Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) review

(8/10)

(MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Though the effects are dazzling and the performances are strong, this is a living definition of the phrase all flash, little-to-no substance. Still, Raimi did a pretty good job of this.

PLOT:Oz (James Franco) is a conman, player, and carnival magician in Kansas. After a bad show, he steals a hot air balloon and flies away, running straight into a tornado. This tornado spirals him into the land of Oz, where he meets two witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis) and Evanora (Rachel Weisz). They currently rule over the Emerald City and tell him that he must slay the Wicked Witch to rule over Oz and all of it's riches. So, he sets out on a journey with his new monkey-assistant, Finley (Zach Braff), to kill the Wicked Witch. However, he runs into Glinda the Good (Michelle Williams) and finds out that things aren't always as they seem. He must now figure out which witch is the Wicked Witch and save Oz. It's a good plot executed greatly.



ACTING:The acting in this movie is very great. James Franco plays a great part as Oz, as did Mila Kunis as Theodora/The Wicked Witch of the West. She played a very interesting part as the Wicked Witch. There really wasn't a bad performance in this movie. The other shiners would be Rachel Weisz as Evanora, Michelle Williams as Glinda, Zach Braff as Finley, Bill Cobbs as the Master Tinker, Joey King as the China Girl, and Tony Cox as Knuck, with special cameos by Bruce Campbell, Theresa Tilly, Betsy Baker, and Ellen Sandweiss (All four were the main characters in Rami's original Evil Dead).

SCORE:The score in here is very detailed and magical. The great Danny Elfman supplies his unique sound to the movie, and it sounds just as good.

EFFECTS:The effects in here are dazzling and very detailed. You can see the details from the flying babboons to the emerald flowers. This movie is mainly composed of special effects, but they're really good.



OTHER CONTENT:This was actually pretty great. This was a special prequel to the original. Director Sam Raimi actually attempted his best to keep everything as magical as the original, from the color-changing horses to Kansas being depicted as black-and-white. However, all of these effects and good acting don't make up for the magic lost. This doesn't contain as much free wonder and such as the original does, and a lot of the true cinephile's will dislike it. I, however, think it's a pretty fair attempt at prequeling the original.

OVERALL,a great fantasy with a great plot, very great acting, magical Elfman score, dazzling effects, and a good attempt to keep things even, but it's missing a lot of the old wonder the original had.