Review: Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

Cast: James Franco, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz
Director: Sam Raimi
Country: USA
Genre: Action | Adventure | Fantasy
Official Trailer: Here

Three years ago, the Disney-produced, Tim Burton-directed adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s perennially popular fantasy novel, Alice in Wonderland, earned one billion (U.S.) internationally, an astonishing number then (and now. One billion dollars was more than enough to convince Disney to give the go ahead to Sam Raimi’s (Spider-Man trilogy, Evil Dead trilogy) Oz the Great and Powerful, a prequel to the much-beloved children’s classic, The Wizard of Oz. With Frank L Baum’s Oz-centered novels in the public domain, the decision was all the easier for Disney. As long as Disney’s interpretation didn’t stray too close to the 1939 film, it was only a matter of making the prequel, releasing it in thousands of theaters simultaneously, and waiting for the box-office receipts to come in. In the rush to get Oz the Great and Powerful, Disney forgot about a few, key elements like storytelling, characters, and subtext.

Oz the Great and Powerful not only compares unfavorably to The Wizard of Oz, it disappoints as a stand-alone, family-friendly fantasy-adventure, due in no small part to Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire’s thin, schematic, underwritten script and a miscast James Franco as the title character…

Or maybe Disney didn’t forget; they just didn’t (and don’t) care. Whatever the reason, Oz the Great and Powerful not only compares unfavorably to The Wizard of Oz, it disappoints as a stand-alone, family-friendly fantasy-adventure, due in no small part to Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire’s thin, schematic, underwritten script and a miscast James Franco as the title character, Oz (for “Oscar”), an egocentric, third-rate turn-of-the-20^th-century circus magician with delusions of grandeur. He’s also an inveterate serial seducer, a serious character flaw that leads not just to his literal flight in a balloon from an angry husband, but later, to romantic disappointment (someone else’s, not his) and the conflict at the center of Oz the Great and Powerful, pitting Oz and his cinematically inspired illusions against the forces of female-centered dark magic.

When Oz arrives in the land that bears his name, he meets Theodora (Mila Kunis), a dangerously naïve, dangerously idealistic witch who sees Oz as the prophesized wizard who’ll lead the inhabitants of Oz to freedom from the Wicked Witch (via benign dictatorship, not democracy, of course). Almost immediately, Theodora becomes besotted with Oz, not only imagining herself as his future spouse and queen, but also telling Oz of her plans and desires. Not surprisingly, Oz just sees Theodora as another conquest. Still, Theodora’s stories of the Emerald City and a golden scepter is more than enough to entice Oz to take the first step of many on the yellow brick road. Fame and fortune seem Oz’s for the easy taking.

On the way to the Emerald City, Oz saves a bellhop uniform-wearing flying monkey, Finley (Zach Braff). In exchange, Finley offers his services as servant. Oz shows little regard, respect, or compassion for Finley. Finley’s patter and difficulty in carrying Oz’s bag is meant both as comic fodder (for the audience, not Finley) and to show how far Oz has to go before he become a just and benign dictator (i.e., king). In the Emerald City, Oz meets Theodora’s sister, Evanora (Rachel Weisz). Evanora lays down the first rung in Oz’s journey: Finding and destroying the Wicked Witch’s magic wand. A trip to the Dark Forest nets Oz another member of his crew, China Doll (Joey King), and an encounter with Glinda, the Good Witch (Michelle Williams), who helps Oz toward the self-awareness necessary before he can ascend to the kingdom’s top power spot.

A failed romance doesn’t just lead to disappointment, it leads to violent, near-homicidal behavior. That might sound like an over-reach, but it’s not.

Kapner and Lindsay-Abaire’s script throws in an attack by screeching, flying balloons, one of the few times in Oz the Great and Powerful where Raimi allows his horror genre roots free rein. There’s little in this particular sequence to frighten adults. Children will probably differ with that assessment, but that’s only because they’ll accept CG baboons far more readily as realistic and therefore scary. Subsequent sequences are overfilled with CG eye candy, a reminder both of Raimi’s strengths as a visual storyteller and his weaknesses as a narrative one. Oz’s journey is nothing if uninspired. He flits from one goal to another, with little personal risk. It’s only a matter of time before Oz grows into the good and kindly, if still flawed, wizard familiar from the 1939 classic.

Oz the Great and Powerful contrasts Oz’s personal transformation with that of a second character, except that she changes in the opposite direction, from selfishness and compassion to egocentrism and cruelty. Although her transformation is meant to mirror his and fill in backstory supposedly crucial to understanding The Wizard of Oz, it reinforces outdated, regressive ideas about women and romantic love. A failed romance doesn’t just lead to disappointment, it leads to violent, near-homicidal behavior. That might sound like an over-reach, but it’s not. Themes and subtext count, especially in a film heavily marketed to family audiences and just as likely to bring those audiences into movie theaters in substantial numbers.

Oz the Great and Powerful’s problems extend to an overlong, meandering running time, a miscast, seemingly stoned lead unequal to the film’s modest demands, and an overabundance of CG as a substitute for narrative originality. If that sounds familiar, it should. The same description can be applied to Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, and earlier, Burton’s ill-conceived adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. As long as audiences willfully ignore storytelling shortcomings, however, Disney and, to be fair, other Hollywood-based studios, will contribute to churn out over-expensive, underwhelming family-oriented fantasy films and audiences will be all the poorer for it.

Oz the Great and Powerful’s problems extend to an overlong, meandering running time, a miscast, seemingly stoned lead unequal to the film’s modest demands, and an overabundance of CG as a substitute for narrative originality.