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Whoa! What a wonderful surprise. The acting in this movie is on point, the plot is the same as the musical's which is to say pointed and intelligent, and the scenery stays true to the musical but infused with cgi. The singing will blow you away.

I knew Erivo's singing was world class but girl can act! Her acting was so subtle and smart. Much of her genius is in her face. Elphaba's internal conflict- the pain, awareness, sympathy, anger - Cynthia wears these emotions beautifully. Every time the camera zoomed in on her face I got emotional. I've never experienced that before. To boot, her singing is insane. So talented.

Ariana Grande also delivers a subtle, smart performance. Like Elphaba, Glinda faces an internal struggle. Grande evolves the character beautifully from a shallow airhead to a slightly less shallow, empathetic airhead. She offers a perfect counterpart to Erivo's Elphaba.

The music. I'm not super familiar with the changes that were made but the songs were clearly updated from the originals. I was highly entertained, so much so I didn't want to take a bathroom break during the songs - saved it for a speaking scene.

I could go on. The supporting acting was perfect - with stellar performances from Peter Dinklage and Michelle Yeoh as professors at Shiz to Bowen Yang (Glinda's cheerleader),and Marissa Bode (Elphaba's sister). There was no weakness. Every performance was solid. So refreshing!

The plot stays true to the musical and is my favorite part. The reason Wicked is so popular even today is the plot is relevant (and the music catchy). It deals with race and politics by using metaphors. They're not too complex but if you like thinking deeply there is plenty there. If you just want to turn your brain off you'll have a harder time, but the music and scenery is enough to keep you entertained.

The scenery feels like a juiced up Broadway scenery. Designed for a musical with the graces of CGI. I'm not going to go into it further. It's exciting, big Hollywood movie scenery but a musical.

I would highly recommend you go see this movie. The combination of smart plot, strong acting, crazy good singing, and fancy scenery make this worth it. And that face! Cynthia Erivo's eyes will pierce your soul - Grande's too. Check it out!

Here's what I wouldn't do. I wouldn't go into watching this show expecting to experience television worthy of trunk fulls of Emmy nominations (see what I did there?) You're not going to be able to draw comparisons to Masterpiece Theater. But you can expect a fun, turn-your-brain off and feel-good car restoration show. It's fantastic, honestly. And even though it's not winning a bunch of Emmys it's clever, well-made, and has a great cast. Chris Redd is a natural host. He's hilarious and kind of impish (I mean that in a good way) and seems to genuinely care about the participants, and the restoration team. The car restorations are so cool. They are over-the-top but they look awesome. The Mazda in the last episode is insanely cool. Super smart, playful and entertaining show. My suggestion: sit down after dinner and just veg out and enjoy some nice, entertaining, feel-good tv.

I rated this movie highly because it is not Marvel. I don't mean separate from Marvel. I mean it is a unique, fairly clever, superhero movie with an intriguing plot and characters. The opposite of most Marvel movies which are so mind-numbingly formulaic it makes me want to throw up. On its own this movie gets a 7, maybe 7.5. The plot is fascinating and the acting is solid. The multiverse theme is explored with some smartness and depth. I thought the special effects were fine. Sometimes they were computery, but the creative cinematography made up for it. The script was a little painful. The writers definitely Marveled it up with some of the dialogue. A healthy dose of. Formulaic, lazy writing with a lot of cliches. But the plot, acting, and cinematography helped me overlook it (I recognize comic book movies contain a unique style of kind of corny dialogue....but that can be done intelligently). Like I said, probably a 7 or 7.5 but extra points for being not Marvel - dumb, and made from a template...except Guardians 1 and Thor Ragnarok. Those were actually pretty well-written. Anyway, check out The Flash. It's worth a watch.