Review: Oz The Great And Powerful

First of all, I am big fan of the 1930's classic 'The Wizard Of Oz' and the 80's loose sequel of 'Return To Oz'. Sadly with this one I did not have big expectations as the trailer looked like it would just be another solid family film with nothing special.
It is hard to create a film that can still give charm and happiness to billions of people for almost 80 years, so it definitely had a lot to live up to. 

In a nutshell, I felt this should have been great and powerful, instead it was o.k. The plot and ideas where there to be used to its greatest effect, and as much as I like director Sam Raimi's style, for me he did not make the most of what was given to him.
It felt as if, they were only interested in the box-office numbers, rather than keeping the legacy alive and well.

As for the performances, I think James Franco was the wrong choice in the lead way as The Wizard.  I have always felt that his performance shows a great actor trying to come out, but most of his performances are just nothing special and even disappointing at times. For the three witches, I thought Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis were solid and I reckon if they had better directing they would have re-created two iconic characters. Michelle Williams showed bits of the old Glinda, but also on the odd occasion showed a bit too much cheesiness for my liking. As for The Wizard's CGI companions. I enjoyed China Girl, her introduction was quite sweet and her whole attitude during the movie was pretty cool. As for Finley the movie, there was an essence of Jar Jar Binks about him.

The visual effects were obviously a big part of this film and style of it reminded me of 'The Imaginirium Of Doctor Parnassus'. But the big highlight for me was the nice nods to the old Oz. I enjoyed the black-and-white style of the real world, and then the screen going wide and into colour as soon as he entered Oz was a nice touch. I liked that they kept to the geography of Oz and The Wizard's liking for giving gifts for his friends at the end.

But sadly, everything just felt that there was potential there but it was not fulfilled. There was a great and powerful movie waiting to burst out. But I'm afraid the wrong people were hired to make it so. They have already announced a sequel to the prequel, so it will be interesting what event will be taking place now before Dorothy arrives.
It is a kids film, and they will enjoy it. But it is too predictable, baggy and cliched to be taken seriously, unlike the two previous visions of Oz.

Rating: 6/10