Okay, okay, so I've been a little lax with the movie reviews. I don' t mean to, it just sort of happens that way. I don't get a chance to watch new movies much. On that note, however, I did take my kids to see Oz the Great and Powerful recently. Right off the bat, just based off the trailers alone, I definitely wanted to see the movie. Here's a prequel that I thought was unique, it involved the actual Wizard of Oz. I thought that was pretty cool. Without further ado, here are my thoughts on the movie.
The things I liked:
There was actually quite a bit that I liked to this movie. I loved all of the characters. I thought each one was portrayed by the exact right person. The story, actually, is what got me hooked. I really loved the story. It was engaging and it kept me entertained the whole time. I felt invested in it too, which is a good thing. The special effects were, of course, superb. The CGI and the imaginative landscapes were really captivating. I thought it was pretty cool that they had the first bits of the movie in black and white, just like the original movie. That was, by my estimation, pure genius. It connected the viewers mind to the old movie. China Girl was an awesome character and I really enjoyed the flying monkey who's name, for some reason, I can't think of right now. Trust me though, he was funny. Theodora was, actually, one of my favorite characters. You felt bad for her and wanted things to happen differently but at the same time, knowing that they wouldn't. That about sums up some of the stuff I liked the most. There were other, more subtle, things that I enjoyed, but we don't need to go into details.
The things I didn't like:
Not a lot here. I think the biggest thing was that, although he did great in the movie, I thought there were times when James Franco looked a little weird. He would smile really big, but the dialogue and situation didn't quite fit with a smile that wide. It was a little off-putting. There were other times where I think he fell a little short in the role, but overall, it wasn't enough to detract from the rest of the movie. Rachel Weisz also had instances where her facial expressions weren't matching up with what was going on in the movie. Again, a little off putting, but essentially it wasn't bad enough to detract from the story. The only other thing I didn't like was that even after it came out that Eveanora was actually the Wicked Witch, the Royal Guards (or whatever their name was) were still loyal to her. That didn't make much sense to me. That's all for the things I didn't like though.
Overall, I felt the movie was well worth the money paid to see it. It kept my interest the whole way through. There were parts that I thoguht were clever and I really enjoyed the comedy and humor in it as well. I also enjoyed all the cool stuff the Wizard makes at the end and how his story got started and why he chose to stay in Oz.
Stars: Four out of Five
Great movie and well worth it.