Story

Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) was born green, something no-one can explain. When Elphaba’s mother dies giving birth to her little sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), her father never again bothers to hide his disgust with her. Despite her kind heart, Elphaba is blamed for everything that ever goes wrong, but she continues to shower her sister with the love and kindness their father withholds from her.

When Nessarose is accepted to the illustrious Shiz University, Elphaba accompanies her to the orientation and is ostracised by the entire student body after she stands up for herself and dares to question the popular and perfect Galinda (Ariana Grande), who’s desperate to learn magic. Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), a sought-after sorcery instructor, has vowed not to teach any new students, but she changes her mind when she sees what Elphaba can do. Madame Morrible arranges for Elphaba to join the university and offers to instruct her privately, much to Galinda’s dismay.

Galinda and Elphaba are put together as roommates, but they struggle with their differences. Galinda plays a mean trick on Elphaba, but it backfires when Elphaba is kind in return. Deeply ashamed of her behaviour, Galinda tries to make amends, and the pair forms a fast friendship.

Galinda begins to fall in love with Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), the newest student at the university. At the same time, Elphaba is determined to help the animals, including a favourite professor, all of whom are being persecuted, captured or driven away. When Elphaba is summoned by the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), she sees it as her chance to help the animals and all those who are suffering. She invites Galinda (now known as Glinda) to join her, and the pair enjoys the Emerald City. But then they learn the truth about the Wizard and what he hopes to do.

Themes

Good versus evil; parental favouritism; injustice; betrayal; animal cruelty; racism and prejudice

Violence

Wicked has some violence. For example:

• A scene shows a puddle that was once the Wicked Witch of the West. A character asks, ‘Exactly how dead is she?’
• Flying ape-soldiers crash through windows and take to the skies.
• Characters chant, ‘Kill the witch!’
• Hundreds of items fly towards the ceiling and stay there when Elphaba is born. Her father asks a nanny to take her away.
• Children are cruel to Elphaba. In a rage, she causes small rocks to fly in their direction.
• Nessarose is sent into the air, and benches and items fly into the sky, crash into walls and land haphazardly, narrowly missing students.
• Elphaba makes things break and crash around her as she struggles to control her powers.
• All the students at Shiz University initially treat Elphaba as an outsider.
• Animals are treated as inferior citizens. They begin to disappear, and a professor is roughly taken from his classroom by aggressive police figures.
• There are images of animals being captured and forcibly restrained.
• Apes chase and try to capture Elphaba.
• Guards try to stop Elphaba and Glinda from escaping in a hot air balloon. Elphaba and Glinda push guards over the side and try to kick them away.
• A hot air balloon becomes trapped against a ceiling. It catches fire, crashes down to the floor, and nearly crushes the guards below.
• Guards smash through a door and grab Glinda. They threaten Glinda with swords before Elphaba reminds them that they’re after her instead. She races through a window and plummets down towards the ground below while her life flashes before her eyes. She pulls out of the free fall at the last possible second. The apes that are chasing her crash to the ground.
• There is an explosion of lights, and the Emerald City is plunged into darkness.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Wicked.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Wicked shows some use of substances. For example:

• Characters drink unidentified substances, which seem to be alcohol.
• Elphaba says that her sister’s disability is her fault. Because she’s green, when her mother became pregnant with her sister, her father insisted that his wife eat a lot of milk flowers to ensure the baby would be born a normal colour. The flowers made her mother deliver early. As a result, her mother died in childbirth, and Nessarose can’t walk.

Nudity and sexual activity

Wicked has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

• Elphaba’s mother has an affair with another man. She’s in his arms as soon as her husband leaves the house. They kiss passionately, embracing each other against furniture and sit on piano keys. Elphaba is born from this relationship.
• Galinda and Prince Fiyero kiss several times, and she confesses to Elphaba that she is going to marry him.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Wicked.

Coarse language

Wicked has some coarse language and name-calling. For example:

• Galinda calls Elphaba an artichoke.
• A character says, ‘Get stuffed’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Wicked is a musical fantasy adventure. This prequel to the Wizard of Oz is the big screen adaptation of the acclaimed Broadway musical and features a star-studded cast, vibrant musical numbers, a fast-paced plot and a cliffhanger ending, which will be resolved in Wicked: Part Two.

Wicked is best suited to viewers aged over 8 years.

These are the main messages from Wicked:

• Be true to yourself.
• Don’t be blinded by outward appearances or swayed by popular opinion.
• No-one should be persecuted, bullied or forced to change, just because they’re different.

Values in Wicked that you could reinforce with your children include compassion, friendship, forgiveness, courage and integrity.

Wicked could give you the chance to talk with your children about what might drive people to behave in ‘wicked’ ways. You could also talk about the real-life consequences of things like:

• caging creatures
• treating people in ways that diminish their potential
• judging someone by the colour of their skin or by a disability
• making fun of others or treating them unkindly because they’re different from you
• being cruel or wicked.