Not too long ago in my review of “Ni no Kuni,” I made a big deal out of how tired and boring the “prophesized chosen one” trope is and how much I despise stories with said trope. “Oz: The Great and Powerful” makes full use of this device and I should hate the movie, but I don’t. I credit that to the talent of beloved geek icon Sam Raimi and his ability to twist this trope for the better. We all know The Wizard of Oz (the guy) is a colossal fake and the film uses this plot point to its full effect.
Twenty years before Dorothy Gale commits manslaughter with a house, Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs (Oz for short), a womanizing conman illusionist is chased out of the travelling circus via hot air balloon and straight into a tornado where he is transported to the magical Land of Oz.
Upon arrival, Oz meets a couple of sexy witches and is embroiled in the politics of his new home as he manipulates a prophecy in order to make off with the throne and the royal treasury. But before he does so, Oz must defeat the Wicked Witch and free the Land of Oz from a shroud of evil. Along the way he meets up with a surprisingly well-rounded cast of supporting characters and uncovers some twists along his own path down the yellow-brick road.
I liked the cast in this one. James Franco sells the conniving scoundrel quite well, while Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams offer some refreshing humanized portrayals as the witches. Zach Braff shows up as a bell-hop flying monkey in an uncharacteristically tolerable presence on film and Joey King gives a surprisingly lively performance of a walking china doll.
All the pieces of this film come together quite well with only a few hiccups rolled into the mix. The romantic turns in this movie come off as fanfiction-y and don’t serve any purpose other than to fill the unnecessary romance quota that every film has to have. I watched the film in 2D as not to let the 3D effects distract me from the substance, but then the film just has a ton of shots on display that were clearly meant to showcase the 3D effects and distracted me anyway.
The movie is not a musical, which is a shame because it would be nice to see them come back into style, but it works well enough without. Despite these, and a few other minor nitpicks, Sam Raimi’s “Oz: The Great and Powerful” earns a great and powerful recommendation.
Go see it and be amazed.
