Wicked
February 2, 2025
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW:
Street Date 2/4/25;
Universal;
Musical;
Box Office $ 470.86 million;
$24.99 DVD, $29.99 Blu-ray, $34.99 UHD BD;
Rated ‘PG’ for some scary action, thematic material and brief suggestive material.
Stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande-Butera, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum.
The musical reimagining of the world of The Wizard of Oz has been given a home entertainment presentation that should be well received by fans of the long-running Broadway show from which it is adapted.
The stage musical, which debuted in 2003, and the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired it have proved to be somewhat divisive among “Oz” fans because they provide a revisionist interpretation of L. Frank Baum’s original books and the 1939 The Wizard of Oz film.
Keeping with the book’s central thesis of whether evil is an inherited trait or a matter of circumstance, much of the story is presented from the Wicked Witch of the West’s perspective, re-framing her as a misunderstood social outcast due to her green skin who is eventually labeled as wicked as part of a propaganda movement to discredit her after she realizes the Wizard is a fraud with no actual powers and is leading the kingdom of Oz down the path of fascism.
That’s some weighty social commentary that doesn’t necessarily line-up with Baum’s intentions. At least the musical glosses over most of the book’s darker and more-adult elements.
As a film, Wicked also suffers from a major bout of prequelitis in that it tries to explain and tie together practically every element from the original story, even to the point where it doesn’t make much sense given how the characters interact in those earlier presentations.
The story of Wicked follows future good witch Glinda (Ariana Grande) and future wicked witch Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) as they meet at a Hogwarts-esque school and become best friends — a bond that is torn apart when they finally meet the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) who needs Elphaba’s magic to consolidate his power by claiming the intelligent animals of Oz are responsible for all the kingdom’s problems. The friends also get involved in romantic entanglements with characters who eventually become the Scarecrow and Tin Man, as if that backstory was ever evident in anything Baum wrote.
So, for a prequel that stays truer to the tone, story elements and morality of the ’39 film, 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful is a better option.
As an adaptation of a popular stage play, however, Wicked is a sprawling spectacle with catchy music and top-notch production values fueling a visual style that pays homage to the iconography of the ’39 movie.
The film’s biggest drawback is its immense length, running more than two-and-a-half hours to cover just the first act of a musical that runs that long in its entirety on stage (a second movie, covering act two, is due in theaters Nov. 21, 2025). Thus, to casual viewers, the film might seem like a bit self-indulgent in its middle section (there’s even a song about the witch’s hat!) as it drags on to establish all the exposition and emotional resonance needed for its finale and continuation.
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The film’s 4K Blu-ray combo pack is somewhat unusual in that the 4K disc offers more bonus materials than the regular Blu-ray.
Both include the sing-along mode with on-screen lyrics, an in-depth 25-minute “Making Wicked” featurette, 10 deleted scenes that run a total of about 15 minutes, and two good commentary tracks — one with director Jon M. Chu and the other with stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
The 4K disc also offers three additional featurettes: the eight-minute “Welcome to Shiz,” a deep dive into the film’s university setting; the four-minute “The Wonderful Wizard,” about Jeff Goldblum’s role and the visual effects used to portray the Wizard’s imperial appearance; and the four-and-a-half-minute “A Wicked Legacy,” which reflects on the original Broadway musical and spotlights some key cameos in the film.
All these extras are also available with the digital versions of the film at most online retailers. In fact, the digital version of the sing-along mode includes a minute-long introduction from Erivo and Grande.