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This is no sitcom set against an overused New York City background with an impossibly large apartment or an action movie with hot-guy-one and hot-girl-one careening through action-city-number-four. This is Oz. This is one of the richest, most beloved fairy tale lands ever created. Yet director Sam Raimi and Co. didn’t take this opportunity to explore the countless regions or species of people described in L. Frank Baum’s original book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” that didn’t make the cut into the 1939 film. Instead, “Oz the Great and Powerful” is a character-driven movie populated with one-dimensional characters.
Cliche, sexist characters fill Oz with mediocrity
James Franco’s journey as the titular character from womanizer to unlikely hero is far too commonplace to carry an entire film. Franco’s acting ability was even more unlikely to take this pathetic character arc and turn it into something spectacular — and it did not. However, his failure to turn bad writing into good writing is nothing to Mila Kunis' performance as Theodora. An actress so known for her sex appeal is an odd choice for a conflicted — maybe wicked, maybe not — fairy tale character, and she is unable to shed that persona. Her attempts to shriek like a witch are a little too sorority-girl-whose-boyfriend-cheated-on-her and her outfits show entirely too much cleavage to be remotely terrifying.
And the cleavage was just the beginning. When a film has essentially four main characters and three of them are women, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask that one of the women be competent. According to the lore of this Land of Oz, all was well under the previous king and all will be chaos until the next one is crowned. Is it impossible for three women — three witches with magic powers — to lead a country? Apparently. They can do nothing but bicker about the last man they followed until the next one comes to save the day.
The most engaging characters came in the form of a little winged monkey named Finley and a girl made of china. Maybe it was his experience giving sappy intro and exit monologues on “Scrubs,” but Zach Braff brought a lot of emotion to the computer-generated primate with nothing more than his voice. China Girl (Joey King) brought to life one of the sweetest parts of the original book that wasn’t in the original movie.
Poorly used magic confuses plot
The characters were not the only blunder here; the plot was confusing and disjointed throughout, usually due to the fact that magic is completely undefined in “Oz the Great and Powerful.” The witches may or may not need wands — it depends on which part of the movie you’re watching. Even more than that, the witches seem helpless at points and unstoppable at others. Any time magic is introduced in a film you have to be careful and explain why the characters can’t just wave their wands and fix everything — something “Oz the Great and Powerful” never does.
Visuals and extra touches can’t make up for a sloppy film
Raimi did give several conspicuous and charming nods to the Judy Garland adaptation. It was no surprise that the film began in black and white but transformed to color in Oz — but that made it no less delightful. The use of a 4:3 aspect ratio in the opening scenes — especially allowing pieces of the environment, like subtle puffs of smoke, to escape into the negative space around the screen — was an innovative touch.
The strongest parts of this film by far were the visuals. The scenery in the rural hills of Oz was a perfect use of over-saturated colors for a fairy tale land. The costume design was flawless — besides Kunis’ opening outfit, which was an odd cross of a Jackie O garden party jacket and hat with leather pants. The people of Oz have never been so enchanting as they were in brightly colored lederhosen.
There is a lot of good in “Oz the Great and Powerful.” It’s practically worth watching the movie just to look at it because it is so gorgeous; and while the main cast falls flat, Finley and the little china girl lead the way for a brilliant supporting cast. But it’s just not enough. There is too much bad in the main structure of the film for good extras and a pretty screen to compensate.
