My Review of Oz The Great And Powerful (2013)

 

Written by Mitchell Kapner And David Lindsay-Abaire

Directed by Sam Raimi

Glinda: "A carnival magician's going to put on a show."

Oz: "I'll put on the show of a lifetime! The likes of which the land of Oz has never seen! Magic! Mystery! Prestidigitation! It'll be my greatest trick yet."

With Wicked Part 1 coming out in a fortnight, I knew I had to go back and watch this prequel from eleven years ago. It has it's critics but it was a hit and quite frankly, there's plenty to admire with it.

Being a prequel, you are getting the origins of the deceptive wizard and to no surprise, in Kansas, Oscar Diggs (James Franco) pissed off a lot of people with his antics before his escape in a hot air balloon got caught in a tornado and he ended up in Oz of all places.

Yes, a man called Oscar ended up in Oz and the first person he encountered was a witch named Theodora (Mila Kunis). She was convinced that he was the prophesized wizard that would free the people of Oz from the Wicked Witch. Theodora's sister, Evanora (Rachel Weisz) was more dubious of Oscar's actual abilities.

Of course Oscar was more interested in the benefits of being a wizard rather than the actual helping to free Oz in general but soon he formed a team with a winged monkey named Finley (Zach Braff), a China Doll named China Girl (Joey King) and eventually the meeting of the Good Witch Glinda (Michelle Williams). 

For a team, they make for a motley crew along with other characters such as Sourpuss (Tony Cox) and Master Tinker (Bill Cobbs) also added into the mix. The main threads of course being the sisters with Theodora manipulated by Evanora into embracing her greener disposition. While Theodora's full on raging over Oscar's rejection of her, it's Evanora who was the worst of the bunch.

I do think that both Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz play these roles so well and both seemed to relish being truly over the top. In between their antics, there's a romance bubbling between Oscar and Glinda but it's by far the weakest element of the movie with both Franconand Williams lacking the chemistry to pull it off.

- Yes, there's allusions to the likes of the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion in the movie.

- Like The Wizard Of Oz, the Kansas scenes aren't in colour. It doesn't work as well here but it's a nice enough nod.

- Standout music: Mariah Carey's Almost Home is quite nice to listen to.

- Chronology: 1905 Kansas before heading into the wonderful world of Oz.

Oz The Great And Powerful served as a decent prequel movie. It's certainly vibrant and colourful and tried it's hardest to capture the spirit of the 1939 classic and feel like it could fit in that continuity. The witches steal the movie from their divisive leading man if I'm being honest.

Rating: 7 out of 10