Movie Review: Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
Oz Great and Powerful is a prequel to the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz [spiritually, not legally]. Director Sam Raimi delivers an optical feast, but Oz the Great and Powerful lacks heart and substance. Oz the Great and Powerful is about Oz (James Franco), full name Oscar, going to the Land of Oz and being a catalyst for change to a land populated with dim-witted people who can’t do anything without the help of an outsider.
Oz is frustrated that he has to be a part of a traveling circus. The trickster magician is a con man who flirts with many women, his trademark is giving them the same music box, but he believes he is destined for greatness. He’s smarmy, sleazy and shallow, and he knows this. He does not deny that he is out for himself in his quest to become great like his idols Thomas Edison and Houdini. Although Franco does a good job with the material he’s given, the charlatan with a heart of gold is a character I’ve seen before, and this film fails to offer any new insight or angle to this stock character.
The event that sparks Oz’s decision to leave is of his own making. He gave one of his many music boxes to the girlfriend of the Strongman. Oz must flee the Strongman, and the hot air balloon is the only way. Oz escapes, but he gets swept up into a tornado. The tornado is the path to the Land of Oz, and once Oz is in Oz, the film transitions from black and white to color just like in The Wizard of Oz.
Many of the interactions between (L to R) Finley, China Girl, and Oz are quite funny
When he arrives in Oz, Theodora (Mila Kunis), a good witch, greets him, and the first of many exposition-filled conversations happen. Before he died, the previous Wizard of Oz, the king, prophesized that a great wizard who had the same name as the land would come and bring peace. During their time together, Oz woos Theodora. He gives her a music box, and they dance to its tune. Theodora is the first of many examples of how mindless and one-dimensional most of the people of Oz are. Theodora falls for Oz’s simple parlor tricks and greasy charm in less than a day. She’s the typical “my-purpose-comes-from-having-a-man” woman, so when her sister, the witch Evanora (Rachel Weisz) manipulates her, the audience is not surprised how easily Theodora falls into her sister’s trap.
Evanora is the only person who can act on her own, and she is punished for it. Evanora is the king’s advisor, and she claims she has been faithfully waiting for the king’s prophesy to be fulfilled. Actually, she poisoned the king and framed his daughter, the good witch Glinda (Michelle Williams). Out of all of the people in Oz, Evanora is the only one who formed a plan and acted. Everyone else is waiting, stuck in a stupor until Oz arrives. Evanora still acts after Oz’s arrival. She plays on Theodora’s weakness and convinces her sister that Oz flirted with her. Jealous, Theodora’s heart breaks, and Evanora pounces, bringing out Theodora’s wickedness with an apple.
Rachel Weisz (L) as Evanora and Mila Kunis (R) as Theodora
Glinda’s life as someone wrongfully accused of murder isn’t rough. Evanora tries to trick Oz into killing Glinda by painting her as the wicked witch, but when Glinda reveals herself to Oz, he knows she is telling the truth. How? He knows because Glinda is beautiful, blonde, and wearing white, and in the Land of Oz, these are the three things that signify goodness. Glinda whisks Oz and his companions to her protected part of Oz. Although she wields actual magic, she has been living inside her magic bubble waiting for the arrival of a great wizard to act.
Oz takes a long time to act on behalf of the people. Before he can make his final decision, he has to traverse the land. He helps a flying monkey in a bellhop suit, Finley (Zach Braff). Their banter is quite funny. On his way to the dark forest, Finley gets him to investigate what happen in China Town, a town made of porcelain. The city is destroyed, but there is a survivor, a young girl Oz helps by gluing her legs back on. The China Girl acts inconsistently. She goes from being traumatized from losing everyone she loved to manipulating Oz with tears to gleefully proclaiming, “Let’s go kill us a witch!” as though nothing had happen to her. The most disturbing aspect of the China Girl is that no one asks her name. She is a vital part of the cause, but no one bothers to ask her name.
The China Girl has no name even though she helps save the day
No one bothers to do a lot in this film. No one really presses Oz to prove his claim of being the wizard they are looking for. He does confess his scam to Finley and to Glinda, but they don’t stay angry at him or question if believing in a con man is really the best for Oz. According to Glinda, since Oz is all she has to work with, then he is enough. He will do.
Oz is filled with people who should have been able to act against Evanora. There are tinkerers, all men, who can build anything, there are those who can build scarecrows, there are those who can sew, etc. Glinda, a native of Oz, can’t formulate a plan utilizing her people and the land on her own; no plan is possible unless Oz comes up with it. All he needs is someone to believe in him, and that is all Glinda does for the majority of the film. She does use her magic to save him, but again, she acts only because of what he needs. When Glinda does finally act against Evanora, it’s only after Evanora has been weakened by Oz.
Michelle Williams as Glinda
At the end of The Wizard of Oz, we learn that the great wizard is actually a trickster behind a curtain who arrived in Oz by hot air balloon. Oz the Great and Powerful was supposed to reveal who the wizard is and why the two wicked witches are wicked. Unfortunately, all of the characters are superficial with trite motivations of greed, lust for power, dreams of greatness, and jealousy. Oz was always a land with simple rules of the good wear white and the bad wear black, so the opportunity was there to develop familiar characters and give them dimension. It is really sad that the majority of the good people of Oz are not capable to fight for themselves. The film sends the message that the completely good are not smart enough to thwart evil. Just because the rules of the land are simple doesn’t mean the residents have to be simpleminded.
Check out more reviews of OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL from our other Writers:
June 27, 2013
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