Directed By: Sam Raimi

Starring: James Franco, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz

It was nearly seventy-four years ago when the world first traveled over the rainbow to the wonderful world of Oz in Victor Fleming’s classic masterpiece The Wizard of Oz. Since that moment we have seen a countless amount of remakes, reimaginings, and even a few sequels that tried to rehash that previous success. Sam Raimi’s latest film Oz the Great and Powerful continues that trend. The film is a bit of a conundrum as it is not based off of one of L. Frank Baum’s famous Oz novels, nor is it a direct prequel to the original film. With The Wizard of Oz being an MGM release and Oz the Great and Powerful being a Disney film it exists in this nether region of the public domain. There it had to walk a fine line with what it could and could not incorporate. Even with that disarray of legality it was able to generate a world with an enough longing reminiscence it felt at times like you were traveling back to the wacked out world so many of us clung to as children. Though with a heavy reliance on unimaginative CGI and a host of miscastings made this trip over the rainbow was not nearly as bright as it could have been.

The film does start off strong with what will surely go down as an early favorite for best opening title sequence of the year. In addition the classic box aspect ratio and use of black and white in the opening segment really lent itself greatly to some imaginative uses of 3D. We are quickly introduced to Oscar Diggs, a notorious magician/illusionist for a traveling circus who is best known by his stage name Oz. He is a unique man with a large desire to one day be considered a great man, along the same lines as Thomas Edison or Harry Houdini. However with his lack of success and overall narcissistic attitude he’s quite a ways away from becoming great. Having a main antagonist that is a liar, cheat, and womanizer requires an actor with enough charisma and charm to allow the audience to overcome those challenges to find the character intriguing. Unfortunately this film does not have that with James Franco. His personality and acting chops are not suited for this type of role. When he needs to spit out these contemptible lines that tend to wink at the audience it comes off as awkward and unnatural. Franco is not a complete failure he just does little to elevate the material he is given.

He works best when he interacts with some of the crazy creations of Oz. During a freak tornado storm he is whisked away and transported to this famous land. When he arrives in this enchanted world it is assumed he is the savior they prophesied about. This savior is believed to be the one man that can finally kill the Wicked Witch. Prequels are typical setup as transparent storytelling designed to display how the gears were put in place for the original story, and allow us to see what first caused them to start moving. Depending how it is done it can either enhance or detract from the original material. Here much of the story was focused on the witches of Oz and how their rivalry came about. It didn’t provide much insight to these character’s motivations, and tended to move about on an ongoing cog of happenstances. It traveled from one event to another like someone lazily completing a simplistic connect-the-dots puzzle. Family films, such as this, are not known for complex narratives so it is not a huge hurdle to get passed. Oz gets tangled in the middle of the witches’ quarrel, which provides him the opportunity to fulfill his self-prophesized version of manifest destiny. As you would expect he is not alone on this quest and befriends a flying monkey (voiced by Zac Braff) and a porcelain girl (voiced by Joey King). Surprisingly these tertiary characters provided some of the best moments in the movie. They added a combination of heart and humor that was lacking on Franco’s behalf. Oz’s character arc is an obvious but enjoyable one. Luckily the final act was nearly as strong as the opening. What appeared to be set up for another Lord of the Rings knockoff battle sequence turned into something far more clever and original. Though I disliked Franco’s performance for the majority of the film in the finale he did show some promise. It was the only time he ever seemed comfortable with this role.

While the casting of Franco left some things to be desired the casting of the witches is a cavalcade of tinsel town’s hottest actress. Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, and Mila Kunis round out this all-star cast. All bring their own version showmanship and acting gravities, nevertheless most of it was rather wasted. Rachel Weisz easily shined the brightest. Her theatrical experience clearly comes into play permitting her to feel authentic in the most artificial role, but the others were slightly disappointing. Michelle Williams isn’t given much to work with, and while Mila Kunis starts off fine enough but her character’s evolution becomes off-putting. Again it came off as another case of miscasting. It didn’t help that the look of her character was wildly mishandled.

The special effects in general were incredibly inconsistent. On one hand some of the character renderings were superbly handled. The porcelain girl in particular stood out as fairly impressiv. However the overall environment left a lot to be desired. Their generic designs made them look like unfinished backdrops from Alice in Wonderland. Plus there were moments were it was blatant you were watching two actors standing in front of a green screen. The one exception was the Dark Forrest that had the feel and tone of a classic Raimi horror film. One aspect that was a surprise was how evidential Raimi’s directorial style was. Considering this film’s family format one could assume his flair would be mostly nurtured, but that was not the case. Many of his trademark camera styles made their way into the final cut. As we enter Oz for example, the camera move franticly along so much it felt like you were more a part of a theme park ride rather than a theatrical experience. Raimi certainly did his job to keep the fun going.

Oz the Great and Powerful is a movie full of missteps and slip-ups. It has the casing of a cookie-cutter fantasy that has been done immeasurable times before. Having those hang-ups would usually make a film insufferable, but there are tidbits of imagination and a heavy dose of adventure that make it passable enough to enjoy. It is step above most Wizard of Oz spinoffs based on its capability to form enough of an identity, but doesn’t go far enough exist completely on its own accord. For a journey about finding inner greatness it is ironic to be left with a movie that is fairly average.