Wicked Review: Is It One of the Best Movies of 2024?

Wicked earns its grand scale through Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, whose contrasting performances give the musical’s friendship real emotional force. Jon M. Chu’s lavish adaptation is a spectacular screen musical, but its 160-minute runtime and deliberate mid-story stopping point make it a qualified recommendation: the journey is rewarding, while the destination has to wait.

What this Wicked adapts—and where it stops

Directed by Jon M. Chu, Wicked (2024) stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda. It adapts the first portion of the stage musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman; the musical, in turn, is based on Gregory Maguire’s novel. Rotten Tomatoes’ film listing gives the runtime as 2 hours 40 minutes, or 160 minutes.

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1		Wicked (2024) [Blu-ray]	$17.95	Buy on Amazon

The story follows Elphaba and Glinda as their relationship takes shape in Oz. The adaptation does not tell the entire story: it stops before the larger narrative concludes. That division matters to the experience. This installment has character development and emotional turns to carry it, but it is not a self-contained account of the whole plot. The split-story structure was also a recurring point in contemporary reviews, including coverage by Rotten Tomatoes’ first-review roundup and Metacritic’s review coverage.

Erivo and Grande make the friendship the film’s center

The strongest reason to stay with Wicked is its leads. Erivo gives Elphaba an inward intensity that makes her difference feel personal rather than merely symbolic. Grande plays Glinda with comic timing and bright self-assurance, but allows vanity and vulnerability to sit alongside the charm. Their contrast creates the film’s most engaging dramatic rhythm: one character is guarded and principled, the other socially fluent and image-conscious, and each unsettles the other’s assumptions.

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Their singing is a major part of the appeal, but the performances work because the characters are not reduced to vocal showcases. The songs gain force from what the two women are learning about themselves and each other. Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus praises the “magical pairing” of Erivo and Grande, while the Associated Press review also highlights their acting and singing. Rotten Tomatoes and the Associated Press review offer those assessments in their own critical contexts.

The musical spectacle works best when it serves the story

Chu presents Oz as a place built for the large frame: elaborate sets, saturated color, and expressive costumes give the film a sense of scale that a stage performance cannot reproduce in the same way. The production design does more than decorate the songs. It helps distinguish social worlds and makes the characters’ surroundings feel theatrical without leaving them visually static.

The cinematic translation is most persuasive when a musical number expands an emotional beat—letting performance, movement, and setting reinforce what the characters cannot simply say. The result is unapologetically showy, yet that showiness is part of the film’s identity. Contemporary reviews often praised the casting, costumes, sets, and songs, though the reactions were not uniformly positive; Metacritic’s collected reviews include both enthusiasm for the craft and reservations about the film’s length and divided narrative.

Does the 160-minute runtime earn its length?

At 160 minutes, the film asks for a substantial commitment before its story reaches its larger resolution. Some of that time supports the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda and gives the musical world room to breathe. But the lavish presentation and extended buildup can also make the middle feel overlong. The length is not automatically a flaw; it becomes one when spectacle or scene-setting delays dramatic momentum without deepening the characters.

That trade will divide viewers. If you want an immersive musical built around performances, songs, and production design, the scale is part of the pleasure. If you value a brisk pace or prefer a film to complete its central narrative in one sitting, the runtime and the part-one structure are significant costs, not minor caveats.

Who should watch Wicked?

Watch it if you enjoy big-screen musicals, rich visual worlds, and lead performances that make a friendship feel like the real story. It is also a strong fit for viewers who already know the stage musical and are curious how its material translates to film, though familiarity is not required to follow the relationship at its center.

Approach it with different expectations if you want a compact fantasy or a complete beginning-to-end story. The film’s stopping point is intentional, but that does not make the wait for the conclusion feel satisfying to everyone. The Motion Picture Association rating reported by the Associated Press is PG for “some scary action, thematic material and brief suggestive material.” The AP review reports the rating and its reasons.

Verdict

Wicked is one of 2024’s most successful large-scale musical adaptations when judged by its performers, visual ambition, and ability to turn songs into cinematic set pieces. It is less successful as a complete dramatic experience: the 160-minute runtime tests patience, and the story stops before its conclusion. For viewers willing to trade narrative closure and pace for a vivid musical world led by Erivo and Grande, that bargain is worth making.

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Wicked (2024) [Blu-ray]

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