If there are post-Harry Potter children who don’t know or care about The Wizard of Oz, they might be at sea with this story about a not-very-nice grownup in a magic land, but long-term Oz watchers will be enchanted and enthralled. There’s even a musical number, albeit an abbreviated one. Mila Kunis gets a gold star for excellence in bewitchery and Sam Raimi can settle securely behind the curtain as a mature master of illusion.
Sometimes sweet, sometimes scary, sometimes sour, Oz the Great and Powerful is a film that doesn't know its own mind. A partially effective jumble whose elements clash rather than cohere, this solid but not spectacular effort stubbornly refuses to catch fire until it's almost too late.
Much of Oz The Great And Powerful’s fate is tied to James Franco’s performance as Oz, and the center barely holds, with Franco often looking as overwhelmed by the task as he was by his hosting job on Oscar night.
Raimi, who launched his career with the cheapo horror mini-masterpiece "The Evil Dead" before helming the blockbuster "Spider-Man" trilogy, can’t infuse the story with much verve or joy.
Oz tilts towards the mawkish, as the sham wizard learns the value of selflessness and an incessant Danny Elfman score tugs so shamelessly at your tear ducts that it would make the Tin Man surrender his heart on the spot.
Don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirrors. There is nothing here that is great, or powerful. Worst of all, there’s nothing here that even feels like Oz.
Though it most certainly doesn't have as much songs as the original film, Oz the Great and Powerful is a spectacular film that you'll enjoy a lot! It has plenty of funny scenes and the end will make you want to root on the good guys!
This film, conceived as a prequel to the famous "The Wizard of Oz", 1939, shows us how the "sorcerer" goes to that fantastic land, and how he managed to become the greatest sorcerer in the country. Directed by Sam Raimi, this film has a script by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire. The cast is headed by James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams.
This prequel was made almost a hundred years after the original film, probably due to the status of "classic" that it won through the decades. And the idea to revive Oz, decades after Dorothy's journey through the big screen, is quite good.
The script is interesting and the story isn't bad, unrolling quite naturally from the moment the magic arrives in Oz. The biggest problem is that this film completely breaks with its '39 predecessor in a key point of the story: everything that Dorothy does in Oz never happened, it was just a dream but, in this film, the magic really goes to Oz, awake and aware, and the film never explains how. This would never be a problem if the rest of the film wasn't an attempt to prequel the first film but, if it's a prequel and Oz was a dream in the first one, it should have remained a dream in this film or, at least, the arrival of the magic should have been better explained.
The actors generally fulfilled reasonably with their work. Rachel Weisz was excellent in the role of Evanora, and her British charm gave to the character an additional dose of calculism and cruelty that was very welcome. Michelle Williams also didn't disappoint as Glinda, managing to personify the qualities of her character. Mila Kunis is very good to roles with personality and great presence, but this isn't the case of Theodora, a woman highly influenced by her bad sister and suffering because of their impulses and passions. Perhaps this has posed problems for the actress, and the way she sought to overcome them has not been the best. The fact is that her character, initially too warm and bland, just improves when becomes a villain. James Franco was an extremely seductive and charming magician, but also opportunistic, hypocritical and more concerned with saving his own skin than helping others. The way he changes was well achieved by the actor, but his performance was generally irregular, with very good scenes followed by other totally uninteresting.
The production gave the biggest attention to the sets and visual effects. Raimi knew that the public would require a re-creation, with current techniques, of the colorful and fantastic universe of Oz, and the computerized effects would be essential to achieve that. The result is excellent and worthy of being admired. The photography also helped a lot, and we must emphasize especially the way it helps to mark the "border" to the world of Oz, with a gradual change of color and screen format. The special effects were also made with great detail. The soundtrack, however, is absolutely disappointing. The music was an essential part of the first film, which had great musical moments, and there isn't a single decent musical moment in this film, and the main theme are too regular to be worthy of any positive mention.
This movie is basically about Oz who ends up in an enchanted world and has to face 3 witches. Its not like The Wizard of Oz in case you have not seen it. This movie may make some people angry as I am one of the viewers who was Oz (James Franco) is a selfish and greedy fraud. His acting is very good and he fits in well with his role. He meets Theodora (Mila Kunis) eventually throughout his journey pretending to be the powerful Oz because he knows that he will get money. He is very lucky and manages to trick pretty much everyone there that he is Oz even though he is not. She then takes him to meet her sister one of the witches who he then also tricks into thinking he loves but she doesn't take it to heart as much. He is basically a player. He then leads Theodora on to thinking he loves her but he does not he doesnt know that she is one of the witches and he breaks her heart when she finds out he was a fraud. Her sister Evanora (Racheal Weisz) is also one of the witches they all posses a different power. is the one who he has also lead on. Theodora comes to Evanora crying telling her about "Oz" she then cries in a scene and her tears burn her flesh she does very good acting throughout this whole time. She becomes furious when her face burns and her sister Evanora convinces her to take a potion of some sort to get rid of the pain in her heart. This makes her an evil green which who seeks revenge on Oz. Mila Kunis does not fit in well at all with this role she plays her "evil laugh" is very weak and she just cant pull it off its ridiculous. Eventually Oz meets many more people till he meets the nice witch Glinda who he also then starts make to fall for him he is very good at playing a player in the movie. She also does a very good job playin her role. The evil witch then plans to destroy the land and Oz witch is why she told Theodora to take that potion to turn into an evil witch. The movie seems like it could have been good but these people are dumb..... they just get tricked and think that Oz is the powerful wizard and he is not. Mila Kunis should not have played the evil witch seems like she just got the role because she is a big actress. This guy basically a player, a fraud, a lair, and yet at the end he ends up with falling for the nice princess its just not a good message to kids if that's why its a Disney movie I regret even witching this movie there's much more to the movie but bare with me people.
Gwaaaah, what a terrible movie. James Franco should NOT be a leading actor and Mila Kunis should NOT be a leading actress. It had a good set of ideas and what could have been a really touching story that was just trampled on my ham-fisted acting. Gwah.