The Reel Rejects - WICKED (2024) IS BEAUTIFUL!! MOVIE REVIEW!!

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

FINALLY Watching & So Much Crying!! Wicked Full Reaction Watch Along: https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/thereelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Greg Alba, John Humphrey, & Aaron Alexander bring you their Wicked Reaction, Commentary, Analysis, & Spoiler Review for the Wizard of Oz Prequel! The movie features a stellar cast, including Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp, the misunderstood green-skinned young woman who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West; Ariana Grande-Butera as Galinda Upland, the popular young woman who becomes Glinda the Good; Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar, a prince from Winkie Country; Ethan Slater as Boq Woodsman, a Munchkin in love with Galinda; Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, the Dean of Sorcery at Shiz University; and Jeff Goldblum as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The film showcases some of the most beloved songs from the original musical, including "Defying Gravity," "Popular," "The Wizard and I," "Dancing Through Life," "I'm Not That Girl," "One Short Day," "What Is This Feeling?," "No One Mourns the Wicked," "A Sentimental Man," "Something Bad," and "As Long As You're Mine." Experience their insights and commentary on this enchanting musical journey that brings the Land of Oz to life like never before. Follow Aaron On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealaaronalexander/?hl=en Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Music Used In Manscaped Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Monday is where we do our musical and animation movies and thank you guys for be patient on us with this because we've been seeing the requests. We've definitely been paying attention and we knew it was out. These guys were just waiting for me

to come back from New York City so I appreciate you guys waiting. You guys saw Wizard of Oz a couple of months ago. Did a reaction up here on the channel. I haven't seen Wizard of Oz in like 15, 20 years, but I think I got like a decent enough memory.

No, nothing about this one. And yes, we are of course talking about the film, Wicked. We're going to watch it for the very first time part one i'm so excited oh i i've just i've heard so much love and enthusiasm around this movie but no specifics because i was aware that i was one of the people going to be reacting to it with you guys i don't want to know anything about it don't know anything about it i want to go on very raw with this so guys leave down below your thoughts on what you think about

wicked and uh before we go into all of that what's up where are you pointing at i'm pointing at the thing on the table there okay we will give that to you We'll give it to me. Here you go. Eric, how's your day going, by the way? My day's going good. You know, all things considered, like, what's going on in L.A. I'm about to leave town tomorrow for a few days.

And I'm just, I'm grateful and excited to watch this. Because every time the trailer would play in the theaters, I would run out because I didn't want to get spoiled. And I knew we'd be doing this. So overall, I'm feeling good. I'm feeling excited. Happy to hear that. A lot of people don't realize, like, the level of commitment that we will take to go and run. People sometimes don't believe us, but we do we, oh, yeah.

True. We take an extra level. We've ducked and run through a lot of darkened theaters. John, how are you doing? I'm all right. All things considered kind of echoing what Aaron said. The power's out where I live. So it's been a bit of an adventure. We're lucky enough that while these fires are going on, they're not like that close directly to where we are, but they're not that far either. So given everything, it's been a very gentle version of this for me. So I'm grateful for that. And I'm really excited to watch this with you guys. Yeah, it's been a heck of a day. And we know, I mean, I'm sure you guys know some people. I know a couple of people who are in the midst of it. They are okay, but a lot of people are way closer that we know than we are. But yeah, I mean, a bit of an anxious kind of tense day, not going to lie. And I'm kind of curious to see like going forward in this year, just sort of checking in with our feelings before we film a reaction to see how a movie can affect our emotional journey, how we receive a movie from that point. You know, it's part of the joy that I want to kind of experience, like, how the emotional response.

a movie can do to your current state. Absolutely. And before we hop in, the thing I thought last night was like, what fun irony removed from everything else that we watched this like during the most intense windstorm, a Wizard of Oz thing. That's a good point. Good point. Very true. Very true. It's a good segue into the wonderment.

Well, as you guys know, the usual jam that we still like to say is leave a like on this video. That really does help out the channel. Aaron, you wanted that for a reason. Go for it. Because I'm going to subscribe. that bell so you can be notified

with new videos coming out there will be a fluidity to this one day shake it keep at it keep pounding and folding that sword and also patrons thank you so much for supporting us for the last couple of years

and especially when it comes to movies like this which are musicals it's really hard to get around for monetization purposes and we want to of course still be able to deliver a video to you that does not get blocked sometimes that does involve sacrifice and monetization With that in mind, that's my Patreon's been really helpful. You get the full-length reaction watch long.

That is where you sync up with your own copy of Wicked. We have purchased this off Amazon Prime. And you can sing along. Sing along to the songs that I have no idea what we're about to listen to. I actually don't know. It's kind of wild. I don't know anything about this phenomenon. I just know there's one song called Popular and I've heard like maybe the tiniest bit of the name and that's it.

I don't know what's about. I'm excited. And that's one of our longer introses. I'm usually rushing through them. but trying to go down a different path this year to see, like, yeah, get in touch with our emotions beforehand. It's a mini podcast before. Yeah, very chill, very mellow going into the excitement that is wicked.

Five-minute watch time. Let's indulge in this. Let's go. There's only half of the show. Wow, that's crazy. I can't even imagine what the second half is. And how does someone that powerful get messed up by water? Hey, it happened in World of the World, so it could happen to anybody.

She didn't drink a single glass of water in this whole movie. I should say, it's having a sign. There's no post-cursing. Well, that was a nice escape. It was nice to be, yeah, whisked away to a fanciful land with a whole water. What a beautiful movie. Beauty inside, yeah. She arcs into a cackling witch.

She, yeah, arcs into a cartoon character. the dark we all aspire to yeah uh yeah that's funny well um all right guys if you're listening this for apple or spotify thank you for being here we are the real rejects and we just for this review we just watched the film wicked did a reaction instant thoughts well instantly being like a five minute break so i could write down like five words that i could springboard off of topics here a lot of hype around this movie there's a lot to talk about here um where do we begin i don't know i don't know who knows who knows who knows here again i will say it away i will say that this movie is

definitely something that lived up to the hype and i understand why just the better than wizard of oz better than wizard of oz the classic of almost 100 years or over 100 years i don't know cinema hasn't evolved cinema has never evolved if you had to do one of those delete one from history forever and keep the other challenges and you chose to keep wicked would that be possible never mind continue creates a paradox there's a lot of stuff that like is obviously homageing to wizard of Oz and like i think you can watch this without ever having seen it and still gain a lot from it obviously there's like the the callbacks to it and like how it begins and whatnot but anyway this This movie is really great because of its ability to explore, like, the morally gray and, like, its themes of, you know, going against the grain and kind of, I don't know, finding kinship and finding love and just the performances overall were also really amazing. And, yeah, I fully understand why this is the biggest hit of the year, seemingly, because of the music so endearing. the colors and just the whole entire vibe of it is just so magical and sad and there's this undertone of tragedy through the entire thing and you don't want things to go south but you know

that they are but you're still hopeful that things can be good and yeah that's just my little little notes for now but um what do you guys think watch how do you feel i am good with john going next i found this dazzling and lovely i mean it's it's yeah How does it compare to the play? Is it better than the play? It's definitely definitely better. And I think they shouldn't have included Idina Menzel and Kristen Chedewitz because it was embarrassing for them.

No. This was an interesting thing going into this because I've only seen the stage show once and it's not like Hamilton where it's like accessible everywhere kind of. You know, like so I only have this one recollection of it. And certainly there was a lot that I didn't, you know, especially live on stage sometimes. hearing music for the first time at the Pantagos. Oh, so not New York Broadway. I've never been to New York Broadway.

No, that would have been cool. Because Pantagous is like discount version. It's like a New York Broadway. Everything I... I hope people from the Pantagos Theater are watching. What Orlando represents for our theme park attractions is literally what I imagine. Broadway is to theater. If I saw a show here, like Wicked, where I was like, oh, wow, like this is A, so much

more fun and fanciful and funny and impressive than I was expecting on stage. And, you know, in the Pantagus in L.A., you're treated to, you know, usually you can get a top of the line show there for here, for what we have the means for. And that was like, oh, yeah, this is dazzling. There is stuff that, like, you know, you wouldn't expect to be able to see. It reminded me what you said of seeing the cursed child when you were in New York over your break, because, yeah, I had a similar experience remembering back to Wicked of, like, yeah, being really floored by

some of the stuff they were able to orchestrate on stage and so... I'll also say I've never seen a play at the Pantages so I don't know what I'm talking about. Well, I just assume. And you know, like, I am the kind of theater, like I love theater but I don't have a

deep enough, vast enough lexicon to be able to feel like I could tell you what good theater is versus not good theater. You know, like in terms of like if Broadway is significantly greater than LA. But anyway, I'll get you back on track. All that shit aside.

Yeah, I didn't carry over a recollection of the, like, coming-of-age disillusionment aspect of this movie. And so, like, it, you know, you have the setup of, yeah, we're going to take a look at Elphaba at who is the Wicked Witch of the West. We're going to learn about her story and who is Glinda. How did she become Glinda over Galinda? And I love that Aaron pointed out. They credited both names for her, which is great. But, yeah, I remember there being this coming-of-age aspect. and this sort of like, oh, she's not as evil, it's not as black and white as you think.

But I actually was struck the most in ways by, A, yes, the emotion and just the caliber of, like, I'm very forgiving in terms of my stage adaptation, let's say. Like a Sweeney Todd doesn't bug me as much that not everyone's a great singer. But I get why, watching something like this, I'm like, but I get why you want to hire a great singer for every role. Because, yeah, this is the kind of thing where it's like, yeah, this feels like what Broadway has always been describing me as. It's like you got top of the line talent, you got top of the line production value, you've got top of the line everything. And that's all great. And that was all here. And it has the tradition of, I love musicals on stage and on screen.

And it did a little bit of all that stuff. And it avoided the pitfall, I think, a lot of modern musicals can where it's too much cutting and too much close up. Which I get that's good for performance, but also, you know, this really nicely wove between those things. But the thing that struck me the most was, yeah, I forgot how much this is like a metaphor for just like growing up and discovering the world and realizing like, oh, snap. there are some strange things happening around me as I'm starting this grand journey of my life and oh wait a minute like people don't seem quite right who are telling me you know to be calm

and to you know and who I'm taking so much advice and tutelage from and you know there are the intimate small personal aspects of that but they're also the big grand aspects of that where it is like oh my God you know yeah there is a tyranny kind of befalling the land now in this idyllic world that many have known but you know through off of his eyes it's yeah there's just

I feel like there's a lot you can mirror off of life in society without going, it's about this one thing. And I was like, that's an interesting thread that struck me specifically this time watching it, I guess. But yeah, this was terrific. This was, like, really lovely and dazzling. And I love seeing this tradition alive with these much resources. It's a risk now.

This used to be like a thriving staple genre of cinema. And now you've got to trick people to come into the musical by not telling them it's musical. and not telling you're making two you know yeah how do you feel I think it actually I think it ends at a good spot though it does yeah

it feels like a complete experience yeah it feels like a part one in the right ways it's like there's a very different endings between Lord of the Rings movies and the Hobbit movies where it just feels like whoa

what's what happened yeah this is just cut to black what's going on whereas this actually feels like we have told a complete section in some ways it just feels like you can sort of fill in the rest if you want to in a certain way

even though there's characters like madameaurable and then the Wizard of Oz actually you know what I take that back now I think of it the more I'm saying the more I'm realizing you went for this I can't actually just if I only wanted to fill in for alpha but there's a lot of other threats it would be very much like the love triangle aspect of things

yeah you would be very much jumping from WandaVision to Dr. Strange to and feeling like some shit's missing. As it was coming out of my mouth, I was realizing this statement I'm making is a very big work in progress. I need to backtrack here. We need to embrace that more in criticism,

especially when it's not all in print. What did you say? Sometimes you talk too big, John. You think you're better than us. Oh, I just spaced out the word criticism in a funky way. I'm sorry. I'm so vocabulary.

Vocalistic. I'm sorry, vocabularistic. Yeah, there you go. Nicely done. Nicely done. Yeah, I think, like, the most obvious things to say are things that need to be said. I think, like, people wanting to have that be reaffirmed. Yeah.

I'm not familiar with this play. I'm not familiar with the songs. Based off of a couple of reactions, I'd say, popular and defying gravity, where the ones that stood out to you guys is like things you've heard is the pinnacle one. They left up to the hype. I, Tina Menzel, that, you know, is a big part of her. story about playing elphabund that that song was so huge and breakout and all that stuff and i mean it's such a fascinating song about self-empowerment and acceptance and i loved the experience

the journey here like this is almost a three-hour journey and it it we've seen some three-hour movies here i feel like four even if they're really good even if they're like great movies you're still feel the time because you're in a chair, you're locked in here, you can't move too much around, or you're just going to leave frame, so there's a lot about it. And I was like, this is move by it pretty quick. Yeah, yeah. It did not feel like a three-hour experience in a lovely way. And that's because it's like such a visually dazzling time. Everything on the filmmaking sides that you want to exceed, right? The basics of acting is phenomenal. I'm so happy for Ariana Grande getting this big of a role

Sure. Like, I mean, if you just see her work in S&L, she is so, have you, have you, and you guys seen her like Saturday Night Live? I kind of grew up with her on Victoria's and like Sam and Cass. So that's where I'm accustomed to her being an actress. Yeah, yeah. I don't know any of that stuff, but I know that's big for a lot of people. Was there like backlash when she was cast in this of, of like,

oh my God, Ariana Grande. There was skepticism. There was scandals about certain actors getting together with her, but um other than that i think there was at least some level of trepidation only because and i've seen the meme actually since then just that she would sing the way she does in her music which is much i like i didn't know she had quite the range the vocal range and the power because i'm used to hearing her sing in a more soft rnb type soul setting you see like on s and l a lot of the characters that she plays are like old school characters so to so to me it just made sense to to put her in like

the prequel, The Wizard of Oz. It actually is very fitting. And she shows that here. You know, it's like, we all know she can sing, but she shows a different side of singing that we're not used to seeing her. Granted, I'm not really familiar with her songs. I'm like, I've heard them before, but nothing really comes to my. I can't, like, hear something in my head off the top of the top. Yeah, I don't know that.

That was a perfect rendition of it, too. You get her, you get her comedic chops as well. Like, her comedy is so strong. And she's a really great actor. in terms of how to like listen and react to who she's playing off of it really shows her temptedness like there are times where she makes choices that feel spontaneous and it doesn't feel like um over prepped to the point where you you kind of feel like that's the art of like performing right you have to it has to feel like it's just kind of in the moment they're kind of

doing this and off the top of their head versus this is a very rehearsed thing you're watching and i think she's so good at it and Cynthia really really man she's incredible like she owns this film and you do mean alphaba and glinda i think you do need both characters for this film to really thrive but i really feel like cynthia rivo i don't know what like who got it's kind of weird it like because i'm so glad demi more won i didn't really pay attention i didn't pay attention to globes at all outside of like hearing a few announcements of who won um but like you know there's musicals and comedies and and demi more won for it and i think that's one of the best performances of the year.

I think it's just phenomenal in it. I was so happy for it. It was the only tweet I made about the Gold of Globes. Then watching this, I'm going, but this one's an actual musical comedy. It's kind of surprising. I think Dan Merle, like, he's, on some of his commentary, he said, like, category fraud is sort of becoming a thing

because there are so many of these movies where you're like, compared to everything else in the category, this is more of like a, there might be humor in it, but is it really a car? Is the Martian really a comedy? the substance really do you see the substance I've seen half of the substance you can get into it no no I saw it really late

theaters and I just I was falling asleep so I had to leave that's our Aaron you should have just stayed there it was a 1040 showing for a three hour movie like the substance is three hours it's like almost two and a half hours all right fine I did not know that I thought this would be like an hour and 45 on the butt shots I've seen too many

Gores happening Count butts like sheep Also was eating while I was watching it too So I just did not You took a melanchotin before we went to the theater It's really kicked in hardcore And my edible started really tripping me out I had hard time

So I took some mushrooms But yeah Cynthia Revo is excellent here Like the transformation is awesome And I don't know what the second half is going to be like Because yeah like the Wizard of Oz You know the wicked witch is like

classic witch right just cackling evil stereotype like this seems like the stereotype must have originated from that movie of how they are portrayed in the Hollywood tradition yeah i would say it's like it's it's probably one of those checkpoints along the growth of a stereotype thing where it's like yeah like that iteration of the witch sets a new snapshot for this generation or several generations of like yeah that's what witches are i think it's really skin wart nose broomstick i think it's really clever for a story that is doing so much about um moral complexity and misunderstandings uh and and prejudice watching how she gets to these points full on like origin story right where she gets the costume the hat the broom and it never does a wink at the audience of

like oh my god she has become magneto you know it that doesn't do some bullshit like that actually that's a really great movie x-men first class but it You know what I mean? It doesn't do something like Orish movie. It's building a lot of stuff around that rather than going, hey, here's this one moment where we tell you why you got that name or whatever, you know.

But I think they're able to pull it off without it going to, maybe they go to cackling witch in the second one. But I think they're able to pull it off because you're watching this from what seems like Glinda's perspective, right? Like Glinda's perspective or Elphibus perspective. Yeah. So you are getting the more human touch here. And it's,

the ending part was so fascinating. me to watch like oh this is where they their philosophical sides cause the divide between them of elphaba essentially rejecting the system really wanted to go against it and glinda i suppose going we need i need to work within the system like put up the act like that politician who's going to work within the system to try to like yeah derive change there's nothing either of us can do right now let's just go back home and regroup and try and yeah fix things from there yeah but also from like a character's point of view like what she always wanted she wanted to see the she wanted she gets approval from everybody else so the people that she doesn't get approval from

she seeks that out yeah as a form of like self-gratification to like prove her her sense of worth because it's not something that is challenged for her whereas alhaba doesn't she pretends not to want that but then her her moral compass is stronger than her her perception or what she wants people to perceive her as i think this has a really great this story does a great job at presenting glinda and alphaba with flaws to make them feel human when you have these characters from wizard of odds that do not feel that way right they're so larger than life glinda's like all being altruistic kind of flare and then alphabas of one note and wizard of awe so to see what they did here i thought was so awesome like right off the bat you see like the flaws within glinda

when they're approaching the school. I really thought that was a, like they are the heart of this story and it feels, it's a story about friendship, but it also feels like a love story in some of its own ways, right? Oh, of course.

I thought that was very strong. Well, and that last scene is so well staged for that too, because like the back and forth of what they're going to choose and how that plays into just their relationship as friends, as like real people who have awakened something in each other, which, you know, you could argue verges on a role, romantic soulmate kind of territory or could because it's profound and it leaves an impact on you and then you have the chaos surrounding them to sell all that well i'm i'm curious i don't remember wizard of all as well enough to be like oh yeah but elphab is supposed to do this and this terrible thing happens but when you look at the opening of this story with god i really love that opening shot with the with the with the hat and they in the mirror like we're going to show you the inverse here but with um with uh glinda

you know helping participating essentially in the celebration of the death of the Wicked Witch that is the part that is making me the most fascinated

about watching part two because I'm like how do you go from what you're going through to getting involved in the celebration of something like this like getting involved in the act

yeah and I think the movie does a really great job but not it still feels like it tethers well into Wizard of Oz in some way. It doesn't... I think you would still need to watch Wizard of Oz first to really...

I feel like it would be weird to watch this and then go watch Reservas. I think you would appreciate... It's not what this... I would argue that's not actually what this is for. And I feel like, yeah, you would do yourself the best service watching the original because this is all kind of playing off of that. And, yeah, I think there's just something so fun and interesting about the journey that is like, oh, yeah.

Yeah, I know the flavor and the tone of the first of the original thing that sparked all of this, but also now getting to discover how this movie moves and breathes, this world, whether it be stage or movie moves and breathes. And like it is so fun and bubbly in so many ways. And it, you know, has the full range of emotions, which I think is what you want from any sort of like sweeping grand pieces. Like you want to laugh, you want to cry, you want to, you know, pump your fist in the air. But you also get the fun little Wizard of Oz origin nods. You're looking at the shoes. I think the most, like, wink at audience was the thing about the road.

That was, I was going to say. Yeah, that was the most, like, prequel movie thing I've seen. Most everything else. In this movie. Yeah. And the ruby slippers as well. Yeah. But the road probably the most prominent.

It felt of the tapestry of just, yeah, the world. Yeah, everything just felt like it was of this place. And it lived, you said it felt lived in at one point. I think that's a good way to put that. And that most of those things did. And I don't think the Yellow Brick Road thing was bad. But it is the most sore thumb of them all. You know, it's the most like, oh, hey, we're going to, oh, up to yellow.

We're going to go back one. I mean, this is a huge spectacle movie filled with a bunch with amazing production design, amazing art design. And then you got CGI implementation. And it's really, weirdly, it can be hard for a lot of, we've seen a lot of big blockbusters that do this kind of scale and it doesn't feel lived in. It feels like you're looking at something, but not in something. And I felt like I was in something. It's great world building and expansion of lore

for something I never thought I'd really care about for Wizard of Oz So I'm just being like yeah I want to see the world building It gets you interested Also I'm just put my little woke hat on for a second I think there's something Jesus

Oh here we go I think there's also something to the fact that That Elfa was Preemptively leaving a comment about you No I think it's interesting that You know Elfa was played by a black woman And she's largely ostracized For the color of her skin

and then like, you know, there's this like trope or like stereotype about a black woman like being angry and then like her power is activated through or when she felt like she's losing control the fact that that's when she's like very powerful and she's ostracized and she's only brought into the world of acceptance until like this good white chick is like, yo look at her, she's cool

and I'm like oh yeah she is kind of cool. It's the combination of oh you've got something we all need and also you've got approval from someone key And like the thing about Glinda that I was noticing, if you want to at least dredge the surface of this convo, is that she is sort of your well-meaning white feminist friend who like wants to posture, who maybe even genuinely wants to walk the walk, but is only really capable maybe of doing the posture before like they're going to inevitably kind of recede back into when it counts, they're not going to have your back necessarily. not to say that everyone is like that but there are people like that and that is a sort of character in the in culture that is a bit you know right and then when she goes against the grain that same thing she was ostracized for is then used against her to demonize her yeah that's great you know i i gotta say or like you actually use the um the word woke um with its closer to its original meaning when most people actually use it like oh yeah that's that is what i mean if you want to argue with it Elvra is pretty woke. She's disillusioned from the systems that keep everybody in someone's idea of an order, this case being the wizard.

I thought that was, yeah, you actually used it quite appropriately. Yeah. Like literally Alphabet is just trying to get Glinda to accept the woke mind virus. Yeah, like play ball. Except the woke mind virus that animals are people too. And that was another aspect. That was an aspect that really surprised me in here when it comes to animals. I'm the one host here who is a vegetarian, and that is because of my love for animals.

And I guilt everyone here about it. I constantly, when they are eating hamburgers or whatever, you shame us. I shame them, and I go, that has a beating heart, you sick, son of a bitch. That's how I handle it. I just really like to rub it. It makes us eat our burgers outside. If I'm meeting live meat, I feel like then it's fair in the food. Well, Koi brought by a goat and just started chomping into it the other day.

And I was like, this is really inappropriate and messy. You're just making the goat mad. He's going to kick you. This draws me stronger than yours, man. And then I end every sentence with, I'm better than you is how I go about it. Which is what you want to hear from every vegetarians or vegan. You know, it's funny, whenever you tell someone,

whenever I tell someone I'm vegetarian in real life, they always have to follow it up with, like, either. Are you sure? They always go into, like, really? they didn't tell me their beliefs. I'm like, I just said I couldn't eat that because I'm vegetarian. I'm not trying to tell you something. It's like

well, I eat meat and here's why I eat meat. Or ask you, when did you know you were a vegetarian? Have you always felt that way? It doesn't ever become that. No, it's just I would love that question. Just like, really? Oh man, I can't ever give up meat. I can't do that. I'm like, okay. I didn't say that. I wasn't trying to tell you that. That's not what I was

talking about. It's not going to happen in this moment. If it were to happen. but anyway it's to see that storytelling in here it really was a surprise to me and i i love that like the one a story that i once thought of was that like kind of some animal world where it is like a quality and you just communicate with them and then part of the villainy of the story that i had but now this movie's doing it so fuck i'm just going to say part of the villainy of it is when when they start just taking control of the animals of humanity, feeling like they are better than and start taking control.

And I'm like, oh, damn, they're like actually doing that. And the robbing of the voice was very strong. The silencing, very strong. Yeah. Oh, well, yeah, that's a great. And the Wizard of Oz is essentially being Hitler by like uniting people against animals. Well, yeah, they're de-animalized. They're dehumanizing them and taking their culture away.

And yeah, and just reducing them to, yeah. I think the choice especially to. have to really lean in more on the Wizard of Oz actually being a villain was a is a choice for the story I think because yes you do have the moment in Wizard of Oz where you find out he is human but not like this political affair really oh my god this guy's like manipulative and power hungry you know well and it's a conscientious way to play off of of all of it because Because, yeah, it's like you remember the twist maybe that like, oh, yeah, he's just like this bumbling, well-meaning guy who the magic is sends you along the right path. Whereas here, yeah, what if he actually, in being inept and bumbling is causing a lot of harm and damage?

I mean, what's interesting, if I'm not, see, like, even though it's been like 15 to 20 years since I've seen Wizard of Oz, it's just permeated throughout culture for so long that it's like I know stuff and it's a short movie. So I like remember a decent amount from what people say. but with that ending correct me if I'm wrong guys they go to they meet with a wizard he can't grant the power so he's not a wizard but they're like but you actually have everything in you

all along right like that's like the point is that it's within you that side of the wizard we didn't get here of the one who can just empower you in a genuine way but maybe that'll come in the second part because a big part of this of this story seems to be about lines that are blurred not just going

and like, you actually got it wrong. Yeah. It's blurred lines and perspectives, which I think is a really strong choice to do. While being a phenomenal, like, musical on top of that, the ability to take advantage of the film, like he kept saying, like, the medium, the way to take advantage of the film medium

with a musical goes wrong a lot. Or just even just taking advantage of, like, trying to do a play, goes wrong a lot. a lot of times you end up just feeling like i should just be watching the musical or the play this this they made a lot of choices that didn't seem to undermine the talent on screen the dancing the singing it never felt like it undermined it yet while providing a versatility to a lot of the sequences you know in a way that i very much appreciated with its set pieces it's editing i thought was awesome

It was really, it was really, really awesome. I'm not sure if I ever to find something to criticize, criticize just to do that. It's just because, you know, because we like a lot of things. And that's not what the internet likes. The internet loves anger. Feed it.

Feed him of the hungry monster. This is the propaganda of the wisdom. There's maybe like one shot where I thought they were going to carry a crane up a little longer, but then they just cut to... My one criticism is some wonky CGI, I would say. That would occasionally kind of... I would become suddenly aware of what I'm watching. When it's something's lived in, I'm not really aware, but there were elements. There were times.

But I'm like, it's not really fair because it's like there's also something like amazing CGI. I feel like... It's a weird thing to say because most people don't point out good CGI. especially like there seems to be kind of an anti-CGI thing happening for the last few years when it comes to cinema but i i think cgis is very awesome and impressive and some of my favorite films really utilize cg i matrix terminator two cgis is very much implemented got to put it the right place and there were times though where i i was very much like that really does not look real yeah and it's weird because it's like if you examine it closer it's not always even that it doesn't look naturalistic or something But yeah, it's like when there's an abundance of it, I think your eye just sort of subconsciously knows. And I do think that it's appropriate for a movie like this

to have a lot of CG because like the Wizard of Oz, though it is very handcrafted, obviously, because it had to be. At the time still was like very groundbreaking. It was still sort of like on the cutting edge of what we were able to do. So I feel like it's appropriate that they did and utilized so much of it

because they backed that up with a lot of sets and things like that. But it is, I think, there is a little bit of that line where like we experienced or are i experienced a little bit with wanka where i was like oh the chocolates were practical and they didn't look practical that's actually a really great analogy for and yeah it's like it's not really something that's that's really hurting the experience but it is something you notice every now and again of like oh yeah i can kind of feel them being in front of screens or i can feel you know this being yeah just like an abundance of colors rather than like i think they just should have spent a hundred million dollars more

to just build some of this shit i mean is that i'm really really that much for a lot. What's cheaping out, Hollywood? Yeah, what are you cheaping out for? It's like $100 million more. Yeah, if you can afford it for Red One, you can afford it for Wicked Part One. And then you just start saying that this film, you know,

that's a big part of like Hollywood, of how they cheat the taxing system. I figure out what the terminology is. It's how they're able to like manipulate paperwork and they make a lot of their big hits seem like losses on papers. They're able to recruit more profits. We got to start to do it. If only there was a way we could do that with you. This guy was supposed to film another

thing after it. I don't think you would have been. Not anymore. I was like, I'm just going to tire out as we're talking. No, no, no. I was thinking if I had to be the negative Nancy here, I'll say like a couple of minor nitpicks as lots of criticisms I had is like some of the transitions about a little quick like from them being on the train to Oz to then being into Oz and jumping into a musical and then like the I guess some of the musical the even though I thought for the people, the fans of of Wicked, it was nostalgic to see the song with the original cast. I was like, I feel like narratively didn't add a ton, but I thought it was just fun.

It was just like, it was like vibes. And I also felt like Elfa was, uh, switch was a little, a little quick and abrupt. But again, like, we're going to get a part two. It didn't bother me, like, I don't feel like she arched into a villain, though. She didn't arc to a villain, but her, her wanting the acceptance from the wizard and like her original intention for being there to like, oh, no, everything's a lie. Like, I got to get out of here. Like, screw the wizard. Oh, really?

That felt a little abrupt to me. Oh, fascinating. I thought that was Because the whole time she's dealing with hatred And then the one person she trusted this school Outside of Linda Ends of being like the ultimate traitor So I'm like, that's actually

The emotional part makes sense The person who gave me their protection And acceptance first is actually the person Yeah, working against me ultimately And she's got magic and she's the real wizard And then you find out this person's just a lie And neither of them is her We better have liked a little bit more emotionally conflict

emotional confliction because it was someone the only person she trusted versus what she knows versus like the love she feels like she can acquire and like that being like a meeting point but she kind of like made a defendant of twice very quickly well it's funny to me because the part where I was getting confused on a character's

choice was was Glinda actually when I'm like you kind of see like everything they're doing this like terrible like you're in the same room right that wasn't defined enough and so like I've chalked up like she must like want to I mean yes there is a part of Glinda that's at this current stage

in her character development that lacks honesty with herself about how things are kind of going. She lives in her own illusion. And she's already broken enough of them for one day. Yeah.

I think there's an interesting conversation to be had about, I hear that a lot, though, about musicals and how like this music number of it's there should be driving the scene forward. And that's a very interesting. conversation to me because I don't feel like any musical out there every all their numbers do that I don't I don't feel like there's a single musical out there where I would say like every one of them they're driving the narrative like really forward well but I think they do it in a different way I would say of it's about the emotion more than it is about it's about I don't know plot mechanics or whatever the hell or dialogue exchanges it's about like when they go to Emerald City it's about getting like lost in the the magic of it all i think joker too is a great example of that criticism

so like yeah this they're failing at that um whereas this i don't know i don't know if there's like a musical number i would really there's some that i probably don't really stick with me um but i don't know if there's one i would delete i feel they're the world to kind of build off of that i feel like they usually do one of two things either advance the story or give you emotional insight into a character's journey. True. And I feel like a lot of the songs in this did that, which makes it, in my opinion, the great musical because

you don't have necessarily songs that move the plot forward, but they give you not only their emotional state, but the progression of their emotional state as well. I think the, if you want to zero in on that number, it's like it is vibes, but it is also introducing the thriving Oz.

And I think it works if you factor out the Wizard of Oz because then it provides a necessary recap as to like, why do people love this guy so much? What's this story? And what are we about to see reversed? But yeah, I think there's always an interesting conversation that is being had about what is the function of music in a musical. And I think it's, yeah, I think we probably all agree. Like, if you confine it to only this is moving the plot forward, that's very plot-minded thinking, which is very sort of like movie guy thinking.

I want to see no one's musical. I would love to see you. me, I would adore a normal music. The main character is the protagonist. I can't hear anything they're singing. And it can be that, but I feel like, yeah. The sound design is drowning out the lyrics. What are they saying? It's not about the lyrics.

Just go with the melody. No, but that's even, but even that can be like music when it's really embraced and it's implemented at least well, like, I don't know, to some degree of good effect. I feel like, yeah, it can speak and give you a tool in your cinema

communication arsenal that is just like unto itself. And yeah, sometimes it will move the plot. Sometimes it will comment on a character. But if it's doing its thing, I feel like it doesn't have to be any of those things, which is kind of nice. And there was one bit that really struck me here especially, which was like when she comes into the Oz dust and they do that whole thing where everything quiets down and it's just like physical motion and at first it's sort of just like instinctual interpretive dance then it grows into a synchronized dance grows into an ensemble dance music starts to come in slowly bolstering all this that was my favorite scene it was yeah and it's and there's so much happening for the characters in that scene but also it's like a

celebration of like the tradition of dancing and song across you like all of expression you know And I think it's cool. Like something like this should like fire on all these collective cylinders of like top of the line cast, top of the line productions, costumes, you know, the script is really well fleshed out. And you were right. The same author was credited twice in a confusing way because they wrote the book of the musical, the script of the musical, and also co-wrote the screenplay here. And since so much of that is probably just wholesale transplanted from one or the other, that's why they credited that way. oh i just remember the point i wanted to make or watching it um i thought it was interesting watching cynthia and ariana grande kind of together because they have two very different

acting styles because i feel like cynthia is very much a thespian and like is a lot more subtle with her um with her expressions like a lot of the stuff for her that would like really conveyed that was her singing and her eyes like she conveys so much with her eyes or as Ariana Grande, she brings a lot of life, but in a more, I don't know, it reminds, because I'm familiar with her from sitcoms and like stuff like SNL, she definitely plays that, that sitcom and comedy really well. She's like one of her, her strongest suit. So watching like the Thespian, like the TV star, the comedic TV star come together, but them have great chemistry and bring those different strengths to it only made it like a more fuller, full experience because

They're able to build off of each other very well. Cynthia Rievo, I wonder if she is classically trained in any way because her voice sounds like theater. Yeah, 100%. And I mean, like, it's interesting to credit. It's one of the few times I've been like, that's a good casting decision because their styles, be they different,

are really well suited for these two different people. Your acting style is just you're a different kind of person, really. And so, like, I'd never thought of casting in that. sense of like oh yeah maybe it makes sense to mix up a lot of methods and that's another thing of like it's a movie that has a nice nexus point of approaches and traditions of things and it's got so much of a little bit of everything yeah absolutely uh i i thought it was great any any final thoughts had you guys how do you guys feel from before and after she was right to be mad at the fans for covering her eyes i'm just kidding what a straight and and this movie managed to

transcend more alpha bo than that come on now you know this is going against the grain she's in character this has been truly fascinating because like all of the the ups and downs of like

whatever the press stuff was aside like once the movie dropped all that vanished or just became like a charming weird detail about all this we're all holding space for the lyrics of defying gravity but yeah I hope they can stick

the landing for part two the great thing is like my memory is fuzzy enough that I don't really remember how this is going to go Exactly. So yeah, remember your history. Can't believe she gets taken out by water. But don't dwell on the past. And, yeah.

All that power and gets taken out by a bucket of water. Crazy. Oh, what a world. Next movie is just going to be spent all setting up the physics that make that possible. Yeah, we got to explain everything. This is a good exercise in earning it, though, I will say. Oh, I also really liked, God, there's just so much in this movie. I really like the guy.

Yeah. Jonathan Bailey. His name's been everywhere. and now I know why. Yeah, he's great. He was really fun. He was a joy. What an acrobat, what a singer, what a, yeah, you just, oh, you just want to hop on screen there.

Yeah, I really felt like that was from mood transition from before watching this now. I feel like a little bit of calmer in the soul, honestly. It's a good feeling to have. Yeah, good feeling in the soul to have. What did you guys think of Wicked? Is it overhyped? Is it hyped enough? Do you want to just zero in on whatever potential criticisms we had?

I think you should do that instead of acknowledging every great thing we said in this very long video. Just what did you disagree with us on? Just there. Ruin our experience by giving those comments. Yeah, by enforcing your own experience exclusively on us. Keep that gate, gang. Call me and John Woke in the comments. Yeah.

Tell us how we can avoid the world. woke mind virus today. Please, please do. All right, guys, thanks for being here. We'll see you all soon. Peace out, Reject Nation.