Knee-jerk review: "Wicked Part 1"

1. We saw Wicked on stage in Los Angeles years ago.  It was a pleasant experience, yes, but we barely remember it.  The songs didn't seem to be at all catchy or earwormy.  (We couldn't believe folks were in the lobby buying soundtrack CDs.)
2. So watching the movie adaptation was like experiencing the story for the first time.  Engaging, but maybe a little too forgettable?
3. Songs still aren't catchy.  Fun at the time but then gone from our memory banks.  (We had a similar problem with the otherwise fantastic La La Land.)  Where are the hooks?  Our four favorite movie musicals (don't laugh) are Grease, Chicago, The Greatest Showman, and Annie.  All with very sticky, very hummable songs.  Even the melancholic Billie Eilish Barbie song is at least memorable.
4. As an addendum, too often the lyrics in Wicked are hard to understand.  If it's not Ariana's high register, it's a goopy sound mix that buries the vocals.  Are our ears too old?
5. Pretty genius idea to take a infamous villain from pop culture and find ways to make her sympathetic and likable.
6. Until recently we mostly disliked pop star/tabloid darling Ariana Grande - despite her one banger radio hit "No Tears Left to Cry" - but a recent appearance on "Saturday Night Live" changed our mind.  She really does have a good sense of comic timing, self deprecation, and a killer voice.  And in Wicked, she's perfectly cast as a shallow, spoiled, boy-crazy, slightly ditzy Galinda.
7. Obviously, though, it's Cynthia Erivo who steals the movie as Elpheba.  Erivo seems like a bit of an weirdo oddball in real life, but as an actor she's a slam dunk in everything we've ever seen her in.  Don't judge a book.
8. Presumably, Shiz University is supposed to be a sort of college-style boarding school.  But every student there is in their 30s, which is kind of funny.
9. Michelle Yeoh cashing a paycheck and little more.
10. The production design, as expected, is fantastic, packed with layers of lush details.  Dig those golden gears that power the Emerald City express train.  How much time and money went into that for maybe five minutes of screen time?  This is Hollywood craftsmanship operating at very high levels.
11. Bonus points for invoking the 1939 Wizard of Oz title font.
12. Curious that in this polarized day and age, a box office smash like this deals in themes of dictatorships and disinformation.
13. At this point, Jeff Goldblum just sort of does his thing no matter the role.
14. Like most big movies, it's probably 30 minutes too long.  We appreciate getting original Galinda and Elpheba (Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel) in the movie, but we totally checked out during their convoluted number explaining the complicated history of Oz.
15. Amusing that the movie works so hard to reference as many Wizard of Oz elements as possible, the more obscure the better.
16. Always satisfying - and right out of Screenwriting 101 - for the protagonist to finally at long last get what they want... but realize that they no longer want it.
17. Yes, the animal rights business was part of the stage musical as well.  We were surprised as well.
18. Two standout sequences: the library dance (the circular book stacks!) and the cave club sequence where everyone laughs at Elpheba (we're not crying, you're crying).
19. Very good but... ultimately not great.  But, honestly?  That may well be good enough.

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