Oz the Great and Powerful?

Oz the Great and Powerful

Plot: Oscar Diggs (James Franco) is a small time carnivalmagician swept away from a less than exciting Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz.The people of Oz presume Oscar has arrived to defeat the wicked witch to thentake the title of King. All is changed when he meets three very differentwitches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (MichelleWilliams).

After a spectacular set of opening credits, the next fewscenes use a monochrome effect. We are then greeted with James Franco and ZachBraff.

Instantly, I wasn’t sure about the casting of Franco.

To me it was almost like a modern piece of fashion in aperiodic oil painting. Something just appeared a little off. Although, runningthrough the film, I felt that Franco began to fit the quirky character quite well;I just don’t think it will be what an older audience will be expecting.

The three witches, played by Kunis, Weisz and Williams fittheir role brilliantly. Any audience member would find difficulty flawing theironscreen performances.

 The film is based onL. Frank Baum’s Oz novels and serves as a prequel to Baum’s novel The WonderfulWizard of Oz. I want to make it clear from the get go that this film has nodirect link to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Both are based on Baum’s novels,however both are produced by different production companies and therefore Iwill refrain from comparisons.

It was said that inspiration for the novel was Alice inWonderland. I thought that Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland style was extremelypresent in this film. Also, I think that the director Sam Raimi took someinspiration from the popular stage show, Wicked.

There are some parts of the film that are very classicDisney, although similar to Alice in Wonderland there are some parts that evenin 2D are quite startling and even frightening. And after speaking to someparents at the cinema I know that they disagree with the certificate of PG.

Overall an exhilarating, funny and menacing film that issuitable for a wide range of audiences, granted they don’t expect a remake ofthe classic The Wizard of Oz.

 

Watch the trailer here.