Oz the Great and Powerful

Kmac:

Pay no attention to the movie about the man behind the curtain. I was sorely disappointed by this interpretation of the OZ mythology. I was expecting a version to expand the OZ of the books, the China Doll land especially, and while the movie paid lip service to many aspects of the books it felt rushed. This was yet another movie where CGI was given reign over plot and dialogue.

The CGI was meant to be the centerpiece of the movie in the same way that another Disney remake, Alice and Wonderland, used it to expand a fantasy world. I don’t know if the difference was in budget or in tone but the effects here were much cruder and unfinished. It was Tim Burton light. I talked a lot to Jmac about the big color reveal. In the original version when Judy Garland’s Dorothy opens her door to find a world filled with color it creates a sense of wonderment. This movie slides from a sepia colored bland carnival, to an unnaturally colored video game so fast I found myself letting out the anticipatory breath I had been holding in frustration. Maybe the wizard is amazed at the sudden color change but the audience is left out of the magic.

I talk a lot about “Can I touch it?” realities in movies. It’s my test for whether a movie is too CGI heavy. I find I can’t let go of my disbelief and surrender myself to a fantasy world unless I feel I can physically reach out and touch the objects in the world. Peter Jackson caters to my worldview by mixing physical props with well done CGI. This movie had nothing I felt I could reach out and touch. It would have been cheaper and more effective to throw some prop flowers in the mix to create some semblance of reality. If it could be done in 1939, it can be done now. One character I did like was the monkey companion. Not that the CGI was great but the character was voiced by Zach Braff and I find his voice amusing. Your mileage may vary based on your love or loathing  of Scrubs.

The movie seemed to want to set up a twist about who the bad and good witches were. This may have been more effective for people who have never seen the original movie, but if you have seen it, then it takes all of five seconds to place your bets. Even Jmac figured it out eventually. I will give the movie credit for including clues, even great big flashing ones, that tied back to the original film or book. It also provided a distraction from the fact I could care less about the main character. And the twist as to why the Witch of the West is evil was just terrible. This back story has been done before and better, most notably in the book and musical Wicked. I won’t spoil her evil transition but let me say that anyone who grew up in the girl power boom of the nineties will want to throw your own evil curses at the tv.

This movie was cliched and lacked an understanding of what makes Oz the magical place that has captured the imagination of generations. If the Wizard of Oz is great because of the Wonderful things he does, then this Wizard is Oz the Meh and Ok.

I give this movie 2.5 out of 5 winged monkey nightmares.

*While the new winged monkeys look like actual monkeys and have sharp fangs, they are in no way as nightmare inducing as the people in monkey suits. If I can’t touch it, it can’t touch me.

Jmac:

I have to say I actually enjoyed this one, if for no other reason than Zach Braff’s portrayal of a monkey, which is a roll he plays perfectly. I'm not being sarcastic his monkey was very good, and his human character’s facial expressions could have made a crowd of deaf mutes laugh, yes the mutes would be laughing.

I never really was into the Wizard of Oz, and have only watched it at the behest of others..... namely Kmac, but Oz the Great and Powerful provides a lot of back story, which frankly was lacking from the original Wizard of Oz. I know the books filled in a whole lot more of the story lines than the movies, but who has time to read. For instance I had no idea there were witches from all the different directions on a map, or maybe I really wasn't paying that much attention to the Wizard of Oz. The expansion of types of people in the Oz world added a lot to my personal enjoyment of the film because I knew there could not just but munchkins and regular size people... now all we have to is a Skyrim mod out for this so I can put an arrow through a flying monkey... oh wait I can't because you don't kill anything in Oz... makes no sense.

Anyway all the witches played by Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis, and Michelle Williams all did wonderful jobs and were super hot. I was asking Kmac who the hot blond was, when she said Michelle Williams, I was like whattt, that is not the same girl from Dawson’s Creek, but the bubbles kind of lame.

So for someone that hated the original, I actually liked this one... it was probably the lack of musical number because when they try to start into one Franco yells No several times.... God bless him for that.

So I give Oz the Great and Powerful 3.8 midgets in a duster out of 5.