charming Prince Fiyero (“Bridgerton’s” Jonathan Bailey). He was a late arrival at Shiz, after being kick out of other schools. At first he seems to be a perfect match for Galinda (she certainly thinks so). They are both gorgeous but superficial and incurious. Then, in the movie’s most significant scene, Fiyero is the only one who helps Elphaba rescue a caged lion cub, and she is the only one who realizes that his constant pursuit of pleasure is not making him happy.

Jonathan Bailey as Flyero Copyright 2024 Universal

Director Jon M. Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians,”) brings a lot of energy to the movie. Though he does not have the luxury of his “Step Up” and “In the Heights” acting leads’ extensive dance training and skill, the musical numbers, especially the big dance numbers, are creatively and dynamically staged. I especially liked “One Short Day,” as Glinda (she’s changed her name by then) and Elphaba first arrive in the Emerald City. Keep an eye out for the original Broadway Glinda and Elphaba, Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, in a stage show about Oz history, or rather the Wizard’s preferred version of it.

Bailey has a sinuous charm that conveys Fiyero’s charisma but hints at his feeling lost and struggling with aimlessness beneath the surface. Goldblum’s quirky energy is just right as the Wizard who began as a carny from the midwest. Erivo is the heart of the film, always magnetic and compelling as Elphaba. The bright green makeup does not mask the extraordinary expressiveness of her face, always thoughtful, present, authentic, and grounded, despite the distracting details of the ultra-fantasy world around her. And like Grande, she has a once-to-a generation voice.

The splendor and imagination of the setting and costumes and even the huge musical numbers surround and mostly support real and meaningful questions about bad people doing good things, good people doing bad things, and everyone struggling to find a place somewhere on the continuum between being good and being wicked. Galinda (we learn how she became Glinda) is considered good because she is pretty and smiles a lot. But she is arrogant and selfish. Elphaba is considered if not bad at least weird because she does not smile or conform (note that neither wears the school uniform) but she is devoted to her sister. She is looking for the love she has never received but has no interest in changing anything about herself to try to get it. She knows that would not be real. Other characters surprise us by not being what we expect on the good/wicked scale.

This is a sumptuous and unsubtle treat grounded in Erivo’s graceful and subtle performance. When she defies gravity, she lifts us with her, and we lean forward to the next chapter.

Parents should know that like the MGM movie version, this story features fantasy action and peril with some scary and disturbing images, along with issues of bigotry and cruel treatment. A child is the result of an affair, causing grief and shame.

Family discussion: Why did Elphaba tell Flyero he was not happy? Why did the Wizard want to cage the animals? Are these characters good or wicked or both: Elphaba, Galinda, Madame Morrible? Are any of the characters like someone you know?

If you like this, try: the original Wizard of Oz book and its sequels (great for reading aloud) and the many other versions of the story

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Based on a book Based on a play Critics Choice Seal of Distinction DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week Fantasy Movies -- format Movies -- Reviews Musical Talking animals
Independence Day: Resurgence

Independence Day: Resurgence

Posted on June 24, 2016 at 12:33 pm

Copyright 20th Century Fox 2016
Copyright 20th Century Fox 2016

Twenty years ago, Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith flew into an alien mothership and uploaded a computer virus in a movie that is still one of the definitive summer blockbusters, Independence Day. Two decades later, moviemaking technology has made a lot of progress, and it has some striking visuals, but it is missing a lot of the brio of the first, especially Will Smith. This is one of those movies with a story that involves billions of people around the world but pretty much the same six people keep running into each other and their relationship issues are as important as the impending attack that in military terms is deemed “extinction level.”

The alien attack of 1996 did something humans were not able to accomplish on their own after thousands of years. It united the world, which came together to adapt the alien technology and develop a comprehensive monitoring and defense system, including space stations and an outpost on the moon. The US President (Sela Ward) coordinates with other world leaders in what seems to be an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity, if operating under the constant pressure of recovering from unprecedented losses and the fear of another invasion.

In the first film, a nerdy scientist named Dr. Okun (Brent Spiner) who had been hidden away in Area 51 was used as something like a ventriloquist’s dummy by an alien and has been in a coma ever since, tenderly care for by his partner. All of a sudden, his eyes fly open and he is awake. There are other indications around the world that dormant capacities for communication are being triggered by what could be another approaching invasion. That includes the former President (Bill Pullman, with beard, cane, and PTSD) who not only inspired the world with a great speech but personally flew a fighter plane to attack the alien ship.

David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), who in the last film was a cable company computer technician who was the first to identify the anomalies that indicated an alien interference, visits Africa to speak to a warlord whose people engaged in hand-to-tentacle combat with aliens. The ex-wife played by Margaret Colin in the last film has vanished from the storyline, without even the half-sentence explanation that lets us know what happened to Will Smith’s character. Instead, we meet a scientist played by Charlotte Gainsbourg who says she has identified some symbols, especially a circle with a horizontal line through it, that people who have had some alien contact feel impelled to draw or paint. And the aliens who have been locked up in Area 51 for 20 years are suddenly awake and screaming…or celebrating. Yes, they are back and they are big. One thing the movie does well is show us the scale and scope of this new invasion.

But what it does not do well is connect us to the characters. There are utterly pointless and unconvincing subplots about a past between Goldblum and Gainsbourg, who have no chemistry whatsoever, but still find more sizzle than the subplot about the hopelessly bland trio of the three fighter pilots, the daughter of the former President, the son of the Will Smith character from the last movie, and Liam Hemsworth, trying to be all “Top Gun”-adorably dashing but more “Starship Troopers.” The actors do their best, but they are stuck with clunky sci-fi cliche dialog. The first film had some clever references to classics like “2001,” but this one just borrows shamelessly from other, better films. The aliens may be bigger and better in this return, but the script is not.

Parents should know that this film has extended sci-fi peril and violence with some disturbing images and characters who are injured and killed, including vast destruction and genocide. Characters use some strong language and there is brief potty humor.

Family discussion: What should the President have considered in deciding about the orb? What would you want to ask it?

If you like this, try: the original “Independence Day” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”

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3D Action/Adventure Science-Fiction Series/Sequel

Mortdecai

Posted on January 23, 2015 at 9:36 am

Copyright Lionsgate 2015
Copyright Lionsgate 2015

There’s a lot of noise in “Mortdecai” but what I remember most is the silences where everything pauses for a moment to allow the audience to laugh without drowning out the next witty riposte. Nope, just crickets, as there was no laughter, just grim resolve on the part of those of us professionally obligated to stick it out through the bitter end.

“Mortdecai” is based on series of 1970’s comic novels by Kyril Bonfignioli about an art dealer with connections to the upper class and the criminal underground, which provide him with many opportunities for mischief. I’m sure they are all high-spirited and merry and racy and fun, but by the evidence of this film they are also dated, overly precious, and not susceptible to translation into film. Perhaps it was possible decades ago and in print rather than on screen to find it funny when someone is repeatedly shot and injured, often accidentally by his employer, or when someone else is shot and killed. But not now and not like this.

Maybe gag reflexes brought on by Mortdecai’s mustache and widespread barfing brought on by tampering with a sumptuous buffet can be funny when left to the imagination. Not likely, but clever writing might just make it possible as our imaginations are very good at filtering descriptions according to our comfort levels. It’s another thing entirely when it is unavoidably seen and heard. Cue the crickets.

Over the past few years, with the exception of a brief appearance in “Into the Woods” Johnny Depp has made one catastrophically bad movie after another. As proof of the adage that no good deed goes unpunished, the success of his offbeat, fey Captain Jack Sparrow, initially objected to by the studio execs who were very unhappy with the early footage, has given Depp license to go way over the top with quirks and twitches in films like “The Lone Ranger” and “Tusk.” As I noted in my review, in “Transcendence” his performance was so robotic when he was playing a human that it hardly made a difference when he turned into a computer. Here, as the title character, a caricature of a pukka sahib colonial twit/Brit, embodies the fatal combination of profound unpleasantness with the expectation of being seen as irresistibly adorable not just by the other characters but by the audience.

Paul Bettany provides the film’s only bright moments as Jock Strapp, Mordecai’s Swiss army knife of a sidekick, as adept at ironing his lordship’s handkerchiefs as he is at hand-to-hand combat, getaway car driving, anticipating that Lady Mortdecai (Gwyneth Paltrow, looking like the cover of Town and Country in very fetching riding gear) will want the guest room made up for her husband as soon as she sees his new mustache, and bedding many, many, many ladies. Ewan McGregor does his valiant best but is wasted as the Oxbridge-educated MI5 official (and former classmate of Mortdecai, with a crush on Lady M). Director David Koepp, whose “Premium Rush” was a nifty little thriller with unexpected freshness and wit, has stumbled here with a film that is badly conceived in every way, like its title character imagining itself as clever and endearing when in reality it is dull and repellent.

Parents should know that this movie includes strong and crude language, drinking and comic drunkenness, sexual references and situations, some crude, bodily function humor, comic peril and violence including guns, with characters injured and killed.

Family discussion: What was the best way to resolve the issue of the mustache? Who should have the Goya painting?

If you like this, try: The Mortdecai Trilogy and the Austin Powers films

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Based on a book Comedy Crime Satire

Contest: Adventures in Zambezia!

Posted on April 16, 2013 at 3:59 pm

Adventures in Zambezia is a colorful new animated film from South Africa and I have one copy plus an activity book to give away.  It is the story of a falcon who leaves home in search of adventure and learns that no matter where you go, what matters is community.  The voice talents include Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum, Abigail Breslin, Jenifer Lewis, Samuel L. Jackson, and Richard E. Grant.

Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “Zambezia” in the subject line and tell me your favorite bird in the movies.  Don’t forget your address!  (US addresses only.)  I’ll pick a winner at random on April 22.  Good luck!

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