Wicked: Part One became the highest-grossing Broadway musical film, breaking records for the genre in November 2024.

I saw it on opening day, expecting to leave the theater wanting to watch the film again, but that wasn’t the case. Wicked:Part One did not reach my expectations in the slightest, and I was very disappointed. The acting and casting were not right, and the singing did not reach its full potential.

Yes, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo might have the whimsy to be Glinda and Elphaba, but their performances made me wonder what other actors who auditioned for these roles, like Dove Cameron and Samantha Barks, would have brought to the film.

The story was so different, and I understand they had to change the story a bit from the original Broadway show, but they could have done so in a better way. It was confusing how the movie was formatted. Some important pieces were taken out or reformed, and it changed the story.

I did, however, like that they added more information to further explain what the characters were feeling and I found myself singing along to the songs in my theater seat.

Then a year later, the second part of the story came out. I again went to see Wicked: For Good on opening day. Right away, I realized this movie was much better than the first, but not great.

The movie was so long, which is normally fine, but in this case it bored me. I may be biased because I sang one of the songs from the musical for a concert, but I did not like that they completely changed most of it, adding riffs and other unnecessary things. I couldn’t really sing along, and that kind of annoyed me.

I liked Wicked: For Good better for the story, but not for the music. The acting was much better because they were more experienced, or maybe because they figured out how they wanted to play their roles. I felt that the characters were more in-depth because of the fully developed back story.

The director did a good job of not hinting at what was coming next, thus keeping suspense in the story.

There were some really weird details in the movie, like Nessarose flying instead of walking, and everyone hating Glinda out of nowhere.
I may have forgotten something from the first movie, but I feel like everyone (except Elphaba) were still friends, but in this movie, that changed.

I did not enjoy watching this movie, but that was expected, considering my reaction to the first movie.