Review of Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) by Foxgrove — 10 Mar 2013

Excessive length kills an already verbally challenged storyline. I must confess to not being a huge fan of the land of Oz. There is no denying the classic status of 1939's 'The Wizard of Oz', but recent theatrical productions have either been truly awful (Wicked) or overly familiar ('Wizard of Oz).

This Oz fares no better. James Franco is charismatic as the fake wizard injecting both humour and a liveliness into the proceedings, but the film runs out of steam long before the second half. Compensations are to be had with the aesthetics of the film.

Costumes, Art-Direction, Visual effects and Make-up are all truly amazing and the film looks the millions of dollars that it probably cost to make. It is probably the best looking film of the year so far.

However, it is probably the worst scripted also, and where film making is concerned it is always better to have a good story to get involved with than a visual feast. Both in sync is the ideal. This Oz is basically a boring, but beautiful series of pictures.