Film Review: Wicked

By Dwight Brown, Film Critic for DwightBrownInk.com and NNPA News Wire“Are we all born wicked?” It’s a trick question. The answer you give reflects your view of humanity.In fact, that query is the theme of this charming and fanciful adaption of the Broadway musical Wicked (2003). That show was based on a novel by Gregory Maguire (1995), which was inspired by L. Frank Baum’s book The Wizard of Oz (1900), which spawned the classic family movie The Wizard of Oz (1939). In the earlier two works, a young girl from Kansas meets two witches: Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West. The more recent works reconstruct the witches’ backstory. The characters are so iconic and vibrant in this witches’ brew that all these filmmakers need do is just tell the story. But they’re far more ambitious than that.Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in Wicked.Casting Ariana Grande as the dismissive, dimwitted and wealthy Glinda Upland works to the film’s advantage. She’s funny and sarcastic as the very popular blonde. Her perfect counter balance is the exceedingly green Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. Often ostracized, but very intelligent, she has quick retorts to any derogatory remarks hurled her way. The...