Oz, the Great and Powerful

After capturing top spot at the box office for two weeks in a row, and grossing 144 million dollars in the U.S alone, Oz, the Great and Powerful can be considered and early year blockbuster. Boasting a line-up of stars that includes James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weiss, Michelle Williams, and also being a prequel to one of the most famous films of all time, The Wizard of Oz, this movie didn't have much to do to become a smash hit. This is lucky for the investors, because this movie didn't do very much very well.

From the opening scene, you could already tell that James Franco was horribly miscast for the role of Oz the magician. He looked as is he was high the whole time (which he probably was), and was so out of place either in Kansas, or in Oz. This was a distracting factor the whole time. Also, the dialogue was so poor, that i'm sure most children could tell how cheesy most of it was. At times, Oz felt as if it was for very young children, but other times it was quite frightening. There were serious moments in the dialogue that you could not contain your laughter, because they were either so poorly acted, or so over the top. Mila Kunis' makeup as the Wicked Witch of the West, was distracting as was the voice overs for her menacing laugh.

Sounds pretty bad doesn't it? Well, actually it was quite entertaining. The 3D started off a little bit distracting, but really was worth it when the movie got to Oz. The colours were brilliant and vibrant, and the whole world was unbelievably beautiful. When it came to the acting, only Rachel Weiss had a strong performance. She was not as overly expressive as the Franco and Kunis (besides a few scenes) and not as out of place and uninterested as Williams. The story did put together a lot of interesting aspects of The Wizard of Oz, but there were also many flaws in the plot line.

Despite laughing at things that weren't supposed to be funny, and cringing at other parts that were supposed make you laugh, I walked out of the movie content and entertained. There are lots of things wrong with Oz, but it isn't boring, and it isn't a waste of time.

3/5