Oz The Great and Powerful.

[Deadshot1988]

Did anybody go out this weekend and see it? Here's my review of the film.

While it is another trip into the wild and wonderful world that has characters in this land that lack courage and other qualities and witches abound, it also had what a certain man made of tin needed, it had heart in telling a story about a con man from Nebraska's ***** about trying to be a great man led to him gaining respect and friendship that he didn't have back in the sepia toned setting that he once called home.

If you have any doubts about this film and that it's just a rehash of the classic 1939 film, it's not, it expands on a world that is filled with so many interesting characters and places that I hope that if this film does well, we get to see more of that merry old land of Oz fleshed out into more great films to come.

 

[DogHouseRilley_1980]

I saw it and was deeply disappointed. I will try to avoid spoilers in describing what I thought was wrong with the film.

The heart of the story was nonsensical: I speak of the "development" of Theodora (Mila Kunis) through the film, the plot twist turning around Evanora and the issue of who exactly was the dead king the ****** of (maybe I misunderstood but I thought Theodora claimed to be a ******** of the king when she first met Oz however this is later contradicted when Glenda (Michele Williams) says that the king was her ****** and unless I missed it, Glenda and Theodora are not sisters and Theodora is not a lier).

James Franco and Mila Kunis were badly miscast: The character of Oz needed someone with the charisma and masculine charm of Clark Gable combined with the showmanship of W.C. Fields, when Oz needed to be a scoundrel and a master charlatan Franco managed to be smarmy and insincere. The role of Theodora (if it was ever going to work) needed an emotional depth and range beyond Mila (much as I like her in other things).

There was green screen and CGI to the point that Mila and Rachel Weisz often seemed like they had no concept of the physical space they were supposed to be inhabiting: Most notable during the "battle of the Emerald City" near the end of the film.

The flying monkeys aren't scary: A part of what gives the 1939 film such impact is that the flying monkeys were terrifying and terrible and the Wicked Witch of the West was truly menacing. I just didn't feel that here and it didn't seem like any of the little **** who were in the theater at the same time I was were any more scared than I was. There was a lot of bluster from the Wicked Witch but it was unbelievable.

The topology of Oz makes no sense: This is a ***** quibble but through out the film the characters are shown running along precipices and falling/jumping off cliffs but no one ever seemed to go up hill.

I have read reviews from both perspectives (mine and Deadshot's) and I can't help but wonder if there is a generational gap between those people who think of James Franco and Mila Kunis as "Movie Stars" who carried the film and those who found fault with their performances and fault with the over reliance on CGI*.

*Though I've mentioned what I thought of as an over reliance on green screen and CGI, I would be remiss not to mention that the two best parts of the film are the CGI characters of Finley the freindly flying monkey and the China Girl.

Lastly, Deadshot, did I miss something at the beginning to indicate that Oz was from Nebraska? I thought when he met with Dorthy's (eventual) ****** after his magic act and the similarity to the start of The Wizard of Oz that this film started out in Kansas again.