Oz the Great and Powerful
2/4
Starring: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Joey King
Rated PG for Sequences of Action and Scary Images, and Brief Mild Language
As anyone who has seen the trailer for "Oz the Great and Powerful" can attest, the film looks fantastic. There's eye candy a plenty to be found in Sam Raimi's tour of Oz. Sadly, while it has enough visual dazzle for a whole summer release window, it lacks in other areas, like story and acting.
Oz (Franco) is an arrogant, small time magician who wants to be a great man. After he's proven to be a charlatan when asked to perform an impossible task (making a little girl (King) walk again), he's run out of his show. Later on, when he's being chased by the Strongman (for reasons not explained), he escapes into a hot air balloon. It's short-lived relief because he ends up flying into a tornado (a cool, but overlong, sequence, by the way) and landing in a bizarre world called, wait for it...Oz. There, he meets a lovely young woman named Theodora (Kunis) who believes that he is the wizard destined to defeat the evil witch. Then she meets Evanora (Weisz), who gives him the rundown of all that is his, or will be, once he vanquishes evil. Of course, the one who he thinks is the evil witch, Glinda (Williams), is in fact the good witch, and Evanora is the bad one.
The only level upon which the film can be enjoyed is the visual element. It just looks amazing. It's so vivid and detailed, and for once, the 3D enhances the effect. It's like a big screen Blu Ray movie. The Emerald City is particularly amazing to look at. However, there are other things to consider when judging the quality, or lack there of, of a film.
Next to the visual appearance of the film, the acting is the most noteworthy, although for less positive reasons. Putting it bluntly, the performances suck. Few people in this film understand how to act, or have absolutely no interest in what they're doing. James Franco, never an actor of significant range, is adequate but a little stiff...like he is in most of his other movies ("Milk" and "127 Hours" being the exceptions). Mila Kunis, on the other hand, is awful. Kunis has never been an actress of great range, but as Theodora, she has enough ham to feed Genghis Khan's army twice over. "Stiff" is too kind of a word. If she ever wants another acting job, she better hope that no one ever sees this movie (not possible, given the inexplicably good reception its getting). Rachel Weisz proves she can play a good villain, but she doesn't have any interest in Evanora except for the paycheck that comes with it. Michelle Williams does her best not to stumble on her dialogue or get drowned out by the special effects. She sort of succeeds on both counts (which considering her lack of presence, is noteworthy). The only good performances come from Zack Braff and Joey King. Apart from brief, in the flesh appearances in the opening scene, both are animated (he's a flying monkey while she is a china doll). Braff is funny and lovable (the perfect sidekick, in other words), while King is simply adorable.
Sam Raimi is a good filmmaker. His "Spider-Man" trilogy is a lot of fun, and "A Simple Plan" is a masterpiece. Here, he forgets the goal of a movie: to spend an hour or so with interesting characters in a compelling story. Granted, the script is crap, but Raimi should have known that it's entirely possible to make a good kids movie with a smart script. Look at "The Goonies" or "Spirited Away." Both of those movies were visually dazzling, had intelligent scripts AND were beloved by children. Here, it's just a waste of great special effects.
Starring: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Joey King
Rated PG for Sequences of Action and Scary Images, and Brief Mild Language
As anyone who has seen the trailer for "Oz the Great and Powerful" can attest, the film looks fantastic. There's eye candy a plenty to be found in Sam Raimi's tour of Oz. Sadly, while it has enough visual dazzle for a whole summer release window, it lacks in other areas, like story and acting.
Oz (Franco) is an arrogant, small time magician who wants to be a great man. After he's proven to be a charlatan when asked to perform an impossible task (making a little girl (King) walk again), he's run out of his show. Later on, when he's being chased by the Strongman (for reasons not explained), he escapes into a hot air balloon. It's short-lived relief because he ends up flying into a tornado (a cool, but overlong, sequence, by the way) and landing in a bizarre world called, wait for it...Oz. There, he meets a lovely young woman named Theodora (Kunis) who believes that he is the wizard destined to defeat the evil witch. Then she meets Evanora (Weisz), who gives him the rundown of all that is his, or will be, once he vanquishes evil. Of course, the one who he thinks is the evil witch, Glinda (Williams), is in fact the good witch, and Evanora is the bad one.
The only level upon which the film can be enjoyed is the visual element. It just looks amazing. It's so vivid and detailed, and for once, the 3D enhances the effect. It's like a big screen Blu Ray movie. The Emerald City is particularly amazing to look at. However, there are other things to consider when judging the quality, or lack there of, of a film.
Next to the visual appearance of the film, the acting is the most noteworthy, although for less positive reasons. Putting it bluntly, the performances suck. Few people in this film understand how to act, or have absolutely no interest in what they're doing. James Franco, never an actor of significant range, is adequate but a little stiff...like he is in most of his other movies ("Milk" and "127 Hours" being the exceptions). Mila Kunis, on the other hand, is awful. Kunis has never been an actress of great range, but as Theodora, she has enough ham to feed Genghis Khan's army twice over. "Stiff" is too kind of a word. If she ever wants another acting job, she better hope that no one ever sees this movie (not possible, given the inexplicably good reception its getting). Rachel Weisz proves she can play a good villain, but she doesn't have any interest in Evanora except for the paycheck that comes with it. Michelle Williams does her best not to stumble on her dialogue or get drowned out by the special effects. She sort of succeeds on both counts (which considering her lack of presence, is noteworthy). The only good performances come from Zack Braff and Joey King. Apart from brief, in the flesh appearances in the opening scene, both are animated (he's a flying monkey while she is a china doll). Braff is funny and lovable (the perfect sidekick, in other words), while King is simply adorable.
Sam Raimi is a good filmmaker. His "Spider-Man" trilogy is a lot of fun, and "A Simple Plan" is a masterpiece. Here, he forgets the goal of a movie: to spend an hour or so with interesting characters in a compelling story. Granted, the script is crap, but Raimi should have known that it's entirely possible to make a good kids movie with a smart script. Look at "The Goonies" or "Spirited Away." Both of those movies were visually dazzling, had intelligent scripts AND were beloved by children. Here, it's just a waste of great special effects.
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