Oz the Great and Powerful Review

The much anticipated prequel to MGM’s The Wizard of Oz has finally arrived but does it live up to the hype?

With a budget of over 200 million dollars Disney has a lot riding on Oz the Great and Powerful, which they anticipate will recreate the commercial success of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Given that it’s the first major 3D film and box office draw of 2013, I don’t think they have much to worry about.

Director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spiderman trilogy) delivers an entertaining albeit predictable adventure that is visually impressive but altogether unmemorable.  Don’t get me wrong, there are great moments in Oz but like Alice, the whole isn’t greater than the sum of its parts.

The opening credits are the best I’ve ever seen, an impressive array of mesmeric animated images set to a hypnotic soundtrack that are reminiscent of those at the end of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Akin to the 1939 film, the first 15 minutes are in black-and-white where we are introduced to Oz (James Franco) from Kansas, a struggling circus magician searching for greatness. This sequence is presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio and gives an old timey feel to the general aesthetic, that for me, is the best part of the film. Soon Oz is transported by a tornado to the magical land of Oz at which point we transition into colour and 16:9 Widescreen. Here he meets Theodora (Mila Kunis), a young and naïve witch who mistakes him for a great wizard and whisks him away to the emerald city. Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams) are the bad and good witches respectively, both of who attempt to persuade Oz to restore order to the land.

The theatrical performances are a mixed bag here. Williams gives a heartfelt and balanced nobility to Glinda, while Weisz is wickedly entertaining as an imperial dictator (she looks to be having the most fun here). Unfortunately Kunis is miscast and although Franco brings charm to the role his overall character arc feels insincere.

Visually and technically, the film is impeccable. The CGI and production design is above and beyond that of Alice in Wonderland. Finley the flying monkey and China girl are of the highest visual effects standard and provide a great amount of comedy onscreen. For once, the 3D isn’t blurry or distracting and helps to enhance the visual design and colour.

Oz the Great and Powerful struggles with bad pacing, giving too much screen time to secondary characters and not enough establishing backstory. The Wicked Witch of the West’s transformation is flimsy and uninspiring and it is at this point that the film loses focus. Due to an unconvincing acting performance so does the audience. The major flaw here is a script let down by bad lines, many of them given to Kunis’ character.

The narrative starts strong only to lose it’s footing half way through culminating in a dazzling but generic witch battle. Still, it’s worth the watch if only to admire the sheer ambition.