The plot is simple and easy to follow with plentiful light-hearted moments, but it's not really the focus of the film. The journey of discovery and the amazing visual effects have given life to a rather predictable storyline. Although it may not be as detailed and captivating as the Life of Pi, it was the best I've seen so far this year. Where Jack the Giant Slayer had failed to use the effects to their advantage, Oz the Great and Powerful did just that and it is a much better film to watch in 3D.
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As we entered the month of March, we take a step closer to the releasing of some of the most anticipated films of the year. To kick things off, let's have a look at Oz the Great and Powerful. Regardless of whether you've already been initiated to the Oz series of books, the Wizard of Oz film or Wicked, its trailer made it that much difficult to turn away from the film.
Oz the Great and Powerful
Language: English
Run Time: 130 minutes // 2 hours 10 minutes
Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Rating: 'PG13' (Malaysia) // PG for sequences of action and scary images, and brief mild language
Director: Sam Riami
Starring: James Franco, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis and cast (See the elaborated list of cast members below)
Date-of-Release: 7 March 2013 (Malaysia) // 8 March 2013 (USA)
What is it about?
Follow the journey of a small-time magician nicknamed Oz (James Franco) as he discovers the magical land of Oz and himself. The film is based on L. Frank Baum's Oz-series novels.
Tagline: The land you know. The story you don't.
(Read on for Oz the Great and Powerful review)
First off, we shall start with a little background story on the male lead, James Franco. For those of you who are not familiar with James, he played Harry Osborn (New Goblin) in the Spider-Man series, and the male leads for Rise of the Planet of Apes as well as 127 Hours. He was also widely criticised for his lacklustre performance during the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, which he co-hosted with Anne Hathaway (A video of that is available below).
Regardless of his bad press, I still think James is an amazing actor if he commits to his roles. I'm sure the Academy Awards will not have hired him if they didn't think he's good. Back to the movie at hand, James did shine in his role as the main character Oscar Diggs, nicknamed Oz. He was charming, flirtatious, hilarious and insecure in the film. It was endearing to watch him as he painted his character full of colour, and gave a believable performance.
James Franco's Oscars Performance:
Props to Mila Kunis and Michelle Williams too for their wonderful performances as Theodora and Glinda respectively. Mila did a great job in bring the Wicked Witch to life, it did honestly give me chills when the character first appeared. She played a villain really well, she certainly scared the sh*t right out of me (You could also check out her performance in Black Swan if you haven't already). Overall, the casts came together and lifted the film and made it believable, something very important especially in Fantasy movies because sometimes the dialogues may get a little cheesy.
The plot is simple and easy to follow with plentiful light-hearted moments, but it's not really the focus of the film. The journey of discovery and the amazing visual effects have given life to a rather predictable storyline. Although it may not be as detailed and captivating as the Life of Pi, it was the best I've seen so far this year. Where Jack the Giant Slayer had failed to use the effects to their advantage, Oz the Great and Powerful did just that and it is a much better film to watch in 3D.
Many movie-goers too seemed to favour Oz over Jack as reflected in the box office, earning approximately $79 million in its opening weekend as opposed to approx. $27 million (according to BoxOffice.com). One can't help but to compare these two films, since both are based on widely-known stories and opened just a week apart from each other, considered two of the first "heavyweight films" of the year to grace the silver screen. The duel doesn't just end here. Interestingly enough, directors of both films have also directed superhero movies in the past - Bryan Singer from Jack directed X-Men, while Sam Riami from Oz directed Spider-Man. On top of that, their male leads were also starred in those films - Nicholas Hoult played Beast in X-Men: First Class, while James Franco played Goblin in Spider-Man as mentioned above. Such an uncanny coincidence, don't you think?
While Oz the Great and Powerful celebrates its highly successful opening weekend, Bryan Singer has to ponder over what went wrong with Jack the Giant Slayer as he prepares for the second X-Men First Class-series film - X-Men: Days of Future Past. Hopefully he could learn from his competition and raise his game in the next X-Men instalment, because millions of X-Men fans and myself will not forgive him if he screws that one up.
If you haven't already watched Oz the Great and Powerful, what are you still waiting for? Go get the tickets and set up your movie date(s) like right now, and prepare yourself for a magical journey to the Land of Oz.
Regardless of his bad press, I still think James is an amazing actor if he commits to his roles. I'm sure the Academy Awards will not have hired him if they didn't think he's good. Back to the movie at hand, James did shine in his role as the main character Oscar Diggs, nicknamed Oz. He was charming, flirtatious, hilarious and insecure in the film. It was endearing to watch him as he painted his character full of colour, and gave a believable performance.
James Franco's Oscars Performance:
Props to Mila Kunis and Michelle Williams too for their wonderful performances as Theodora and Glinda respectively. Mila did a great job in bring the Wicked Witch to life, it did honestly give me chills when the character first appeared. She played a villain really well, she certainly scared the sh*t right out of me (You could also check out her performance in Black Swan if you haven't already). Overall, the casts came together and lifted the film and made it believable, something very important especially in Fantasy movies because sometimes the dialogues may get a little cheesy.
The plot is simple and easy to follow with plentiful light-hearted moments, but it's not really the focus of the film. The journey of discovery and the amazing visual effects have given life to a rather predictable storyline. Although it may not be as detailed and captivating as the Life of Pi, it was the best I've seen so far this year. Where Jack the Giant Slayer had failed to use the effects to their advantage, Oz the Great and Powerful did just that and it is a much better film to watch in 3D.
Many movie-goers too seemed to favour Oz over Jack as reflected in the box office, earning approximately $79 million in its opening weekend as opposed to approx. $27 million (according to BoxOffice.com). One can't help but to compare these two films, since both are based on widely-known stories and opened just a week apart from each other, considered two of the first "heavyweight films" of the year to grace the silver screen. The duel doesn't just end here. Interestingly enough, directors of both films have also directed superhero movies in the past - Bryan Singer from Jack directed X-Men, while Sam Riami from Oz directed Spider-Man. On top of that, their male leads were also starred in those films - Nicholas Hoult played Beast in X-Men: First Class, while James Franco played Goblin in Spider-Man as mentioned above. Such an uncanny coincidence, don't you think?
While Oz the Great and Powerful celebrates its highly successful opening weekend, Bryan Singer has to ponder over what went wrong with Jack the Giant Slayer as he prepares for the second X-Men First Class-series film - X-Men: Days of Future Past. Hopefully he could learn from his competition and raise his game in the next X-Men instalment, because millions of X-Men fans and myself will not forgive him if he screws that one up.
If you haven't already watched Oz the Great and Powerful, what are you still waiting for? Go get the tickets and set up your movie date(s) like right now, and prepare yourself for a magical journey to the Land of Oz.
KayElleGuy's rating: +-+1.png)
(8.0 / 10.0)
(8.0 / 10.0)
List of cast members:
- James Franco as Oz
- Mila Kunis as Theodora
- Rachel Weisz as Evanora
- Michelle Williams as Glinda / Annie
- Zach Braff as Finley / Frank
- Bill Cobbs as Master Tinker
- Joey King as China Girl / Girl in Wheelchair
- Tony Cox as Knuck
- Stephen R. Hart Winkie General
- Abigail Spencer as May
- Bruce Campbell as Winkie Gate Keeper
- Ted Raimi as Sceptical Audience
- Tim Holmes as Strongman
- Toni Wynne as Strong Man's Wife
- Rob Crites as Firebreather and cast
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