Oz the Great and Powerful

Ratings: 7.4/10

Film Class: B+

Genre: Fantasy Action Drama

Director Sam Raimi's film style is reflected once again in his latest movie, Oz the Great and Powerful. Considering he directed the classic Evil Dead Trilogy, his horror takes still lingers even in apparently unhorrorable movies directed by him.

Take for example, Spider-Man, initially I hated the sudden shock scenes of the green globin, but have now come to terms with his style. The same is true for this one. *spoilers ahead* Coincidentally, there's also a green globin in this movie, the she-globin, aka green wicked witch. She's the witch play fans would be familiar with, since there's a play all about her, Wicked.

There were several jump-up-in-your-seats scenes, and of course there's also his classic "scary grandma" character (wonder who that will be?).

Oz the Great and Powerful is the back story of The Wizard of Oz. It tells of the origins of Oz, how he turned from a carnival magician into the new ruler of the fantasy land of Oz.

Liked the color changing transition scenes, from black & white opening sequences, changing into "technicolor" cinematography. Brought back the good 'ol feel of the technicolored Wizard of Oz.

There's a good cast, James Franco and 3 gorgeous Hollywood actresses, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Wiiliams who all acted as witches.

However, the 2 good points about it were all lacking. Despite the seemingly impressive CG, it still looked somewhat fake. The characters didn't blend in with the setting because of an almost imaginary halo surrounding them which separates them from the fantasy world. And despite having famous stars dominating the screen, their overly exaggerated acting made it too cheesy.

Perhaps I'm being too critical, since afterall, The Wizard of Oz is a children's fantasy novel/movie, but because of its demerits, the film didn't feel classy.

However, I did like the fantasy characters Finley, the talking flying monkey and a talking china girl. No, not a girl from China, but a porcelain girl, literally. Both of them added different levels of funny into the film.

*warning, major spoilers ahead* What I find puzzling is the reference of characters from Oz's "real world", to the characters in the fantasy world. First there's his abled assistant, whom he takes for granted, then there's this girl who hoped that Oz could heal her legs while sitting through one of his magic performances, believing that he does indeed have magical powers.

Both Finley and the talking china girl from the Land of Oz are another version of those characters. Why the similarity? Does it mean that The Land of Oz is just a figment of his imagination? That he is indeed already dead? Furthermore, there's even his love flame, Annie (acted by Michelle Williams), whom he loves in his real world, but didn't find the courage to prevent her from marrying someone else. When he's in the Land of Oz, Michelle Williams appears once again, this time as the good witch. What a puzzling coincidence.

Needless to say, the coincidences were all intentional. Considering the cast who acted as the characters in the real world were also the voice overs for the fantasy characters in the Land of Oz. Because of this, I have a huge question mark hovering over my head, wondering if the fictional Land of Oz is even fictional in it's own plot?

This can't be Oz-ception could it?

Still, I'm intrigued by the "artistic allusion and technical parallels" (wow, what fancily impressive words, but they're not mine, it's a direct quote from Wikipedia) to the prequel The Wizard of Oz. My knowledge of The Wizard of Oz isn't that strong, so whatever I'm about to type, isn't what I ingeniously came up with. The only thing which I observed, was how the initial opening sequence was in a smaller aspect ratio when he was in the real world, compared to when he flew into the Land of Oz. I believe this was so for the earlier film as well?

Trivia: Interestingly, the guy that Annie was going to marry bears the same name as Dorothy's parents, implying that Dorothy is Annie's daughter. In case you're wondering who Dorothy is, she's the protagonist in The Wizard of Oz. The Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion were also all referenced in this prequel.

The Scarecrow was introduced as a scare tactic in this film, and would seem that he was built by the townspeople in the next film. The creator of the Tin Man is the Master Tinker, the same guy who built the hot air balloon for Oz and was supposedly able to build literally anything. Finally, the Cowardly Lion who, or it was scared away by Oz earlier in the movie lost his/its guts and so had to find courage in the sequel. And if you're wondering why Mila Kunis tears burns her skin, it's because water is her Achilles heel (though in theory it doesn't make that much sense as tears are mostly saline isn't it? But there's a scene in the novel where Dorothy dumps a bucket of water over the wicked witch and she melts away...).

I liked the last part where Oz gave each of the main characters a present, even though I wasn't exactly convinced that Oz was a much better person. The gift that Finley the talking monkey got was probably the most meaningful, indirectly implying that Oz has finally learnt to appreciate the "people" around him. As for the others, the rationale behind the gifts they got were more direct and less abstract.

Because of the interesting trivia, perhaps the film deserves a 0.3 increase in rating. Well, I'll leave it to you to decide. While it's not that great a film, it's still rather impressive to uncover so many easter eggs in the movie.