TV show or Movie: Movie
Where to watch: In theaters
Genre: Comedy, drama, musical
What It Reminds Me Of: The Wizard of Oz (Because it’s a prequel!)
Writer: Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire.
Director: John M. Chu
Premise: Elphaba, a misunderstood young woman because of her green skin, and Glinda, a popular girl, become friends at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. After an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads.
My Premise: A group of quiet high schools girls learn to stand out.
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande-Butera, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum.
Review: Here is the review that I texted to a few family members:
“I really liked it! I fell asleep during parts because I can’t stay awake during in theaters movies anymore. I thought Ariana was fantastic and this was the role she was born to play. I thought it was the most Jeff Goldblum role that Jeff Goldblum has ever played. I really liked the music and the scenery. It was very funny. It really makes you think about The Wizard of Oz which I know is the point of this and the origin story. I don’t think I’ll be rooting for Dorthy next time I watch it.”
In longer terms: I am not a big fan of musicals or musical movies, but, man, I loved this musical movie. I will admit that I feel asleep, briefly, in parts of the movie. But that is not due to the content of the film. That is do to me not sleeping enough at home and movie theaters being way too dark and way too comfortable these days.
Anyway, the music in this movie was so catchy. “The Wizard and I,” “Popular,” and obviously “Defying Gravity. The
The movie is pretty long at two and a half hours. Which might not seem long, except there is a part two coming out next year. But the way this one ended was a perfect ending sure to set up the next one to really be even more powerful.
Ariana Grande is perfect for this role. She has shined as an actress in things like Don’t Look Up and on SNL and was really great in this.
It’s super impressive that the people sang live for this movie. The set design and CGI are both impressive. The Set Designer actually planted 9 million tulips for the movie! Nathan Crowley, who did this movie, also did the set design for Interstellar and all of the crops you see in that movie are real.