Oscar "Oz" Diggs (James Franco) is a con man magician.  He is smooth and romances all of the women and travels with a circus in Kansas in 1905. A tornado travels as he escapes in a balloon from a strong man performer who wants to hurt him.  The tornado takes him to the alien land of Oz where he meets a witch named Theodora (Mila Kunis) and learns of a prophecy made by Theodora’s father made before he died about a wizard with the name of the land that would come to save Oz from the Wicked Witch.   Oscar takes advantage of that and he travels with Theodora and Finley the Flying Monkey to the Emerald City where he meets Evanora (Rachel Weisz) who doesn’t trust Oscar for her own reasons.  She sends him on his quest to kill the Wicked Witch and soon he finds out Glinda (Michelle Williams) aka the Good Witch of the North has been a victim of the real Wicked Witch’s plan to rule and control Oz.

 

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL is a beautiful visual film with a paper thin plot and flat performances from every main actor involved.  I enjoyed the movie, but it doesn’t stand out to me at first even though I will probably go see the sequel.  It is an enjoyable adventure romp that does rely too much on digital backgrounds and CGI landscapes at times.  It does lay the groundwork for the origin stories of the many characters you will eventually see in THE WIZARD OF OZ and this prequel takes place 20 years before Dorothy comes to visit Oz. 

 

It is a safe dark film for all ages, but it doesn’t have the emotional heart like THE WIZARD OF OZ (even though I hate the musical pieces in that movie).   Director Sam Raimi once had considered Robert Downey Jr. for the role of Oscar Diggs, but sadly that didn’t come to pass.  I admire James Franco wanting to do a million things like write, direct, and act, but I have a feeling that Robert Downey Jr. would have brought a whole different level of energy to Oscar Diggs that was missing from every single character in this movie.   Either way doesn’t make a difference since it doesn’t have the fantastic charm that ALICE IN WONDERLAND has as a movie.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

WALT DISNEY AND THE ROAD TO OZ- the history behind Walt Disney’s quest to make an Oz film and Disney’s productions based on the Oz books after Walt died.

MY JOURNEY TO OZ BY JAMES FRANCO- James Franco interviews cast and crew as he takes a behind-the-scenes look at the film

CHINA GIRL AND THE SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF- a look at how they used a marionette, motion capture to capture the facial expressions of the girl that voices the characters, and CGI to create the China Girl in the film

BEFORE YOUR EYES: FROM KANSAS TO OZ- a look at the production design of Robert Stromberg

MILA’S METAMORPHOSIS- a behind-the-scenes look at the special make-up Mila goes through for part of the film

MR. ELFMAN’S MUSICAL CONCOCTIONS- composer Danny Elfman talks about the various parts of the music score and how they came about

 

The Second Screen App allows you to access additional content via a cell phone, tablet, or computer.

 

Also included in the set is the film in Standard Definition on DVD and the digital copy of the movie

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: OZ THE GREAT AND WONDERFUL has wonderful visuals, but the acting and writing fall short for this beautifully looking fantasy.  The extras provide a look behind-the-scene look at the production of the movie.

 

This movie review is (c)3-12-2013 and blu-ray review is (c)6-5-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com 

 

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