‘Wicked’ . . . Part One has arrived with much fanfare and anticipation. Even though the marketing material doesn’t highlight it, the “Part One” is an important factor when considering this new film. It’s an adaptation of a portion of the immensely popular stage show on Broadway of the same name, itself an adaptation of a novel that attempts to provide a tragic backstory for ‘The Wizard of Oz’s’ Wicked Witch of the West. Without actually ever seeing the musical, but based on fans of the show’s rapturous reactions, this would seem to be a faithful and successful screen re-imagining. Although at close to a three hour runtime, what may be the intermission point of the show instead serves as the end of the movie and acts as a chance to catch one’s breath before next year’s conclusion.

‘Wicked’ eventually winds itself to a literally soaring finale, but it starts at the end of the 1939 classic. “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead”. felled by a bucket of water, and the Munchkins (inexplicably not played by little people) are celebrating with a song and dance number. Floating down from the heavens, comes Glinda the Good Witch, as she majestically does in the original film, only now she’s played by Ariana Grande (pretty funny). At first she’s as gleeful as the denizens of Munchkin Land, but when challenged, she begins to regale the crowd with the real tale behind the scion of Oz.

The Witch wasn’t always bad you see, and Glinda and she were actually friends in school. Her story is plagued by bullying, having been born different (green-skinned), the illegitimate step daughter of the Mayor of Munchkin Land, who dotes over his legitimate handicapped daughter, yet denigrates her older sister. Her name is Elphaba and she’s played with quiet dignity and reserve (at least for most of the movie) by Cynthia Erivo. After a ton of exposition over flashback, the story gets going once the main characters arrive at university.

The narrative plods along during the first two-thirds of the movie, fueled by musical numbers. A few of these are truly inspired, and seem to be what director Jon M. Chu (‘Step Up’ 2 & 3D, ‘Crazy Rich Asians‘) and his cast/crew were most excited to capture. Standouts include “Popular” and “Dancing Theough Life”, choreographed with complex practical props as the actor/singers actually performed their numbers live on set. The problem is most of the stuff in between does not effectively set up the inevitable conflict to come.

There’s a whole subjugation subplot regarding the talking animals of Oz that is unnecessary. While it’s understandable that the story needs an inciting incident, others being envious of Elphaba’s real power (especially the pre-established fraud Wizard) could have been enough motivation to drive the events throughout. Cutting this aspect would also have avoided some truly dodgy CGI animal characters. About midway through the film there is a baffling dance sequence at a ball that is meant to solidify the female leads’ bond, but it’s so awkward and didn’t work as a spark of friendship. For a movie inspired by what’s regarded as a silver screen flag-plant for the future of Technicolor, the overall look of ‘Wicked’ is kind of dreary and uninspired (besides the costumes and some of the aforementioned musical number set pieces which were great).

The reality is, all the expensive stuff on screen is preamble to a climax that leaves the audience absolutely primed for Part Two. It’s best to experience on the big screen, with a nice full theater jazzed for the proceedings. Needless to say, it’s Erivio’s shining moment and the representation of the musical’s defining tune, “Defying Gravity” does not disappoint. Perhaps the biggest problem though is the feeling that hovers over the entire film (and stage production) – is any of this even remotely the intention of the Wicked Witch’s origin? It would seem that to super fans of the musical, they don’t care, even making this their canon, which is really wonderful for them. For those who revere the original as a classic above all classics though . . . there is nothing in “The Wizard of Oz” that signals anything close to this interpretation of the character, and it’s very difficult to compartmentalize this story as an alternate take on the source material . . .

Directed By: Jon M. Chu

Written By: Dana Fox & Winnie Holzman

Rated: PG

Running Time: 160 min.

* * 1/2 (out of 4 stars) -OR- C+