Oz: The Great and Powerful: NR #39

Sorry I missed last week, but when stuff comes up, there's not much I can do about it. Anyway, this week's movie is one I'd been hotly anticipating, mostly because it was directed by the all mighty Sam Raimi. This week's movie is...

PLOT
Oscar, primarily known as Oz, is a magician with a traveling circus that's currently stopped in Kansas. His not a good man, and certainly not a great one, but he truly wants to be great. After escaping a fight through a hot air balloon and being sucked into a tornado, Oz get's his chance at greatness. The tornado spits him out in the magical land of Oz where a prophecy is foretold that a great wizard by the same name will defeat the wicked witch and return Oz to peace. There's only one thing, Oz is no great wizard. Now he must find a way to defeat this wicked witch with his ordinary con man skills and hopefully become the great man of legend.


PROS
The film is gorgeous to look at. It has amazing special effects that make the land of Oz seem like it's full of life and pops right off the screen, even without the 3D.

Director Sam Raimi is known for his inventive camera work, and he does not disappoint here. All of his old staples are back, including an awesome cameo by a particularly "groovy" actor

*HINT**HINT*

The film never feels like a slave to the original "Wizard of Oz". What I mean is that it doesn't feel the need to throw references in your face every five seconds or just rehash the same characters. "Great and Powerful" feels like it's own beast, but connected enough to the original that it's still a prequel.

Oz's companions, Finley the flying monkey and China girl, a girl who's made of china, are great characters and are some of the best parts of the movie. Finley is, surprisingly, very funny and China Girl is extremely sympathetic with a back story that's sad without being manipulative.

The tone of the film never gets to dark, which is great. While it does have dark or scary elements, it never gets darker than the original. It keeps a light-hearted tone throughout, never losing the land of Oz's signature whimsy or magic.

The action scenes are extremely fun and constantly exciting. There were many times where I was on the edge of my seat or just laughing at how much fun I was having.


CONS
Oz is not a likable character for most of this movie. While that's the point and he's supposed to redeem himself in the end, I still wasn't truly rooting for him. Now you know who could play that part and still be likable...

Come on! The part was made for this guy! Look at dat chin! How can you say no to that?!

Not to spoil anything, but the person who plays the wicked witch didn't really sell it for me. While her make-up looked good, she just wasn't right for the part.

CONCLUSION

This is an amazing movie. It does what Tim Burton's "Alive in Wonderland" should have done. That movie is too serious and too Tim Burton-y to be enjoyable. This one. thankfully, pulls everything off with flying colors. Don't go into this thinking it's going to be like the Judy Garland classic, cause it's not. Take it and accept it for what it is, and what it is is a great and powerful film. Ya done Raimi, ya done good.

RATING

RUN TO