Oz: The Great and Powerful

"The Powerful Ruler of Oz" tries to overcome the shortcomings in the story through its form. It works similarly to how it worked in "Alice in Wonderland". The form will impress you, visually it's an orgy, although not for everyone, for some it will be a bit too much, but you will still leave the cinema disappointed, or at least not as fulfilled as you probably imagined. It is simply a story that is too simple. Furthermore, there is a lack of a true climax - it will only occur in the film "The Wizard of Oz". This is a great shame. Another wasted opportunity. I somewhat don't understand why Raimi didn't use more of his sense of horror atmosphere and horror elements. Not that you won't like the film, but you won't leave it excited. Instead, you will be thinking about what you will have for dinner and quickly forget about this experience. (11/19/2013)

As it sometimes happens, you get movies reviewed here at Filmbooster that most people would expect to provide them at least with some proper cinematographic entertainment. Well, Sam Raimi is no dummy, so it was clear also that what he would make wouldn’t be your typical genre movie, but a typical blockbuster that can make a lot of money. And if I set aside the sometimes too wacky editing, or the crazy camerawork, and given the way people criticize this movie and bring it down to average, I was pretty satisfied. Sure, you can see that the whole thing is shot in front of a green screen, but I didn’t mind that. The premise of the story is a bit different than what you’d expect. This is no Alice in Wonderland. At times, it’s scary, especially the characters of the witches themselves – that’s pretty typical for the director… and at times it can really lift you up and make you laugh. And that’s good to know. The movie has it in it. The fact that it’s not the way everybody had dreamed it would be and everybody’s upset, that’s another thing. Sam Raimi simply made a fairy-tale with everything that entails. I was satisfied and I must admit that James Franco’s transformation in this movie was flawless. (02/05/2014)

A very beautiful fairy tale, but I was (unpleasantly) surprised by how "anti" the main character was. And for that, I won’t give it a fifth star even if I wanted to. Otherwise, however, I am one of those who was moved by the gluing of the porcelain doll's feet, enchanted by the colored world (cursing Raimi's "coloring book" would be like cursing Technicolor from the original film), and amused by the digital monkey. James Franco is good, but it’s too bad that he’s not particularly sympathetic, the trio of witches is perfect, and Danny Elfman's score is more than pleasant (the theme!). Four and a half. (03/12/2013)

I might have considered adding an extra star if the creators hadn't shamelessly borrowed from Tim Burton and added colors that reminded me of Pushing Daisies. Unfortunately, the movie didn't quite hit the mark for me. Rachel Weisz was more appealing to my eye than Michelle Williams, so it didn't take long for me to realize I was leaning toward the dark side of the force. Mila Kunis was also in the mix, whom I'm not particularly fond of. Thankfully, she underwent a transformation early on and became more tolerable. But let's be honest, it didn't salvage the story, and I can't say I was impressed by this prequel to Dorothy's adventures. / Lesson learned: Even a warehouse worker in a factory can read Virgil in the original, and even a carnival magician can become a king. (06/24/2022)

OK, I don't know what specifically caught Raimi's attention in the 150th generic version of the plot, i.e., "the hero travels to a fantastic realm where three witches rule, one of whom is evil and only he can defeat her." The fact is that the implementation is not bad at all and the result is definitely not an unnecessary remake (Franco really does not resemble Judy Garland, the whole story is about something completely different, and the framework of the world is absolutely different), or prequel, as I thought for a while. So, it's simply different in terms of genre and content than the famous game with songs and a dog from 1939, a song in which the funny-awkward James Franco sings a slightly varying chorus “I'm a bastard / liar / charlatan" and women fall into his lustful arms as if he was Rudolph Valentino. After the poetic, funny and imaginative introduction, it is followed by a widescreen hyper-colored 3D fair with lots of digital flowers, a pastel mindfuck and cute creatures, which, however, Raimi handles with more forethought and irony than Alice’s Burton. He also manages to play around a bit, pay homage to the moving images, and to pay tribute to the details of his predecessor from the late 1930s, but I wouldn't say that he explains to me why I should watch this recycled plot and listen to the second-rate melodramatic croaking of witches. In addition, the 1939 version seems to me to be much smarter, more thoughtful and has nicer singing... and it’s just better in general. (03/07/2013)