Eric Duvall-Winscher

I watched Wicked today and I have to say I am very disappointed. After how good the last Wizard of Oz prequel was, I was rather excited for Wicked. Unfortunately it was a huge let down. It’s biggest problem was that it tried to convey way to many main plot points for a single movie. Way more plot points than any movie could sensibly convey. The main plot points of Wicked include, but are not limited to: Vilian origin, trauma caused by parental rejection and neglect, racial equity, disability equity, romance, bully vs. bullied, rich influential person who thinks there are all that but isn't really talented, lazy/behavioral challenged student turning their life around, bully and bullied becoming friends, one friend betraying another, deception by the government, government overreach, manipulation/betrayal by a role model, whether the "bad" character is really bad or good, superficiality of a wealthy, influential characte; and many more plot points. To clarify, each of these plot points has the potential to contribute to a compelling story. It is possible to create a great narrative with a few primary plot points; however, as more plot points are introduced, the time available to delve into each one diminishes. When too many elements are present, it becomes challenging to explore them thoroughly. In "Wicked," the multitude of plot points resulted in only surface-level engagement with each, leaving the story feeling disjointed and confusing. The attempt to juggle so many plots led to a choppy narrative, jumping between ideas without a clear direction. None of the plot points were explored in a meaningful manner, and the story seemed to leap erratically without a coherent progression. One minute the sentient animals are teaching at the college with some people feeling minor discontent around sentient animals having rights. Way later in the movie, suddenly all sentient animals are deemed illegal and put in cages. Absolutely no explanation on how the world of Oz went from some people being mildly uncomfortable with sentient animals having rights to sentient animals being illegal and caged Similarly, the relationship between the two main characters is inconsistent. Initially, they strongly dislike each other, with the "good" character being a lazy, untalented individual who seeks to undermine the "bad" character's life. Later in the movie, an unexpected act of kindness from the "bad" character leads to a tentative friendship, yet there is no clear rationale for this change in behavior nor is there any resolution of their animosity. No explicit about how the enemies overcame their hatred of each other. Despite the "bad" character being clearly defined from the beginning, there is no background provided to explain their transition to villainy. Although they experience considerable challenges, they remain kind and compassionate throughout the film, only to be portrayed as the evil witch at the end, without any meaningful development or explanation for this sudden shift. There were so many plot points introduced that none were adequately developed. As illustrated by the examples mentioned, crucial elements of the storyline were missing, making it difficult to grasp the narrative. This serves as an unfortunate example of how having too much of a good thing can be detrimental.