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Warning: Spoilers
I love anything to do with The Wizard of Oz. The story is a classic, and the 1939 Judy Garland film is for me one of the best films ever made. And I liked the idea of having a prequel to this story, and Oz the Great and Powerful had potential to be great in the right hands. I was kind of intrepid though as well because I heard a lot of bad things about it, and while it was not as bad as I'd heard it was a disappointment. And this was including me taking into account that it is a family movie and that any film should be judged on its own merits.
Oz the Great and Powerful does have a fair few things that redeem it. I loved the visuals, I thought on seeing the trailer that they looked amazing and on seeing the film itself I still stand by that. The colours are truly beautiful to look at and the cinematography and camera angles don't intrude too much and allow us to properly enjoy the visuals. The costumes and sets equally fanciful, Michelle Williams in particular looks radiant, while the CGI effects have moments where they are generic, but on the most part they're fine. Danny Elfman's score doesn't have the whimsical, poignant magic that his Edward Scissorhands score has for example, but it is both sparkling and rousing and you really feel a sense of fantasy and adventure when hearing it. When it comes to individual scenes, the highlight was the expertly done and thrilling tornado sequence, it looked great and didn't feel dragged out too long. And there are two performances that are good. Coming off the best was Rachel Weisz who is deliciously sassy and seductive. Michelle Williams occasionally comes across as a little too airy-fairy, but she also makes a good impression, being wondrous visually and being full of charm and benevolence.
James Franco and Mila Kunis did absolutely nothing for me though. Franco I've liked before in other films, the finest example being 127 Hours, but I did feel that in perhaps an attempt to be quirky that he wildly overdid his part, his smirking- almost like he was stoned- grated really fast. Kunis unfortunately is bland personified, granted she was not given much worthwhile to work with but I just could not buy her at all as a Wicked Witch and there is no expression at all in her eyes. The voice acting is serviceable but never much more than that. Franco and Kunis are not the only let downs to the film. The script, story and pacing were really big issues in this regard. The script tries to incorporate too many things all at once and instead of doing this successfully it comes across as muddled and stilted instead. The story starts off well, but quickly becomes contrived, paper-thin and rushed with next to none of the enchantment, sense of wonder and emotional resonance that the story and 1939 film have. Relationships are introduced quickly and end even quicker than that. The overall pacing was rushed, but the lack of any genuine excitement also eventually made the film a sludge as it tries to stretch a very thin plot longer than it needed to be. The characters also are ones that we never learn anything about and consequently I didn't properly care for a single one.
All in all, has its good points and things to enjoy but this Oz is not as great or as powerful as it had potential to be. Not bad, but disappointing all the same. 5/10 Bethany Cox
5/10
