Oz the Great and Powerful

A small time circus magician/con-artist gets whisked away in a hot air balloon into a tornado where he lands in the mystical land of Oz. He is found by a young witch named Theodora who thinks he is the Wizard who is prophetized to be the savior of the land. The magician, who is also named Oz, meets a colorful cast of characters in his mission to figure out who is evil and who is not. Once he does, the battle is on to save the land of Oz...and to find out what kind of man he really is. 

Cast: 

James Franco as Oscar Diggs / Wizard of Oz
Mila Kunis as Theodora / The Wicked Witch of the West
Rachel Weisz as Evanora / The Wicked Witch of the East
Michelle Williams as Glinda the Good Witch / Annie
Zach Braff as the voice of Finley the Flying Monkey / Frank, Oscar's circus assistant
Joey King as the voice of China Girl/Girl In Wheelchair
Bill Cobbs as Master Tinkerer
Tony Cox as Knuck the Fanfare Player
Bruce Campbell as a Winkie guard

Who will like this

It's easy to say that anyone who has seen the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" will find this an interesting option. There can be a case made that even those who liked the Broadway musical "Wicked" will be drawn to "Oz the Great and Powerful" as well. However, if you're looking for the story lines from those two to match up with this new version, you will be in for a disappointment  It is more of a visually stunning and fun movie that kids of all ages will like. A warning to parents of very young or easily frightened children, this has some scary moments, especially if seen in 3-D. 

Phantom Thoughts

Let me put things into perspective for you on where I was going in to see this movie. I have always said there are 3 movies made for children of all ages that you don't mess with: "Mary Poppins", "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", and "The Wizard of Oz". That point was already proven with the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton 2005 version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". 

Another problem right from the start is the legal battle in making the film. You see, while the L. Frank Baum book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is public domain and from which Disney said it takes this movie from, Warner Brothers actually owns the rights to the 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz". That means that characters, items and designs were not allowed to be used or copied in this movie. So the Ruby slippers were not allowed to be used, the design of Munchkinland and the Emerald City were off limits, even the mole at the end of the Wicked Witch of the West's chin made famous by Margret Hamilton could not be copied. They even had to make a different shade of green make-up to not get into legal trouble! Glinda the Good witch is from the South, where she is from the North in the original.  That did not stop them, however from taking some elements from the famous film. The bubble Glinda flies in, the smoke broom, yellow brick road and the Wizard Throne room and effects he uses are all taken directly from "The Wizard of Oz". 

So if you take all those things into consideration, what do you have left? Not really that much, actually. I did like certain nods they gave to both the book and the original movie. For instance, in the beginning of the film, you see a sign for the circus that Oz is working in: Baum Brothers Circus. A reference to L. Frank Baum, the author of the book. I also was impressed with the fact that when Theodora cried, her tears left scar tracks down her face, giving credence to her eventual downfall by Dorothy by throwing a bucket of water at her. And although they started the movie in black and white and changing to color when entering Oz (as well as going from the 4:3 Academy aspect ratio and then changing to widescreen) the change itself was less dramatic than Dorothy literally opening the door to a new world. One similarity that was not welcome was the fact that in the "Wizard of Oz", Buddy Ebsen was the original Tin Man, but had to drop out due to the Mercury poisoning he suffered from the silver make-up he had on. Mila Kunis had to take 2 months off from the removal of her make-up and prosthetics used in this movie. 

The 3-D is alright even if they used that cheap "pop out" element that I hate so much. The movie is visually fantastic and a lot of the CGI was done really well. Unfortunately, James Franco erases some of the great work those computer animators accomplished with his bad interaction with those characters. My question is this: if they put all that time and effort to make the CGI characters look real, why couldn't they computer animate Franco's hands when he is "touching" them to make it look more believable or at least not take you out of the moment? They did it on "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" when Lucas decided in post production he wanted Anikin's hand to move toward Padme before he kissed her. And no one could tell the difference. You may have not even known that until I said it just now! 

Sam Raimi also takes a page out of his own book when he uses an "Army of Darkness" approach to the Oz montage leading up to the big battle. Just like Ash who is an average guy stuck in a place where modern technology does not exist, who then with a few simple books becomes a master inventor/chemist/ engineer; Oz is a small time magician who becomes a master of illusion/electrician/chemist to pull off his fight against the Evil Witches. 

James Franco's work with the CGI was not his only fault. His performance as the Wizard was mild at best. Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams all were very good in the film as the Witches, however as much as I love Mila Kunis, her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the East (once she turned into the green baddie) was just lacking in some way. Whether it was just the make-up and costume or if was that she didn't channel Margret Hamilton enough to be believable, I'm not quite sure. 

There's no doubt that this will be a huge success (my indifference to watching it is not enough to stop me from seeing it again with my daughter) and Disney is so sure it will be that they already have plans for a second movie. I can't imagine that it will be much better than this one, in fact I'm pretty sure it will be worse.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.