Is "OZ, the Great and Powerful"?

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...again. Well, not again but before it officially happened. This is Oz, The Great and Powerful, a prequel to both the classic 1939 Wizard of Oz  film staring Judy Garland and the the 1900 children's fantasy novel by L. Frank Baum. In this expansion to the story of OZ, a circus magician named Oscar Diggs (James Franco) dreams of becoming a great man, and his dreams might come true as after riding in a hot air balloon during a tornado storm, he is blown away to the magical land of OZ. There he meets the keepers of the Emerald City, Theodora (Mila Kunis) and Evanora (Rachel Weisz), who tell Oscar that according to a prophecy he is the great Wizard of OZ whose duty is to stop the Wicked Witch from terrorizing the land, and if he does he will become the king of OZ. Wanting glory and riches, he of course goes on the quest along to defeat the Wicked Witch and he is joined by a flying monkey named Finely (voiced by Zach Braff), a China Girl (voiced by Joey King), and Glinda the Good Witch (Michelle Williams). But it might also be true that Evanora and Theodora may have dark secrets of their own. To be fairly honest, going in I really thought this was going be a really poor film. I was not impressed by the cast, premise, or any of the advertisements. I thought it was going to be a wide angle lens, forced 3D shots, cheesy visual effects, and a poor story and character filled type of mess. But it still is OZ, so it was ironic of me to go and pay a ticket to go see this film, even though going in I knew it might be at least bad, not horrible. Coming out of the film, I was rather impressed it kept me entertained. It had a surprisingly good amount of likeable characters, the settings are inventive, the humor is pretty funny, and the story though it seemed done to death, still kept me invested some how. There were some painfully obvious twists and story elements that did not exactly work, but yet there some clever and interesting ones as well, which were all part of the reason why this film did keep me entertained. 

Majority of these characters by the end come out as enjoyable by the end. While some I admit are a little lacking. Oscar, or OZ as most people call him, starts out as sort of an ironic character. He says that he wants to do good and be a great man doing great things, yet he is a con artist and a swindler, sometimes he can be impatient, demanding, and at first he did not seem to ecstatic about his duty as the chosen one for OZ. He was just in it for the royalty and riches. But as the story went on and continued to develop and when he began to interact with more characters and situations, he kind of grew on me. When he actually does start to use some of his talents, wit, and con trickery to do good instead of benefiting himself, you can begin to appreciate it. Plus, I won't dive anything away, but SOME of it actually does work, especially considering the character he is and how it connects to the original Wizard of OZ story. Same thing can be said about James Franco, his acting was not exactly great, but further in as you get to enjoy his character a little more, you get to enjoy his character a little more. Then there is Michelle Williams as the Good Witch, Glinda. Those who have read my review of the 1939 Wizard of OZ film, know that I am not a fan of Glinda. I'll admit this character does have her share of pretty annoying moments, there are just an equal amount of moments where you can actually like her. She seems wise, caring, supportive, and at times she actually does things to contribute in contrast to just smiling and looking pretty like the original. Though it still would be ludicrous to call this character a better portrayal or better character overall than the original, while I can excuse the original for the time of the film's release, while this character is good an interesting but she is still far from being a fantastic or perfect character. But I will say though the character is written rather decently I just cannot see Michelle Williams in this type of role. I honestly think she does not look that innocent enough, and I know how I complained that the original Glinda would smile and talk pretty too much, but I would at least enjoy someone I can feel more sorry for. I say they could have got someone like Reese Witherspoon, Amanda Seyfried, Amy Adams, or Kristen Bell then probably I would feel for the character more. I hate spoiling certain plot elements in my reviews and I heavily refrain from ever doing so, but I think it's a no brainer that Evanora and Theodora are the villains, and yes Theodora is the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. Again, I feel like I am not spoiling anything by saying that because even the advertisements and promotions for the film said so, which were one of the reasons I thought the film was going to really bomb. If they don't care that they reveal who the villains are, what would make you think they care about the film as a whole? But as I stated earlier, I was wrong about by pre-judgement and it turns out that half of the concept of the villians seem to work and half of it sort of doesn't. What I mean is you got Rachel Weisz as The Wicked Witch of the East, Evanora who when you put it together is just a very cliched and boring villain. I thought her appearence was boring, I thought her personality was cliched, I thought her powers were nothing to be amazed about, she just seemed very tired. I could tell that Weisz was trying to pull something off with the character, but she did not do anything really special or that memorable that bought me into to her. In fact there were about two moments in the film that were pretty memorable, but also pretty lame because in these two scenes she severely rips off two famous cinematic villains respectively and it is painfully obvious. It made roll my eyes. But then there is also the other half of the villains, Mila Kunis as Theodora aka The Wicked Witch of the West who is by far more entertaining and interesting than the Witch of the East. First of all I really love her design and how her modernization surprisingly works. You can tell they really evolved the character, because for example in the original film whenever the Witch would appear it would be like blowing wind or a puff of black smoke, pretty easy practical effects. Also whenever she would shoot fireballs it would just be like a fire spark. But here when she enters, she appears in the form of a comet, does a crash landing, then there's this big whirlwind of fire. It's pretty amazing to look at. Plus even though no one can surpass Margaret Hamilton as The Wicked Witch, I think Mila Kunis held up okay. But by far two of my most favorite characters are Finley the flying monkey and the China Girl. Finley is a flying monkey who dedicates his life to being a loyal servant and friend to Oscar, or OZ, after he save his life. The character has a lot of good moments, cute scenes, good lines, good voice acting from Zach Braff, and is the heart of the film's humor. Then there is the China Girl who is an absolute show stealer! A small petite girl made out of China, China Girl is cute, fun, funny, and just represents the magic and wonder that the land of OZ is used to bringing. Plus, Joey King does a great job in doing this character's voice as a lot of heart and emotion are present in the performance. Also the CG effect for her is actually really well done and the detail is so perfect. I personally really loved this character and there is no OZ film without a character like her or Finley. 




This is one of those films that I sort of wished I saw in 3D, but even without the 3D the visuals are still amazing! To portray the actual land of OZ, I think the visual effects and the environment of the settings still makes the audience feel like they are in OZ, even without the 3D glasses, so I would recommend to see the film on the big screen at least. Plus there are some good moments of emotion in the film. With characters as innocent as the citizens of OZ, you can get some good emotional scenes and sense of emotions within the characters. Specifically the introduction scene of the China Girl is so heart breaking but touching at the same time. Scenes like this are great because they truly remind you that you are watching an OZ film. 



I also think even though a lot of the acting may not hold up, apart from Mila Kunsis, Finley, and The China Girl in my opinion, I think the film does has solid and decently paced story. It is not perfect or great, but it still is an interesting take on what happened before the original story we all know, and it sets up everything quite well to the events of Wizard of OZ. Despite some awkward goofy scenes and some awkward acting, I still think majority of the characters held up okay, and a couple of them more than hold up. I still think the film does have a story that is worth $8.50 to check out and analyze through your own personal tastes. The film could have honestly gone both ways as it could have easily completey bomb or it could have been a extraordinary success, it just needed a little fix here and there. But again it all comes down to personal taste, and for me personally I was very happy that I saw it. Even if it was not great or powerful as I hoped to be, it was still actually good enough to put a smile on my face. But hey that's what OZ does to ya. 

GRADE: P-



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