Review 241: Oz the Great and Powerful

 

Oz the Great and Powerful doesn't reach the standards of the original The Wizard of Oz, but it's still an impressive expansion of the series and a clever way of setting up the characters we know for the famous story everyone's heard about,

Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he's hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz), and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

The plot was actually quite impressively told and had some creative surprises along the way. It's a deep movie, it on the end of the scale from the original The Wizard of Oz, but at the heart of the story is one man, one man who is nothing more than a just a small-time circus magician and con artist but who wants to achieve great things and this story is about his development and how he goes from being a-well nobody to a great man and it was fascinating to watch him become this powerful man.
I also loved the way that pays a sort of homage to the 1939 film e.g. filming the Kansas scenes in black-and-white amongst others and the way it shows the how the characters became who they are in the books is really cleverly done.

Director Sam Raimi's direction is unobtrusive, the cinematography is beautiful, the special effects are gorgeous, the score by Danny Elfman is spectacular, the production design is immaculate, the costumes are authentic, the make is rich, there are some great moments of suspense, the creature design is splendid, the scenery is breathtaking, props are beautifully crafted and the action set peices are thrilling and funny at the same time.

Overall there's good acting James Franco does fine work as Oz, the guy is a young man, an up and coming magician and con artist before he was the great ma we know and Franco does that really well, Michelle Williams is luminous and lovely as Glinda the Good Witch, I thought she was well cast in the role, Mila Kunis is surprisingly pretty good as Theodora but it's when she well, I'm not gonna reveal anything as I don't wanna spoil anything buts then that she really starts to shine, Zach Braff is very likeable as Finley the Winged monkey, Joey King is cute as China Girl, Rachel Weisz is quite sinister as Evanora and the rest of the cast is mostly well done.

Oz the Great and Powerful may not be as great or powerful as the 1939 classic but it actually comes along quite well, 3/5.

The Annoymous Critic.