Oz, The Great And Powerful: A Review

[teaberryblue]

So, I don’t do this as often as I used to, but this one has really given me some food for thought. Eug and I went to see Oz: The Great and Powerful on Friday night.  And while overall, I liked it, and thought it was a well-made movie, there were a few things about it that distressed me.

Elizabeth Rappe over at Jezebel already wrote quite a lovely

Comments

[phuck]

I just don't understand how you can make a movie with an Oscar winner, an three-time Oscar nominee, and a Golden Globe nominee and have all three of them deliver performances at the level of a high school theater actor. Seriously, it was laughably bad at times. The only one who almost came out unscathed was Rachel Weisz. The real shame is that those characters really could have been something special and interesting, but the writing was so bad. Also, James Franco just wasn't good. I wonder what would have happened if they had a better actor, who was more naturally charming, in that role. He just left me feeling greasy and uneasy, and not at all convinced he was the con artist they portrayed him as. You could see Michelle Williams trying the who movie to have a spark or any sort of chemistry with him, and he would just keep making over the top, goofy faces.

There was such a strong story to tell there, and they missed them mark for me.

[teaberryblue]

I really didn't mind James Franco at all-- I liked the way he played the character. But I do agree Rachel Weisz was the only one of the women who managed to come out of that not looking horrible; I think because she was the only one of the women with a role that didn't reduce her to a romantic interest for a character who shouldn't have had any romantic interests *anyway.* It would have been a lot more fun to see Oz go from Kansas where women fell for his dumbass chicanery to Oz and then suddenly have the witches be like "what the fuck is your deal? Why are you so dumb

[henpecked]

You basically expanded on all my nebulous thoughts about this movie and did it more eloquently than I would have.

Which is to say, DITTO.