My first reaction upon seeing the credits roll across the screen was something along the lines of "wow, that was really cheesy." As my friends and I walked out of the theater and to our car everyone around me was making jokes about the movie which quickly turned "cheesy" into "I'm just trying to forget it ever happened" as my standard response when anyone asked how it was. In the scope of fairness, I feel the need to mention that there is a strong possibility that in my first viewing of Sam Raimi's Oz: The Great and Powerful I was significantly less then suitably positioned for viewing. However, I being, in general, a fan of the director as well as many of the actors, was less then impressed.
Before I go into all the ways I think the movie went wrong (which really only boils down to one thing) I want to take a few paragraphs giving props to what they did well, outstandingly even. Firstly, as an art lover, I need to pay homage to the brilliant minds and hands that are behind the CGI and scene design. Fella's, you're landscapes were breath taking. I only wish my blog-space was large enough for these pictures to do the scenery any justice. The entire movie was quite brilliantly "shiny" (which is a good thing).
Furthermore, I mean, how cute are these guys:
Adorable. Secondly, I want to reach out and applaud Danny Elfman for creating yet another spectacular music score. The soundtrack to Oz is captivating, alluring, and just a little bit creepy. Which suited the film perfectly and accompanied the beautiful imagery perfectly.
At first, I thought the issue was the acting. However, my faith in Franco, Kunis, along with Zach Braff and Joey King won out and I am convinced it was the screen writing. I thought the issue was in how the lines were being relayed but upon closer consideration its not so much that the acting is painful to watch but that the story seems awkward and disjunctive. A lot of things are not fully explained and others seem to be only vaguely cohesive (like what was up with Theodora just instantly being obsessively in love with Oz? Where's the back story behind this prophecy of a wizard coming to save them? And why does Theodora [who I was assuming to be the good witch of the south] turn into the Wicked Witch of the West?)
In order to keep this review somewhat brief, I'd like to simply include a video of what I think to be the worst scene of the film and rudely point out some of the problems I have with it (okay I'll give you guys some good things too).
- I love the cinematography
- What the heck is up with the apple? This is not Snow White.
- The tears cracking her skin was awesome, because you know, Dorothy melts the Wicked Witch with a bucket of water.
- Evanora's lines are catty and annoying.
- Why is there a need for Theodora to rip off half of her clothes?
- The green hand. Okay, let me take a second to collect my thoughts and say this in the nicest way possible. This snippet. The 30 seconds or whatever it took to play it. Was literally the biggest waste of time for every person who worked on the CGI for this movie. I understand how its supposed to be suspenseful and a little scary with the scratching of the table and what not; but I mean really, it just looked dumb.
- With the guttural growl when Theodora first stands up after her transformation?
- "Oh sister, you look hideous"..."I want him to see me like this, I want him to know that he did this to me..." Actually, it was your sister and her weird apple. But you know, blaming Oz is cool too.
However, through all my kvetching, I recognize that Oz: The Great and Powerful was supposed to be a children's/family film. I just want to say the following: Raimi, I am still a fan; actors, you did great with what you had to work with and I promise not to boycott all of your future movies; artists (including but not limited to art directors, computer animators, costume designers, and make-up artists), you were wonderful, and screenwriters, try to pick up a book and pay a little respect to the character of the witches next time...
