Stoutor
It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
Gurlyndrobb
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Ezmae Chang
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
patriciamassiwer
I think this film is a very charming prequel to the original Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland. Not every film in creation needs blood, sex, swears and gore. This film is well made, beautiful cinematography, great special effects and great story. Suitable for children as well. Give it a chance. I did and loved it.
Jack Venturo
Can you guess what my favorite movie is? STAR WARS! Well no that's my favorite saga. My favorite stand-alone movie is "The Wizard of Oz". I have a bit of a movie memorabilia collection in my studio. Don't you judge me! Needless to say I was very excited as well as very skeptical about this so called unofficial prequel. Especially in this troubled CGI world of ours and most of all when I saw "Trailer no.1". at the point where "and the producer of Alice in Wonderland" came up on the screen I cringed and had nightmares of crazy moving cameras and fancy creatures with sparkly heads and fluid faces and 3D headaches. And then the river fairies come into the shot and those weird piranha plants and I knew! Deep down I knew! They would ruin my OZ with CGI!But those where little nothings in the scheme of the grand canvas that is "OZ the Great and Powerful"Jack "The Film Lover" says... I loved this movie. I sat back and watched it with one eye closed expecting to see something bad! You know, kind of like waiting for toast to pop out. But nothing really bad happened. It had a good story and good points, and it was fun! I loved all the nods to "The Wizard of OZ", and loved that we are introduced to things that you will see in the next movie. You get some questions answered and even though we all know the rules you still get a couple of surprises. "Only bad witches are ugly" and boy are they ugly!There are so many layers to the OZ films that once can go crazy psycho analyzing them! That actually would be a fun night. Even though we now have a backstory to why the witch hates pretty girls, why there is a feud between her and OZ why is the wizard a man behind the curtain? There are still so many unanswered questions… Is OZ a real place? If Dorothy went there, saw Oscar the Wizard who IS still there, and came back then it must be a real place Are the ruby slippers the only way out? Their power is the power to leave OZ? The witch's plan was to leave and come here to the real world? If so would they be going to Kansas? Why two different people almost 50 years apart both got sucked into the OZ Vortex in the same state? Is Kansas a wormhole to a parallel universe where your farmhands are animals and creatures? Or is it children's limbo! Where the dead go to wait to be judged? But it wasn't Dorothy's time yet so they sent her back? In a parallel land that still has North, South, East and West? Blow your mind!Jack "The Filmmaker" says… I had problems with some things… I had a problem with the lion, don't ask, just watch it and get back to me. I had a problem with the CGI! Not the characters themselves, the monkeys where done right. I mean the landscapes and moving parts and extravagant camera movements that are so far-fetched the people themselves must be CGI to be in them! When the Director of photography says the phrase… "Camera cranes can't go that high!" and the Director says "Who needs a camera ANIMATE IT!" we have a problem! I feel weird about James Franco! I like him, I hear he will be in a movie and I say "WHY?" then I watch it and can't picture anyone else in it and he does a good job. He was wholesome in this with a big dash of con man and it worked. The witches where amazing, Mila Kunis was acting like something else we have never seen and she didn't sound like Meg! (Family Guy) Which is a plus! WITCH is a plus, which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! (…and now that song is stuck in your head)Jack "The Parent" says… DUH Take the kids… Well take MY kids because they all loved it! They are 4, 9 and 10 years old. We saw it in 3D so be careful of the jump at your face elements, there are some jolts that make you sit back like the monkeys and the witch at some points. And there is a bit of some tear-jerking moments at the end but aside from that it's a good story for them to follow.In a magical world not everything is what it seems, not everyone is telling the truth and you should not try to be someone you are not for the sake of a loved one. Be yourself and do your best with what talents you have. You don't have to have magic powers to save the day! You can be anyone's hero if you believe in yourself!
Filipe Neto
This film, conceived as a prequel to the famous "The Wizard of Oz", 1939, shows us how the "sorcerer" goes to that fantastic land, and how he managed to become the greatest sorcerer in the country. Directed by Sam Raimi, this film has a script by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire. The cast is headed by James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams.This prequel was made almost a hundred years after the original film, probably due to the status of "classic" that it won through the decades. And the idea to revive Oz, decades after Dorothy's journey through the big screen, is quite good.The script is interesting and the story isn't bad, unrolling quite naturally from the moment the magic arrives in Oz. The biggest problem is that this film completely breaks with its '39 predecessor in a key point of the story: everything that Dorothy does in Oz never happened, it was just a dream but, in this film, the magic really goes to Oz, awake and aware, and the film never explains how. This would never be a problem if the rest of the film wasn't an attempt to prequel the first film but, if it's a prequel and Oz was a dream in the first one, it should have remained a dream in this film or, at least, the arrival of the magic should have been better explained.The actors generally fulfilled reasonably with their work. Rachel Weisz was excellent in the role of Evanora, and her British charm gave to the character an additional dose of calculism and cruelty that was very welcome. Michelle Williams also didn't disappoint as Glinda, managing to personify the qualities of her character. Mila Kunis is very good to roles with personality and great presence, but this isn't the case of Theodora, a woman highly influenced by her bad sister and suffering because of their impulses and passions. Perhaps this has posed problems for the actress, and the way she sought to overcome them has not been the best. The fact is that her character, initially too warm and bland, just improves when becomes a villain. James Franco was an extremely seductive and charming magician, but also opportunistic, hypocritical and more concerned with saving his own skin than helping others. The way he changes was well achieved by the actor, but his performance was generally irregular, with very good scenes followed by other totally uninteresting.The production gave the biggest attention to the sets and visual effects. Raimi knew that the public would require a re-creation, with current techniques, of the colorful and fantastic universe of Oz, and the computerized effects would be essential to achieve that. The result is excellent and worthy of being admired. The photography also helped a lot, and we must emphasize especially the way it helps to mark the "border" to the world of Oz, with a gradual change of color and screen format. The special effects were also made with great detail. The soundtrack, however, is absolutely disappointing. The music was an essential part of the first film, which had great musical moments, and there isn't a single decent musical moment in this film, and the main theme are too regular to be worthy of any positive mention.
gwnightscream
James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams star in Sam Raimi's 2013 fantasy adaptation of L. Frank Baum's books. This begins in early 1900's Kansas and Franco (Spider-Man) plays Oscar aka Oz, a small-time, circus/carnival magician who is taken to magical kingdom, Oz after being caught in a tornado where he meets new friends and sees bizarre things. After meeting attractive witches, Theodora (Kunis), Evanora (Weisz) and Glinda (Williams), he finds himself in a battle of good & evil testing his magic abilities and proving himself as a powerful wizard for the people of Oz. This is sort of a prequel to the 1939 classic, "The Wizard of Oz" and it's not bad. The cast is OK, there's beautiful visuals and Danny Elfman's score is excellent as usual. Bruce Campbell & Ted Raimi also appear briefly and I recommend giving this a try at least once.
