Alternate title to this post: “Oz the Great and Powerful…Not So Much.”
I have to admit that my expectations were probably a little bit higher than they should have been going into this movie, but the previews were tantalizing; Sam Raimi is the director (Spiderman trilogy); Rachel Weisz is in it; I’ve liked James Franco in other movies; and having enjoyed Alice’s most recent trip to Wonderland , I was especially looking forward to the re-imagination of the land of Oz. So, what was my overall reaction to the movie? General indifference. As Steven Greydanus puts it, “When I look at it, I believe this is Oz; it’s only the story, characters and dialogue that fall flat.”
Spoiler Warning!
The movie has some nice moments, and it doesn’t take long to realize that the movie is supposed to be fun. There’s plenty of humor when Oz (played by James Franco) is introduced, especially the interaction with his assistant Frank (played by Zach Braff). It’s clear that Raimi has respect for the 1939 classic, “The Wizard of Oz,” and there are plenty of hat tips in that regard. Starting the movie out in black and white, with the screen at a 4:3 ratio is one of them. As the moviegoer, once Oz arrives in the Land of Oz you know the screen will widen and reveal brilliant colors. Which it does. Later in the movie the Munchkins begin to sing, but Oz cuts of them off and tells them to “Take five.” It’s funny because you expect Munchkins to sing. So the movie has its moments, but they’re too few and far between to sustain it in the midst of its weak story and dialogue (as already noted). Rachel Weisz does well with her part. Mila Kunis is not convincing at all, and the only lasting impression of her is that she has a beautiful face (maybe that works because she’s later turned into the Wicked Witch of the West), but the delivery of her lines is empty. Also, her skipping down the yellow brick road seemed very out of place. Was I supposed to think of Dorothy from the 1939 film? I did, but the image didn’t fit.
Perhaps the greatest reason I was disappointed with the movie is because it flirted with a great idea, and then didn’t really do enough with it. The best scene in the movie is when Oz repairs the China Girls’ broken legs with super glue. In the context of the movie, you’re to think back upon the crippled girl that challenged Oz in Kansas to make her walk (both played by the actress Joey King). To the China Girl, Oz’s use of super glue is magical, and later on Oz comes to a semi-realization that he does possess a certain kind of “magic” through his scientific knowledge. The problem is, though, that neither Oz’s character development nor his dialogue really bring this out in such a way to make you believe that Oz sees the “magic” in his “ordinary” scientific knowledge. Perhaps it is expecting too much for Sam Raimi to channel “The Ethics of Elfland” from G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, but if Oz could have had an epiphany that Kansas was as magical as the Land of Oz, then that would have been something great… even powerful.