i have been sitting here for the past couple hours to think of a positive thing to say about this movie

i think i felt every second of those two hours, forty minutes and ten seconds tick by

LMAO that says it all doesn't it

like. the sound editing was almost impressive with how bad it was but honestly upright insulting

lol it feels like you've been avoiding it

i just had this vibe. there are plenty of times where i am wrong!! i wish this was it

neither of the actors lifted a brow idk if they knew how to emote. vocals were nothing to write home about. galinda was bodychecking the entire time she was on screen. it was just. so bad

i do just want to yell at a wall about these negative opinions so. well. i guess that's what this plurk is for

if anyone enjoyed the movie! honestly?? fantastic. that's great you were able to. just aaah maybe look away because i don't want to make you feel like shit because i am an asshole. and i my criticism is for sure subjective

so. yeah. remember to like this video and hit that subscribe button

i will be making comparisons to the broadway stage version unless otherwise noted. the book and musical are rather divorced from another but i will for sure mention that too. and there are non replica stage productions so!!

I couldn't find the subscribe button but I made sure to like! I'll be sure to join and give a donation tho!!!

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but seriously so cute aaah

and i do want to make note. that. uh. the stage show definitely is a flawed product. i had lowkey hoped that the movie would "fix" some of the issues of the stage version especially when they were flexing about taking inspiration from the book. which is also a real flawed product. like. holy shit. so there is also that

What??!? You're adorable Emily!!!!

immediately after the universal logo, i felt things were kind of in trouble. the screen is black with the dialogue glinda! exactly how dead is she?

i initially wanted to perceive this as a change to the overall manner the show was going to be imagined. i was right and i was wrong. which leads me to be reminded that the guy who directed this also directed that jem and the holograms movie. who decided to trust him with this??

anyway, the first lines in the stage version are good news! she's dead!

immediately the focus is on elphaba thropp, who is the lead. the green of the logo and the source material is basis for that. she is the main character. versus the film version that puts the focus on glinda

mm, don't like that

sisterling i am sorry i found this film to be true suffering

I appreciate that you suffered through it to bring us your point of view because I've been wary of the movie since it came out and haven't seen it

but like, was still curious how it compared to stage and book

i gotchu. i think i'll be meandering but. yeah curiosity killed the cat

there is a zoom in on the witch's hat in a puddle of water. i almost thought that is kind of a lowkey nod to the original big hat prop in early stagings of the broadway show. but it's quite obvious as the film goes on that the director cares about visuals more than anything else. especially with what follows

what we see are these large fields of tulips. like. a crazy amount of tulips. and. i want to say vibrant colors?? but i can't quite say that because. well. this movie feels washed out. like. the lighting isn't good. so it makes stuff look dull

this opening in munchkin country could be modeling its appearance after the one in the 1939 the wizard of oz film

which. reminds me. i don't care what gregory maguire says. he sure as hell did not use the 1900 book the wonderful wizard of oz as his original basis for wicked. the wicked witch in the wonderful wizard of oz isn't green

ANYWAY. getting off topic. in the original show, we have the people of munchkin country also celebrating the death of the wicked witch. but the vibes are different. there is this dark lighting and the performers are in reddish brown clothes

basically it conveys them as sort of like... a mob?

so they're celebrating but there's an element of some true lightheartedness. which. well. makes sense. they supposedly weren't having a good time. but this is to set the stage for the story of a person who had wickedness thrust upon them. eventually we will learn that this person wasn't the devil

and then comes in glinda

i will be honest: if you have a history with ED. this movie is not for you. because glinda is sincerely difficult to watch. grande is bodychecking every second she is present on screen. shoulders back, chest out, jaw clenched. lifeless eyes and stilted line delivery aside, i have no clue how this performance was given the ok

of course, the dress she is wearing is inspired by the 1939 the wizard of oz. it was intentionally drawn upon for how iconic it is, according to the lead costume designer

and no hate. there have been plenty of non replica stagings of this show with a pink bubble dress

but even with this choice made in other shows. it's quite apparent what they were going for in this film. which i will elaborate on in a moment because i am still trying to get through the first song and i'm just mindlessly rambling

the song pretty much otherwise goes beat for beat of the original despite having moved those dialogue parts to before the song. except the midwife... well. there is an Animal in this opening that helps deliver the baby. in the movie, it's a female bear who ends up being elphaba's nanny

but this doesn't have any correlation to her munchkinlander in the book. i think this was just done to give elphaba a connection to Animals. even though her connection is that she gets treated unfairly and that alone is enough. plus this nanny doesn't contribute anything. it's just a difference worth noting that was seriously unnecessary

and i think they kind of goofed up. i feel they should have had the wicked title screen as the opening number did that. they did not do that. they do it after a new scene that shows younger elphaba telepathically throwing rocks at children after they are dicks to her

the way the marketing was going on about exploring her childhood or whatever? that is literally it. like. it's nothing like the book. in that regard. so. ok i guess

i guess i should make mention. no one mourns the wicked is the first musical number in wicked. it basically covers the origin story of elphaba thropp, who's a product of an affair, as her death is celebrated by a country. sorry for summarizing and not giving context

someone asks glinda if she was friends with the wicked witch of the west. and she confirms. ish. which is our segue into a flashback. and a signal of a continuing problem

what comes before the opening title?? that's right! we see glinda!

it does make sense since glinda is telling the story. but. this framing does give a signal that glinda is the main character. like. even in the logo for the marketing of the film, wicked isn't in all green. it's in pink and green. pink comes first

i am a professional glinda apologist. but. this isn't right

in the broadway version, as glinda hesitates with elaborating, the ensemble of munchkinlanders switch out for shiz university students. and elphaba thropp takes center stage, glinda of the present gesturing to her and hurrying away as she gets ready for her next number

elphaba is literally taking center stage. well. center downstage. she's the focus, basically, even with glinda telling the story

this transition in the story leads into the next musical number, dear old shiz. and it's where we see elphaba sort of spooking the other students as they arrive to start the term

but in the movie, dear old shiz gets put a bit on hold. we instead see glinda, or rather galinda, disembarking and saying goodbye to her momsy and popsicle. and she makes acquaintances with boq, a munchkinlander, who immediately becomes smitten with her

i think with how long this film is. i kind of forget boq. he only seems to be in the stage version more literally because of runtime. they don't introduce anything new with this character nor is he incorporated more into the story compared to his stage counterpart

it's after this we get to dear old shiz. and the arrival of a new character. which they decide to keep concealed. and it's just. ok. obviously we know who this is supposed to be

and this introduces a new problem

we are introduced to a fairly stoic and unbothered elphaba thropp. her glasses are cool. her dress is cool. she's basically everything that stage version of elphaba is not

stage elphaba is an excited student who is self-conscious with her small wired frames, knitted cap and box shaped silhouette

ok i will sleep for now but i will return to this

ok rewind. this whole time i have been referring to munchkinland country as the setting of the opening number. this is true for the film version but not the stage. given that kamiko ko castle is in the winkie country and that's where she hung out, i would assume that would be where they're celebrating at the start of the stage version

but the stage version of wicked doesn't exactly have her in a position of power and they don't really go into why she is wicked. but the theme here is basically fake news is everything

ANYWAY. elphaba isn't presented as someone who is troubled by her circumstances. and idk if that was a choice by the director or the actor. but. the zero enthusiasm in either direction didn't inspire any sense of hope when i was watching. it is seriously like elphie here is too cool. and, heck, she isn't even here to go to school!

she is merely accompanying her father to drop off her sister. nessarose thropp is a character that is underutilized in the stage production. thanks to preventative measures to assure the second daughter wouldn't turn out green, nessa is unable to walk and the mother passed away during labor

their father, of course, favors nessa and gives her a pair of silver slippers as a token of his affection

so that follows the stage version sans elphaba not being enrolled in shiz. and i don't know what is the point in that little change. it adds nothing. and the father urges elphaba to stay with nessa although both seem to be opposed to the idea

nessa basically wants to be the main character and have a fresh start without associations to her older sister. real pleasant girl. which is sarcasm as nessarosa isn't. but the actress in the movie version is much appreciated because the lady emotes and there hasn't been a lot of that up until this point

nessa gets heckled by other students and elphaba gets angry over this, causing a disturbance in the force. essentially the gist is that elphaba's magical abilities kick in when she's in distress. and this gets the attention of shiz's headmaster, madame morrible

she covers for elphaba, saying that people ought to be prepared for shit and she is the one who caused shit. she addresses elphaba directly with the interest of tutoring her in sorcery

there's an exchange that happens earlier in the scene in the stage version, morrible commenting on how "tragically beautiful" nessarose is with elphaba referring to herself as "beautifully tragic." these lines are still in the film but they are given to a new character? i think she's supposed to be a professor?

this character gets a few of morrible's stage lines which. i am not sure what the point is. maybe they were trying to make a plot twist that morrible isn't a good guy. never mind that her name rhymes with horrible

this acknowledgement of elphie's potential goes into her i want song, the wizard and i. it highlights her ambition to be accepted by people and her fantasizing about no longer being green as to "match" the goodness of the deeds she'll accomplish

it's also elphaba's first song in the musical. and it tends to be a place where i feel things in the face like i could kind of cry. so not getting that sensation here was disappointing. and this is for sure way more subjective since i have seen people praise cynthia erivo's performance here

there's no doubt that erivo is a decent singer. but all she does is sing the song. like. she sings the words. but it doesn't have any impact. it doesn't feel like anything

i mean. she does actually smile and whatnot. but. it didn't strike me as anything

she wanders around the half cg campus of shiz. and. the cg doesn't look great. but there sure is a heck a lot of it. so that's fun. overall, this film didn't look great. idk if maybe it was the cable? it felt like this was filmed on videotape

elphaba ends up being roommates with galinda upland, who is somewhat resentful and wishing to pursue sorcery only to be dismissed by morrible, and they do not get along at all

what is this feeling? is. well. this is where a lot of the meandering subjective nitpicking since it presents things i don't like and then it snowballs into other stuff

the song has elphaba and galinda express their mutual unadulterated loathing as the mock one another. in the broadway version, the shiz ensemble literally rallies around galinda. the choreo is pretty blatant about elphaba being on her own

at the very end of the song, elphaba does get the last laugh by startling galinda. it is generally a fun number especially when the two leads decide to play up the comedic bits in their own way

since i'm in between thoughts. i have to go back to the wizard and i because i didn't mention something so vital that bothered me. i guess because i thought it that was basically "good enough." but during the song, elphaba is running across a field and she actually levitates off the ground for a few paces. just. this character is confident as is

obviously movie and stage aren't the same. expecting 1:1 adaptation is ridiculous. the stage show is far removed from its source material which is also nothing like its source material. i think the most positive i have to say is actually about this particular number but i can admit that the things i don't like distract me

i don't find elphaba or galinda's delivery in the film to be super energetic. if the feeling in the broadway version is unadulterated loathing then the feeling in the movie is mild annoyance

this song does give me goosebumps normally in the second half. and. yeah i didn't get that here. it's another case of. we're singing the lyrics. things are kind of happening

there's a point in the song where the ensemble praises galinda for being a martyr. and they did put in a little imagery with the cafeteria doors. which i was just ok that's fun

who particularly is bringing game to this number is, of course, the ensemble. they are very expressive. when they enter the cafeteria after these things are sent to try us, they sing their verse and it honestly feels grand

with the reverb and everything. like. it's just. wow. this feels different. and then with elphaba and galinda start singing again. that's when the track changes and the reverb is gone. like. it is so sloppy. the mixing is god awful and i hate it

they were boasting about singing on set and whatnot. but. uh. ok maybe that did happen but why they gotta overlay so much of the studio recording and do it so obviously

this is the one part of the movie i did see in november of last year because of an official uploadWicked | What Is This Feeling

erivo and grande don't sing together imo. in a way that it felt like idina menzel didn't sing together with her various glindas. it just feels like they are trying to sing over each other. and i guess that isn't quite a problem since, in this song, they are at odds with each other. so this is me being nitpicky

Alli Mauzey and Donna Vivino- What is this feeling?i guess even something that's crunchy and underwater i can feel something with a good duo who sing together

another pause because i don't think sinking this kind of energy at once even into something sloppy is quite the healthiest. plus i am going to commit a sin and watch it again in a couple hours

okay. so. i wanted to watch it a third time. but when it got into the what is this feeling number. i got angry and turned it off. that part is just truly an accumulation of everything that i don't find enjoyable

and then i spent a lot of the day trying to work out why does the movie look like that? like. how the way they move is odd. i was convinced it had to be something in post production. but i also don't know a damn thing about cinematography so i spent a lot of time looking up stuff on that

i did learn about the lens made special for wicked and about that focal length had allowed for higher exposure so that in combo with the lighting didn't help the colors. but that wasn't what i wanted to know. i wasn't convinced these elements would make the way they move be off the way it was

so i did end up turning my attention to the guy who did editing on the film. hahaha i wasted a lot of time, i should have maybe gone with my gut. ANYWAY. there was a video about his editing work on defying gravity. it was focused on the audio but it did show screencaptures of the program itself and there were visual tracks

and some of the files were long enough that i could see 24fps and 48fps in their titles