Directed by:
Sam RaimiCinematography:
Peter DemingComposer:
Danny ElfmanCast:
James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Abigail Spencer, Joey King, Bruce Campbell, Bill Cobbs, Martin Klebba, Ted Raimi, Tony Cox (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
When Diggs is hurled away to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot - until he meets three witches (Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams), who aren't convinced he's the great wizard everyone's expecting. Reluctantly drawn into epic problems facing Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it's too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity - and even some wizardry - Oscar transforms himself into the great wizard and a better man as well. (Disney / Buena Vista)
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Reviews (10)
Raimi has taken a story for little girls and re-vamped it into a movie for little boys with a soft-spot for machinery and magic tricks. Edison’s legacy is alive even here and I’m glad. However, it fails when confronted with real magic and some aspects are very jarring. Paradoxically, it is the Land of Oz itself, its laws and its fame are responsible for this, because the story about a dapper fraudster who finds good inside himself works only in terms of its artiness, but is spoiled by the poor production design, full of obviously digital or even plastic substitutes for the real world. Franco isn’t suited to a world like that, but that’s what I liked about his Oz. He’s a modern person, but with fantasy and ending up in this strange land doesn’t surprise him, he just wants to get as many laughs as he can from it (the scene with the cashier reminds me of Scrooge McDuck). I didn’t like the trio of magicians one bit. Just Mila Kunis was magically naive at the beginning, but things went downhill with her after her transformation. If a new and original world were presented or if I were younger, I would have given Oz: the Great and Powerful more. P.S.: I get Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz confused and these alternative stories don’t help me at all. Is it only me, or you have a similar problem?
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I might have considered adding an extra star if the creators hadn't shamelessly borrowed from Tim Burton and added colors that reminded me of Pushing Daisies. Unfortunately, the movie didn't quite hit the mark for me. Rachel Weisz was more appealing to my eye than Michelle Williams, so it didn't take long for me to realize I was leaning toward the dark side of the force. Mila Kunis was also in the mix, whom I'm not particularly fond of. Thankfully, she underwent a transformation early on and became more tolerable. But let's be honest, it didn't salvage the story, and I can't say I was impressed by this prequel to Dorothy's adventures. / Lesson learned: Even a warehouse worker in a factory can read Virgil in the original, and even a carnival magician can become a king.
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As it sometimes happens, you get movies reviewed here at Filmbooster that most people would expect to provide them at least with some proper cinematographic entertainment. Well, Sam Raimi is no dummy, so it was clear also that what he would make wouldn’t be your typical genre movie, but a typical blockbuster that can make a lot of money. And if I set aside the sometimes too wacky editing, or the crazy camerawork, and given the way people criticize this movie and bring it down to average, I was pretty satisfied. Sure, you can see that the whole thing is shot in front of a green screen, but I didn’t mind that. The premise of the story is a bit different than what you’d expect. This is no Alice in Wonderland. At times, it’s scary, especially the characters of the witches themselves – that’s pretty typical for the director… and at times it can really lift you up and make you laugh. And that’s good to know. The movie has it in it. The fact that it’s not the way everybody had dreamed it would be and everybody’s upset, that’s another thing. Sam Raimi simply made a fairy-tale with everything that entails. I was satisfied and I must admit that James Franco’s transformation in this movie was flawless.
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OK, I don't know what specifically caught Raimi's attention in the 150th generic version of the plot, i.e., "the hero travels to a fantastic realm where three witches rule, one of whom is evil and only he can defeat her." The fact is that the implementation is not bad at all and the result is definitely not an unnecessary remake (Franco really does not resemble Judy Garland, the whole story is about something completely different, and the framework of the world is absolutely different), or prequel, as I thought for a while. So, it's simply different in terms of genre and content than the famous game with songs and a dog from 1939, a song in which the funny-awkward James Franco sings a slightly varying chorus “I'm a bastard / liar / charlatan" and women fall into his lustful arms as if he was Rudolph Valentino. After the poetic, funny and imaginative introduction, it is followed by a widescreen hyper-colored 3D fair with lots of digital flowers, a pastel mindfuck and cute creatures, which, however, Raimi handles with more forethought and irony than Alice’s Burton. He also manages to play around a bit, pay homage to the moving images, and to pay tribute to the details of his predecessor from the late 1930s, but I wouldn't say that he explains to me why I should watch this recycled plot and listen to the second-rate melodramatic croaking of witches. In addition, the 1939 version seems to me to be much smarter, more thoughtful and has nicer singing... and it’s just better in general.
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"The Powerful Ruler of Oz" tries to overcome the shortcomings in the story through its form. It works similarly to how it worked in "Alice in Wonderland". The form will impress you, visually it's an orgy, although not for everyone, for some it will be a bit too much, but you will still leave the cinema disappointed, or at least not as fulfilled as you probably imagined. It is simply a story that is too simple. Furthermore, there is a lack of a true climax - it will only occur in the film "The Wizard of Oz". This is a great shame. Another wasted opportunity. I somewhat don't understand why Raimi didn't use more of his sense of horror atmosphere and horror elements. Not that you won't like the film, but you won't leave it excited. Instead, you will be thinking about what you will have for dinner and quickly forget about this experience.
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