The Cinema Lounge: Oz the Great and Powerful

JOKE ABOUT CONFUSING THIS WITH THE HBO SERIES. Now that that's out of the way, Oz the Great and Powerful stars James Franco as the main man himself known as Oz, Mila Kunis as Theodora, Rachael Weisz as Evanora, Michelle Williams as Glinda, Zach Braff as Finley, and Joey King as the China Girl. The movie is directed by Sam Raimi of The Evil Dead and Spider-man series fame and this is his best looking film yet.

I'm gonna start with the positives first because unfortunately there aren't many. The movie looks fantastic, I really love the effects used in this especially for Finley and China Girl. They really look great and seem like they totally belong in the world that they're in. As far as performances go, the voice over work is very very good for the CGI characters. This actually made me kind of like Zach Braff, which is no small feat mind you, and Joey King was perfect for the little China Girl. The live action performances were unfourtunatly not as good as the voice over work but Michelle Williams and Rachael Weisz both do a good job and the scenes with them together are some of the best.

The rest of the film goes downhill from here. The performances from Franco and Kunis are, just, bad. I suppose the characters that they are playing should be a bit over the top but it seems like too much. Franco really hams it up throughout the whole thing, never really letting up, although it does work in a few scenes but only a few. When Oz is putting on his show and is over acting  it makes sense but than he continues to act the same way for the rest of the movie. I really wish Robert Downy Jr. would've played Oz. He was lined up for the job but there was a scheduling conflict with Iron Man 3, so obviously he couldn't do it, but throughout the movie I just kept thinking that it would be so much better if he were in this. Shame.

Mila Kunis' character unfortunately never has a good scene. Ever. At least Franco was able to have two or three good scenes, but Kunis is just horrible in this. It's a shame really because she's proven that she can act. Whenever she's on screen though her performance is just so over the top it's not even funny, just annoying.

As far as the plot goes it is pretty much the same type of story as the original Wizard of Oz but with the wizard himself this time. It has a few twists and turns but they are so predictable. If you remember anything from the original movie than you will see all of the twists coming.

The movie as a whole works as a simple fun family film. As a normal film, it's kind of horrendous. But there definitely are moments in it that were able to recapture the magic that the original captured. This is mainly due to the wonderful effects and voice acting. Unfortunately the movie falls apart at when it comes to the story and acting, save for a few people. If you would like to revisit the world of Oz and really wanna see this than I'd say wait for it to come out on DVD and rent it. Otherwise, you wouldn't be missing much if you don't see this.

FINAL GRADE: C-