"Oz," the Shiny and Colorful

I had very low expectations for "Oz, the Great and Powerful," the recent Disney prequel to "The Wizard of Oz," that reveals how the Wonderful Wizard first came to the Land of Oz. That's probably why I had a fairly positive experience with it. I consider myself a big Oz fan, who has a lot of history with the franchise and its various spinoffs, including "Wicked." "Oz, the Great and Powerful" is exactly what the marketing makes it look like: a big, shiny fantasy spectacle with far more style than substance. It doesn't do a very good job of keeping in the spirit of the original Oz films and books, but if you're just looking for some good family entertainment, it works perfectly well as goofy, whiz-bang fun.

We first meet Oscar Diggs (James Franco) as a Kansas carnival magician, who styles himself as Oz, the Great and Powerful. He's a con-man, a womanizer, and a cheat, but yearns to be a great man. Fate steers him into a hot air balloon that gets sucked into a tornado, sending Oscar to the Land of Oz. There, people mistake him for a Wizard, who has been prophesied will save Oz from destruction. He meets new friends, including a talking winged monkey, Finley (Zach Braff), a porcelain China Girl (Joey King), and three beautiful witches named Evanora (Rachel Weisz), Theodora (Mila Kunis), and Glinda (Michelle Williams). The question of whether these witches are bad or good is central to the story, and as you might have already guessed, one of them turns out to be the famous Wicked Witch of the West.

The plot is a mess, and though all the actors involved are competent, it's hard to escape the feeling that several of them have been terribly miscast. James Franco, for instance, does not deliver a bad performance by any means, but it doesn't quite fit the bigger, larger-than-life feel of the rest of the movie. Similarly, this version of the Wicked Witch only works if you keep in mind that this is a younger, not yet fully-formed Wicked Witch, and thus very different from Margaret Hamilton's take on her. I expect for many Oz fans, this portrayal is going to clash terribly with their childhood memories of the character. Because of the different kind of story being told here, and because Disney had to take pains to avoid evoking MGM's "Oz" too closely, there's also a much more generic feel to the fantasy land.

At the same time, the execution of the spectacle is so well done, it makes up for a lot of these flaws. Disney couldn't take anything directly from "The Wizard of Oz," but it does pay homage to it through many, many references, large and small. The most obvious is that all the Kansas scenes are shot in sepia tones, and use the old 4:3 aspect ratio. It isn't until Oscar arrives in Oz that the film changes to color, and the picture transitions to full widescreen. The visuals are designed to reminded viewers of the saturated Technicolor look that gave those first Munchkinland scenes so much impact. It's a treat to watch Oscar explore the gorgeous Oz landscape, including a fantastically vibrant Emerald City. The CGI effects work is especially good, creating two major characters, Finley and the China Girl, who are convincing as any of the human beings onscreen.

The hand of director Sam Raimis is only apparent in the odd frame, since this is such an obviously Disney-controlled product. However, you do get some of his twisted sense of humor here and there, most notably in the tornado sequence. His visual style, with the long tracking shots and horror movie angles, is also apparent if you're paying attention. This helps to keep "Oz, the Great and Powerful" from looking too much of a piece with similar films like Tim Burton's "Alice and Wonderland." There are constantly interesting things to look at. Even if the story wasn't holding my interest, I wasn't bored for an instant. And after the recent blitz of summer action films that hurtled along at breakneck speeds, it was nice to have several sequences in "Oz" where you could really sit back and take in all the gorgeous graphics at a more leisurely pace.

There are a lot of things I wanted from a new Oz movie, and "Oz, the Great and Powerful" didn't give me as many as I was hoping for. However, it does make me feel very positive about the future of Oz on film. Clearly Disney put a lot of effort into making this one look good. If they put half as much effort into the story and characters for the next one – and it's looking good that we'll get a next one – it could really be something special.
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