by francesco basti
Disney’s Oz: the Great and Powerful did not live up to its classic predecessor, but it was still a very fun movie to watch.
The movie unveils the tale of Oz, a young Kansas carnival magician (played by James Franco) who finds himself in the wonderful land of Oz (yes, it gets confusing) and is mistaken as a powerful wizard who, as legend dictates, is supposed to save the people from the wicked witch.
Oz is obviously not a powerful wizard but merely a conjurer of cheap tricks; however, with the help of a group of unlikely companions, he manages to defeat the evil witches and their army of wonderfully rendered flying monkeys, ultimately saving all the people of the land.
Plot-wise, Oz: the Great and Powerful is a fair and satisfying prequel to the original Wizard of Oz as it tells the tale of the witches and Oz himself. The movie references all of the significant sights from the original, such as the Black Forest, the magical poppy field and the great Emerald City, with even a few references to future characters.
The movie, however, fails to meet the sense of “awe” that the first film gave the audience. Most of the landscapes and sets are clearly CGI, and that takes away from the magical setting that the original created with an amazing physical stage design. Of course, the visuals were still fairly impressive, but all of Oz’s companions were also computer generated, which made them difficult to relate to, or even at times sympathize with.
The new companions, a brave flying chimp and a china girl (as in tea cups), are not even comparable to the scarecrow, cowardly lion and tin-man. Both the girl and the monkey are well-written characters, but they don’t seem as crucial to the story as the original three.
However, the pacing is good and both the climax and the twist are executed well.
One very strange aspect of Oz: the Great and Powerful was initially characterizing Oz as a womanizer both in Kansas and in Oz. He hits on every attractive woman he can find. He even flirts with the Wicked Witch of the West (Mila Kunis), the Wicked Witch of the East (Rachel Weisz) and the Good Witch Glinda (Michelle Williams).
Even though he does become a better man by the end of the movie, completing a very fulfilling character arc, Oz as first introduced is a very non-Disney character, which was honestly surprising.
So, the dialogue was fine, and there were really funny moments and dramatic ones as well. It is an engaging film, and it appeals to kids as well as adults: from a kid perspective it is just a cool movie, but from an adult perspective it is a good prequel to a very famous movie everyone has heard of.
It was also really nice to see that the movie starts in black and white with an old-school square frame, and as James Franco enters Oz it fades to color widescreen. Not only did this set the mood very well, but it also was an effective throwback to the original.
This was not one of James Franco’s most spectacular performances, but he fit the role well, although he seemed to have difficulty acting around things and people who weren’t actually there. Mila Kunis was not very good. Her performance was very forced, awkward, and it did not seem right. It was clear that she was trying, but she just did not fit the role. However, the voice actors for the monkey and the little china girl were amazing and fit their roles very well.
Even though the acting was off-putting and the CGI was overdone, the story, pretty visuals and some very clever moments make up for that. Overall, it was an entertaining and fun movie to watch, nothing memorable, but still a fairly good film.