Apr2013_MOVIE REVIEW

Oz: The Great and Powerful

By Gemma Schuhmann

Oz: The Great and Powerful begins with Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a struggling magician who plays with young girls hearts and cares for no one or anything.

Whilst fleeing a situation he doesn’t like, he becomes trapped in a hot air balloon stuck in a tornado.  Eventually landing in the surreal Land of Oz, he meets a mysterious witch Theodora (Mila Kunis) and her sister Evanora (Rachel Weisz).  The two believe he is the great wizard that prophecies have foretold and encourage him to defeat the wicked witch (Michelle Williams) and claim his gold and kingdom.  However in this strange land not everything is as it seems, and situations quickly become backwards.

The thing to remember whilst watching this film is that this is a Disney movie.  Therefore fight scenes are just designed to scare kids.  Jokes are added for the older audiences; and the whole movie is full of morals that are thrown in your face designed for kids to learn.  However all the actors suit their roles making it enjoyable to watch except for when James Franco uses over exaggerated facial expressions.  The idea to use actors for the same roles that mirror each other in Kansas and the world of Oz is brilliant.  It allows Oscar to fix all the wrongs from the real world in Oz.  In Kansas he can’t make a girl in a wheelchair walk but in Oz he glues the china girl’s legs back together allowing her to walk again.

This is one movie that has to be seen in 3D – 2D just doesn’t do the film justice.  It’s not designed to have objects thrown in your face.  It’s designed to allow you to get lost in the Land of Oz.  Even in the beginning of the film when it’s black and white and shot to a smaller screen it still looks fantastic and draws you in.  Compared to other 3D films of late this film is a step above all the others.

The weird thing about this movie is that even though it’s the prequel to The Wizard of Oz, there are some iconic situations that are left out.  This happened because Disney now owns the rights to the books but Warner Brothers owns the rights to the Wizard of Oz film, so this icon movie that everyone has at least seen once in their lives is almost forgotten leaving everyone guessing how the two match up.  Ultimately these are two completely different films that should not be compared, but you just can’t help yourself.

Oz: The Great and Powerful will sweep you away into the Land of Oz.  A great movie for the whole family.

3.5 / 5