MONDAY MOVIE REVIEW: Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
Oscar "Oz" Diggs makes his living as a charlatan in a traveling circus, performing magic tricks on stage, and wooing pretty ladies on the side. That is until his hot air balloon gets caught up in a tornado and Oz is transported to a magical and mystical land that happens to share his name. He immediately meets the Witch Theodora, who reveals that he is actually the Wizard of Oz. According to a prophecy, he is fated to save them all from the Wicked Witch. Oz goes along with the plan, but only for the power and money that comes along with the title of Wizard. Will Oz, as powerless as he really is, have the strength the defeat the Wicked Witch?
Although it's been quite a few years since I've watched The Wizard of Oz, it's really a movie that sticks with you, so I was curious to see the direction that Disney was going to take with their prequel, Oz the Great and Powerful. Unfortunately, although the movie shows quite a bit of promise, it ends up falling short on pretty much every level. Upon leaving the theater, I couldn't help but feel rather unfulfilled by the whole experience. Her are a few things that caught my attention.
The Good- A Fitting Tribute to Oz- Oz the Great and Powerful is just chock full of references to the original Wizard of Oz movie, and it is so fun to pick them out. For example, the characters we meet in the real world have doppelgangers in the land of Oz. Also, as a more specific reference, one of the characters we meet in the real world is wearing a dress very similar to Dorothy, hinting about her connection to future heroine. I don't want to give away anything else, but I think the movie does a really good job setting up the world that will one day be the Oz we all know and love.
The Bad- The Drawbacks of Too much CGI- I usually don't complain about too much CGI in my films. I love fantastical adventure films, so computer effects are something I need to be comfortable with. Unfortunately, with Oz the Great and Powerful, the viewer is so overwhelmed with the bright and cheerful surroundings that it ends up looking terribly fake. Good CGI has a weight to it. It looks like it could be a part of the world it's placed in (see James Cameron's Avatar for a good example of this), with bad CGI, you can really tell that nothing was there in the first place. I remember one shot in particular where Oz and Theodora are walking to the Emerald City where it is so painfully obvious that they are in front of a green screen that it's like watching cheap TV effects.
The Ugly- Less than Compelling Characters- Much has already been said about the weak female characters in this film, especially the three witches. This argument certainly has it's merits. When the movie opens we meet these witches (with super powers no less!) who all just seem to be waiting around for a man to come and be the wizard and save their skins. The most disappointing of the three is Theodora who, despite the fact that she gets the most fashionable outfits, is also the most empty when it comes to characterization. She is easily pulled around by Oz and her sister for the convenience of the plot. Still, I could not help but feel that despite the best efforts of it's cast (although James Franco struggles a bit with the physical comedy) that characterization was pretty weak all around. I never felt much of anything for any of the characters (with the exception of the winged monkey) and was never really emotionally invested in their journey. On top of the this, the script is terribly cheesy and awkward, the only good lines feeling suspiciously as if they were plagiarized from better films.
Final Thoughts- Oz the Great and Powerful is filled with wonderful references to the original film, but there's a lot pulling it down. The visuals are bright and cheerful, but ultimately feel fake. Yes, the actors are clearly trying their hardest, but not even an award winning cast can change the fact that the characters feel kind of empty and the script is awkward. I would probably recommend skipping this one in theaters, if not all together. I honestly have to wonder if it would be doing so well in the box office is the rest of 2013s offerings weren't so weak. Two and a Half Stars