Film Review: Oz The Great and Powerful

Oz The Great and Powerful. Rated PG (mild fantasy violence and some scary scenes). 130 minutes. Directed by Sam Raimi. Screenplay by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire. Based on the novels by L Frank Baum.

Verdict: What might have been a dud turns out to be a wonderfully entertaining companion piece to one of the most loved movies of all time.

As iconic movies go, few compare to the magnificent The Wizard of Oz (1939), which to this day remains a remarkable achievement in cinematic fantasy storytelling. Well-known and equally well-loved by generations of film-goers, The Wizard of Oz introduced us to Judy Garland’s Dorothy, her little dog Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion who together, battled the Wicked Witch of the West for the future of The Emerald City.

Approaching even the concept of a prequel to this extraordinary movie would take only the best creative team imaginable – with the potential of delivering a career-ending dud more than likely at the forefront of the minds of everyone involved. Fortunately, everything about this film works almost perfectly – to the point where it can be reasonably considered as a fine companion piece to the film it obviously and unconditionally references and adores.

It is Kansas, 1905. Con-man and magician Oscar Diggs (James Franco) is earning a meagre living working in a travelling carnival, but when the carnival’s strongman discovers that he has been flirting with his girlfriend, Diggs only just manages to escape the strongman’s rage in a hot-air balloon. Moments later, the balloon is sucked into a giant tornado and Diggs crash-lands in the exotic land of Oz, where he is celebrated as the magical Wizard who has come to restore order to The Emerald City. With the help of the good witch Glinda (Michelle Williams), Diggs must work out how to defeat the wicked witches Theodora (Mila Kunis) and Evanora (Rachel Weisz).

Kapner (Days of Wrath) and Lindsay-Abaire (Rise of the Guardians, Rabbit Hole, Robots) have captured the fantastical elements of Baum’s fantastic novels beautifully, and wisely decided to respectfully acknowledge the story’s blue-ribbon pedigree in clever, artful and often humorous ways. What Franco’s (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 127 Hours, Milk) ‘Wizard’ completely lacks in personality, Kunis (Ted, Black Swan, and the voice of Family Guy’s Meg Griffin), Weisz (The Bourne Legacy) and Williams (My Week with Marilyn, Shutter Island, Brokeback Mountain) more than make up for with their trio of tour de force performances as the sisters fighting for control of their late father’s beloved kingdom.

Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-Man 1, 2 and 3) keeps a sure and steady hand on the proceedings, delivering the many big action set-pieces with the kind of flair you’d expect from the director of the Spider-Man movies. But it is the eye-popping work from Avatar production designer Robert Stromberg (who also designed Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland) that is the most unforgettable element of the film. Every luscious, wonderous detail is quite brilliantly realised, and photographed to perfection by cinematographer Peter Deming (The Cabin in the Woods, I Heart Huckabees).

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.