Review of Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) by Frisby 2 — 20 Jun 2014

Oz the Great & Powerful is neither great nor powerful. It's the exact opposite.

If there was one thing in Oz the Great & Powerful that really unnerved me more than anything it would have to be Raimi's terrible decision to cast Franko, of ALL other actors, to play an iconic man like Oz.

[WARNING SPOILER: SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH TO AVOID SPOILER] But the ONE thing that was just UNFORGIVABLE in the movie was how Raimi unnecessarily forced/shoehorned a love between Glinda & Oz at the very end. Nobody gave a damn about either of the two characters, & neither of these two characters showed any sign of falling for each other, so how Raimi thought of having these two love each other is a question that I'll never get an answer to. [SPOILER END].

Raimi's execution to Oz the Great & Powerful is, at best put, mediocre. Mediocre dialogue, mediocre acting, mediocre script, mediocre (and generic) story, mediocre plot, mediocre casting, & apparently a mediocre director too. Oz's only redeeming quality is it's fantastic special effects, which should be expected from a big-budget Disney film but sadly can't overshadow the rest of the film.

This is, as far as I'm concerned, Raimi's first movie with Disney, so you'd think you won't see much of his style. WRONG. Raimi's style actually begins to show up when the flying monkeys are introduced (a dark, in-your-face reveal of the monster), & when Evanora shows her true age/skin. There is also a good trace of it when Theodora finally transforms into the Wicked Witch of the West. But sadly, again, those epic scenes can't make up for the rest of the film's mediocrity.

The acting in Great & Powerful had me tilting my head to the side & scratching it. With the exception of Mila Kunis' performance, every other actor in here was horrible. As stated, each actor in here is inconsistent with their performances. Franko shows his scheming bastard side only to later replace it with some weird & fake gentleman attitude. Rachel Weisz's performance was leaning on some sort of mix between lusty & ditzy to dazed & high. I didn't get some sort of "Mask" out of her, as in she didn't read like she was hiding her evil side like a GREAT witch would, & when she showed that she was evil after all I still didn't really read evil out of her, just bland & confused.

Mila Kunis gets more of a thumbs up from me when it comes to her acting in this film, BUT that's only when she goes into her transformation of the Wicked Witch. Her acting around the part when she encounters Franko's character (I refuse to label him as Oz because that's just a crime) was wooden & somewhat flat; it was hard to tell what her actual personality was in the first place (which could be said about the grand majority of the other characters in here). Once Theodora becomes the iconic green skinned Wicked Witch is when Kunis gets better; in fact she is the star of the film after that. She gives a more wicked (get it?), angry, & cruel performance. You can say she was overacting, that's debatable, but compared to the other actors in here she was the better of them.

The characters are actually no better either. They're constructed & developed so awkwardly & poorly that you wonder what their actual purpose in the film is. Frankly you give no shit about them either, except for Theodora (but that's just me). But the only two characters that truly got on my nerves more than Franko's character were his two annoying sidekicks, Finley & China Girl.

Finley isn't cute or helpful, he's just one annoying distraction of a character. Some girl next to me was nudging on her BF saying "Oh meh gawd, he's so cute X3", & I tell myself "yeah, about as cute as the ass of a baboon." He served no purpose in the movie other than to demonstrate how people are so easily manipulated into liking a monkey character just because they're a monkey. China Girl SEEMED like the emotionally lovable character at first; I got that impression after nearly bawwling in the scene where Franko's character puts her feet back together & helps her walk again, but she later reveals her true nature: a whiny, annoying, & practically sadist character. How so? Lemme remind you that when Franko's character helps her walk again, she seems really grateful, impressed by such a miracle, & very loving. Once Franko's character tells China Girl to head to the castle where she'll be safe she begins throwing a tantrum, fake crying, & whining that she wants to go with him & she won't stop until she does. She's like the annoying little sister I'm glad I never had but you probably dealt with. Then she starts showing off some "tough girl" attitude, & pulls out a knife & starts screeching how she'll kill any enemy coming her way since she's made of china & has to protect herself.

Franko's character was an absolute idiot (just like him). There is one theme explored by him, a love interest he once had, & it is later dropped like bird shit. There is so much lack of giving a shit about Franko's character that it's not even funny. He scams women to convince them of some bullshit he spews out of his mouth, & he obviously doesn't give a damn about their feelings. I'm going to stop there because the crimes that were done with Franko's character will just get more hostile from me as I continue to describe them.

Finally we have Theodora, who gets the better treatment of character but when thought about thoroughly also makes it pretty laughable; she's borderline gullible & naive. She gets scammed by Franko's character much like the other idiots in the movie, & takes it way too personal. She has to realize the following: "Boo-hoo, you got fucking scammed. That sucks. Move along & get his ass back with something." That's putting it nicely. But this scamming of her love later becomes the reason how Theodora changes into the Wicked Witch, all with the help of Evanora. The transformation is actually pretty dark, & executed wonderfully. While the origin of how the Wicked Witch came to be DOES make sense, it just doesn't hide the fact that she got scammed & she got butthurt over it.

The story/plot/script of the movie is frankly an incoherent mess. You only get "Franko's character must save the Land of Oz from the evil witch & it later reveals that the true evil are those who sent him for the task in the first place". That's it. There is no storytelling, no mythology behind the world of Oz, & no sense of fun & adventure from the film. It's just a straight forward plot.

You don't know what it's trying to accomplish.

And there's the whole shoehorned love between Franko's caracter & Glinda forced at the very end. Once again, that was not needed, at all. I can complain about this all day but enough's been said with it previously. Neither of these two were showing any feelings nor did they give a damn about each other throughout any part of the movie, so how Franko's character managed to get that bimbo to kiss him like a lover is a mystery even Oz won't be able to answer.

The visuals are pretty much the only redeeming factor of the film. The film looks beautiful, the land of Oz looks marvelous (though vaguely reminds me of Wonderland), & the CG is perfect. But if I continue to elaborate on them then it'll just be an echo of what everyone else has already said about the effects.

Danny Elfmann's score for this was nothing special. In fact it's my least favorite musical score he's composed to date. Elfmann's score for Oz just sounds like a quick rehash of some of his previous works (more specifically Alice in Wonderland, Corpse Bride, & Charlie & the Chocolate Factory).

What makes the land of Oz more suitable for sequels & prequels than Wonderland is the fact that Oz has many other stories, characters, & themes it could explore. The world of Oz is a vast land of wonders that should have a lot of its themes explored. With so much to work with for a place like Oz apparently was wasted thanks to Sam Raimi. There is still a lot left to explore since the film takes place 20 years before Dorothy arrives to Oz, & since Raimi allowed Evanora to escape at the end of the movie. but it would be hard to expect anything better if this is how Disney will continue executing Oz.

Final summation, Oz the Great & Powerful sucks. It's not going to evolve well, & it was a really big disappointment for me in theaters. Is it one of the worst movies? No. But it does make one angry that there was so much material to work with & Raimi failed at it. It's a film that does spark many conversations as to what is wrong with it & what could have been done better, but sadly that's about as positive as anything about the film will get.

This sparks a question in my head: What if Disney would have decided to make a 2D Animated Oz movie? (I said 2D, fuck CGI) Even when Disney has crappier animated films like Brother Bear, Robin Hood, Meet the Robinsons, & Bolt, I'm certain that Oz the Great & Powerful would have much better & different, if it was taken in the animated route.