Predicted Rating: 3.5 Stars
Directed by Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spiderman). Starring James Franco (127 Hours), Mila Kunis (Black Swan), Rachael Weisz (The Mummy) and Michelle Williams (My Week with Marylin)
Set 20 years before the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, Oz the Great and Powerful tells the story of how Oz became the Wizard of Oz. After escaping from a Kansas fair in his hot air balloon, illusionist Oz (James Franco) is sucked into a tornado and finds himself in the land of Oz. He is rescued by Theodora (Kunis) aka the Wicked Witch of the West who takes Oz to the Emerald City to meet her sister, Evanora (Weisz) aka the Wicked Witch of the East. They immediately identify him as the one who is to fulfill the prophecy and kill the wicked witch and rule Oz. On his journey along the yellow brick road, Oz meets with Finley the flying monkey (Zach Braff) and the little china girl (Joey King) who all quickly discover that who they think is the wicked witch is in fact Glinda (Williams), the Good Witch of the North. They all must return to the Emerald City and overthrow the two evil witches.
There were three things I was looking forward to in Oz the Great and Powerful. The music of Danny Elman, the direction of Sam Raimi and the three leading ladies, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachael Weisz. Since the music of Danny Elfman was solid as normal, I will start with the direction of Sam Raimi. Raimi rose to fame with his skills in the Evil Dead series, the second installment of which I think is the best directed movie ever. He then went mainstream with the Spiderman series whilst still being able to maintain his Raimi-esque techniques. He then returned to horror with the very underrated Drag Me to Hell. Even though he once again returns to the mainstream with Oz the Great and Powerful, he loses none of his magic. It is his fast paced, almost surreal style of direction that makes this film. However, there are times where the actors, particularly Kunis and Franco, appear to struggle to keep up with Raimi. This is probably me just being pedantic but it was something I noticed. If you want to get an idea of what the typical Sam Raimi directorial style is, watch the scene in Spiderman 2 when they try to operate on Doc Ock after the accident, it is on youtube.
The final thing I was looking forward to was the three leading ladies, Michelle, Mila and Rachael. In this situation, you really expect one of them to steal the show and dominate the movie. If you were to set up a betting market on who would steal the show before the movie would be released, I would say Mila Kunis would be the favourite at about $1.70, next would be Rachael Weisz at $3 and then Michelle Williams the outsider at $4.30. All of them threaten to take the bull by the horns throughout the movie. Rachael is prominent at the start but is overshadowed by the other two later in the film. Mila is great as the Wicked Witch of the West, however, she needed a lot more prosthetics. Even when she is supposed to become hiddeous, you can still tell it is Mila so you think even with the green face and big nose, you are still pretty hot. I am tempted to give the award to Michelle purely on how attractive she is. Seriously I had no idea, I was breath-taken the entire time. Based on this, in the end, the award goes to... Joey King. What, wait, who? That's right the little china girl sweeps the rug out from everyone's feet. From her little cameo at the start which breaks your heart to her cute antics throughout the movies that makes you wish you had a doll just like her. That's why the little china girl takes the award for best female lead.
Going into the movie, I was worried that that Oz would be too childish, something that would turn off the majority of the target audience. This fact was enhanced by the previews before the film started for new kids movies such as Zambezia, The Croods and Epic, three movies I will definitely not be seeing. By the way Zambezia looks like the cheapest movie ever made. For 60 odd years, The Wizard of Oz was the most beloved children's movie ever, you would be hard pressed to find a kid who had not seen the film. However, then came a long Harry Potter, now you would be hard pressed to find a kid who had seen the Wizard of Oz. However, thanks to Sam Raimi, Oz the Great and Powerful is a movie that can be enjoyed by all. It is definitely something I would take the kids to see but it is tailored to an adult audience. However, as a result, it seems to lose the charm of the original. This maybe due to it not being a musical but it is my thinking that it won't have the longevity of popularity of the original. On a side note, I went in thinking it would be awesome if the beginning was in 4:3 ration black and white, and it was, and it was awesome!
Overall: In the end, this is actually quite a good movie. I was thoroughly entertained. It had big shoes to fill, excuse the pun, and it does it admirably. 4 Stars
Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: On review of some of my reviews, they are often confusing. As a result I am doing a system where thumbs up is go watch this movie, thumbs down is avoid it. For Oz the Great and Powerful it is a big old Thumbs Up.
Next time: Either A Good Day to Die Hard or Jack the Giant Killer
