Oscar Diggs (Franco) is a small-time circus magician and con artist, duping Kansas audiences with fake sorcery and sweet talking women into bed at every given opportunity.
When he is whisked away to the weird and wonderful Land of Oz, Oscar is mistaken for the strange land’s wizard, who has been prophesized to save the land from the evil witch.
When Oscar’s case of mistaken identity leads to a feud with Oz’s three witches (Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams), he must figure out who is good and who is bad and decide whether he wants to be a good man doing the right thing, or a great man living a lie.
Victor Fleming’s lavish The Wizard of Oz has loomed over Tinsel Town for so long now, and has become so ingrained into the consumer subconscious that any subsequent trip to Oz is immediately eclipsed and consumed by Fleming’s iconic movie. In fact, there’s been an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s Oz works practically every year since 1960 (just around the time when the 1939 film began enjoying it’s resurgence thanks to the new medium of television) and not one TV show, straight-to-video animation or big screen venture has even come close to making as much of a mark as MGM’s classic.
Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful is no exception. Embedded in Fleming’s world of ruby slippers and cackling witches (yes, writer L. Frank Baum came up with Oz, but this still has more in common with the 1939 movie), Raimi is keen to follow Fleming’s footsteps down that yellow brick road from the outset, opening his movie in 4:3 fullscreen black and white before unleashing a dazzling display of widescreen colour when the protagonist touches down in Oz. Indeed, Oz the Great and Powerful is a film that’s cut from the same blue gingham cloth as Fleming’s, with Raimi unable and unwilling to make Oz truly his own.
Though there are certainly moments of that iconic Raimi camera play and slapstick sense of humour throughout the film (a little too long at 130 minutes), it would have been nice if the director rallied against tradition and made an altogether different Oz movie, maybe taking a tip or two from Disney’s bold and bloodcurdling Return to Oz (1985), which, while not perfect, dared to march to the beat of a different Baum drum.
If you can get past the feeling of déjà vu, however (and many will be coming to Oz for the first time with Raimi’s movie), there’s plenty to like and even love about Oz the Great and Powerful.
The dazzlingly bright and colourful land of Oz looks gorgeous and is a place populated with inventive, terrifying (get ready for the flying monkeys to haunt your nightmares all over again) and heart-wrenchingly sweet creations (Zach Braff’s servant monkey and the china girl to name but a few) that are brought to life by some nifty digital effects; while the CGI wizardry isn’t a match for the Technicolor elegance of its ancestor, Oz the Great and Powerful pops with a radiant beauty.
The 3D elements, as always, grow tiresome after about five minutes and aside from the effective opening credits and the odd incident that’ll make you jump back in your seat, you can pretty much take or leave the three dimensional tricks.
The performances are where Oz truly shines. Franco does a fine job as the loveable rogue and accidental wizard, mixing tongue in cheek one-liners with flamboyant showmanship, proving he was a fine choice after all (following rumoured stars including the likes of Robert Downey Jr). Weisz brings class and wit to the ambiguous Evanora, while Kunis is wickedly entertaining as the ill-fated Theodora, evolving from unhinged victim to full-blown, green-skinned mentalist by the final act. And Michelle Williams, brilliant as always, provides a highlight as Glinda, an endearing personification of good and the most likeable thing this Oz has to offer.
Overall Verdict: Though not an entirely original take on Baum’s work, fine performances and some inventive visuals ensure that Raimi’s Oz is well worth a visit.
Reviewer: Lee Griffiths