Film

Wicked

Name: Wicked
Genre: Drama, Romance, Fantasy
Released: 2024
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater

Wicked is a grand musical adaptation that reimagines the Wizard of Oz mythology by centering the Wicked Witch of the West. It's a two-and-a-half-hour spectacle: lush production design, soaring Schwartz songs, and a friendship drama that grounds the fantasy. For anyone who loves character-driven storytelling wrapped in Broadway-scale ambition.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love big-hearted musicals where the songs carry the emotion and a prickly friendship is the real engine, and you don't mind a sprawling, sincere story.

Skip it if you tire of big-number musical spectacle and earnest sincerity stretched past two and a half hours, or you bristle at a fantasy that leans hard on sentiment.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a long, lavish stretch of nearly three hours, with the pace lingering over friendship and gloss rather than rushing toward spectacle.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Six Days Seven Nights1998

A boldly theatrical musical film that prioritizes character voice and humor over spectacle. The ensemble energy and emotional beats prove that stage-to-screen adaptations can translate intimacy beautifully, even at scale.

But It's deliberately lowbrow pop-culture pastiche and anachronistic. If you want your musicals rooted in naturalism, this swings hard the other way.

Les Misérables2012

Another ambitious musical adaptation that takes its source material seriously while embracing grand production values. Epic scope, powerhouse vocal performances, and a story about ideology and personal conviction that echoes Wicked's core themes.

But It's relentlessly bleak and exhausting. Three hours of historical tragedy and suffering—there's no Glinda to lighten the mood.

In the Heights2021

A vibrant musical that translates stage energy to film with infectious joy. Strong ensemble cast, immense production ambition, and a story about community and belonging that resonates with Wicked's friendship-centered narrative.

But The plot is less character-driven and more community-scattered. Some viewers find the scope dilutes individual emotional arcs.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Wicked

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Clueless1995

Both films center the 'popular girl' character and complicate her by showing her internal life. The friendship between opposites is the real story, not the love plots around it.

The DNA of Wicked runs through this—two girls from different social worlds, a friendship forged through forced proximity, and the revelation that the mean girl might actually be something deeper. It's how to do the central relationship with wit and sincerity.

But It's a 90s teen comedy, not a fantasy epic. If you're looking for magical stakes and grand orchestration, this is small-scale and grounded.

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical2022

Another stage-to-screen musical that nails the emotional core of its source material while making space for spectacle. A story about a girl finding power and agency in a world designed to diminish her.

But It's aimed at a younger demographic, and that shows in the humor and narrative simplicity. Adults may find it slight.

Hairspray2007

A joyful, earnest musical that uses spectacle and camp to tell a story about outsider acceptance and solidarity. Proves that musicals can be entertaining without cynicism or darkness.

But It's deliberately lightweight and schmalzy. If you're looking for narrative complexity, this prioritizes fun over depth.

The Phantom of the Opera2004

The definitive screen adaptation of a theatrical landmark. Sumptuous visuals, an operatic score that demands investment, and a love triangle with ideological weight similar to Elphaba and Glinda's competing values.

But It's Gothic and intensely romantic rather than witty. The pacing is deliberate, almost glacial by modern standards.

Cinderella2015

A fairy-tale reinvention that takes magical realism seriously while maintaining visual splendor. Shows how reimagining a beloved story can deepen character motivation and create thematic resonance.

But Some find it precious or overstuffed with visual symbolism. The tone is contemplative rather than energetic.

Into the Woods2014

A Sondheim musical that subverts fairy-tale expectations by asking what comes after happily ever after. Ambitious, intelligent, and genuinely interested in the consequences of storytelling itself.

But The second act is messy by design, and some viewers find it emotionally punishing. It actively resists catharsis.

Rope1948

Both examine how friendship becomes the vehicle for moral compromise. Elphaba and Glinda's diverging ideologies echo the twisted intimacy between Rope's two leads—proximity breeds both love and betrayal.

Hitchcock's chamber piece about idealism corrupted by ego and friendship weaponized. Like Wicked, it's fascinated by how two people's bond becomes a crucible for testing moral conviction and personal ambition.

But It's a psychological thriller, not a musical or fantasy. The stakes are intimate and horrifying rather than fantastical, and it's shot entirely in one apartment.

Ikiru1952

Both films are about a person choosing their values over social acceptance, and finding that the cost of integrity is loneliness. But Ikiru earns that loneliness through quiet devastation rather than magical realism.

Kurosawa's masterpiece about finding meaning and purpose before death. Elphaba's journey—choosing principle over popularity, accepting isolation, fighting for something larger than herself—mirrors this man's spiritual awakening, but the texture is entirely different.

But It's a 1952 Japanese drama in black and white, slow and meditative. There's no music, no spectacle, no romance. It will feel like another planet.