The story before the story in,”Oz the Great and Powerful,” had the potential for greatness but unfortunately did not live up to expectations.
The plot surrounds James Franco starring as Oz, a womanizing and slimy circus magician who spends his days tricking people and taking their money. Oz, through a surprise tornado, finds himself in a fairy tale world filled with witches and magical creatures where he pretends to be the prophesied wizard for which the citizens of Oz were waiting. His task is to defeat the wicked witch, but finding out which witch is good or bad and how to be the man everyone wants him to be provides the conflict of the story.
Franco was not his usual brilliant self. This movie is what I would consider to be his worst work. His acting was forced and awkward. It was obvious that he was acting with CGI characters which caused him to be looking in the wrong direction when he was supposed to be talking to specific characters. It was as though Franco was attempting to change his acting style to be more Johnny Depp–esque, which really didn’t work for him.
The witches were disappointing to say the least. Mila Kunis, who starred as one of the wicked witch sisters, was extremely over dramatic. Her character wasn’t genuine and her makeup was just terrible. A 2 year old would wear that kind of make up for Halloween. She did not meet the expectations that Hollywood and me, as an avid movie viewer, demands.
The love stories were confusing and never truly developed. Kunis portrays a witch who falls in love with Oz within the first 20 minutes and then, after figuring out that the feelings were not mutual, hated Oz. The good witch and Oz end up randomly making out at the end of the movie. It is all very complicated and unbelievable.
The one saving grace for the film was the monkey played by Zach Braff. This monkey provided the only good acting and comedic relief throughout the hour and a half movie. But seeing as he was only a supporting role that had minimal lines, he was not enough to provide any sort of redemption for the film as a whole.
The special effects were not what I have come to expect after movies like “Life of Pi.” For a world that is full of magical creatures and based on pure imagination, the effects were not impressive at all. They seemed to be five years behind the current technological advancements. The flying was obviously on strings. There was no fluidity and the actors seemed to have no control over how awkward they were when accommodating for CGI.
There were key elements to the story and the conflicts within which were never actually explained. As an audience member you must go with the flow as they say and not expect to understand what’s happening but accept it anyways. So if you like that kind of thing, then maybe you would enjoy this show, but I did not.
All in all, I was sorely disappointed. After the hype this movie has created, I expected to be dazzled and amazed. Promoters predicted this would be a cinema highlight for the year but alas, “Oz the Great and Powerful” is mediocre at best.
