Immune to Oz magic

The first 15 minutes of Oz the Great and Powerful is brilliant … it’s shot in black and white in Kansas (like its predecessor), it’s presented on a standard ratio rather than wide- screen, has elements of humour, action and drama and it instantly captivates the viewer.

However, it soon falls to a slow-paced and coloured Neverland in the eye of a twister. As soon as director Sam Raimi follows the yellow brick road to the wonderland of Oz, this prequel fails to live up to the countless number of dramas inspired by Frank Baum’s Oz book series.

Whenever I think of The Wizard of Oz; Dorothy, her red shoes and the hit song Somewhere Over the Rainbow come to mind. Raimi disregards everything fans remember about the movie and tries to make Oz the Great and Powerful his own.

Don’t get me wrong, the visuals are stunning with colourful blossoming flowers, fireworks, live action plants and spectacular landscapes paying homage to the classic … but, I was still left disappointed, especially as the movie ran 30 minutes too long and lacked the action it needed.

However, luckily, it provides a good balance of humour and emotion which  makes many of the smaller roles memorable and worth their screen time.

The audience is first introduced to Oz (Franco), a flirtatious magician in a travelling circus who wants nothing more than to become a great man like Harry Houdini and Thomas Edison.

However, after his womanising ways get the better of him, Oz is forced to flee for his life and takes flight in a hot air balloon, which suddenly gets caught in a tornado and crash lands into the magical kingdom that bears his name.

Everyone in Oz has been waiting for his arrival as it has been told for many generations that a wizard will fall from the sky and defeat the wicked witch and restore the land to its former glory.

As Oz is no stranger to lies, he cons his way into the magical world and is promised all the gold he can handle if he can fulfil the prophecy by defeating the witch.

Oz bumps into Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Weisz) who is Theodora’s sister, and Glinda (Williams). They are the three witches in Oz, but … not everyone is who they seem.

Along the way, Oz is joined by a talking monkey Finley (Zac Braff) who becomes his faithful companion on his witch-hunt and a China doll (Joey King) whose legs Oz repairs using ‘magic in a bottle’ or as we humans like to call it … glue.

Eventually, he’s called upon to lead an army consisting of people who are prohibited to kill. Without giving away too much, he puts on the show of his life and one that Edison himself would be ‘proud’ of.
The movie does have its awkward scenes, especially a random musical number, not to mention a terrible script that will have viewers munching on more cheese than they can handle. However, the characters are all likeable and even the evil witches have a back-story to make the audience understand what they are going through.

Franco is one of my favourite actors so I may be biased when I say he gave a likeable performance. However, I still think he was the wrong choice for Oz as he never really got to where he needed to go with the role, especially because he’s taking over as the Dorothy character in this film.

It was nice to have a backdrop to a character I was told to ‘pay no attention to’ in the 1939 movie. His overbearing smile did tend to push the boundaries of psychotic at times, but that just added to the humour.
All three of the witches do justice to their roles and deliver quirky yet frightening moments, adding some polished magical fight scenes to the mix.

However, my favourite character was Finley. He provided the funniest scenes and if it wasn’t for him I would have walked out of the cinema halfway through.

I was expecting more from a tale that brings back so many childhood memories and it’s a shame that it fails to deliver the nostalgic factor that Raimi was trying to capture. However, the special effects and visual appeal almost make up for the terrible script.

Showing in Cineco, Seef II, Al Jazeera Cineplex, Dana Cinema