Oz: The Great And Powerful
The 1939 film adaptation of L. Frank Baumās The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz (otherwise known as The Wizard Of Oz) remains arguably the most popular and iconic movie ever made to this day, so much so that the joke is still on the literary legacy of Baum himself, since he had written a total of 14 novels about his own self created Oz Universe with various characters and situations abounding all over the place (although Judy Garlandās Dorothy Gale remained as either the leading character or at least a very important supporting one in all of the novels that were to come after her first appearance) but with the one time only appeal of the 1939 movie (since it was felt that those elements would never quite come together that way again), that meant that any direct sequels especially with Garland as Dorothy were out of the question and that the plethora of other stories that Baum had written about his little Fantasyland would be left out in the cold, an ironic thing since several previous versions of Wizard Of Oz had been made (including one that featured Oliver Hardy) prior to the Garland version and now that they had gotten it right, they decided to not even dare with making a try at another Oz story all things considered with Garland getting older and also carrying a substance abuse problem as well. Any fans of the books had to settle for a series of animated films until 1985 when Disney Studios mounted a full fledged sequel called Return To Oz with Fairuza Balk filling Garlandās shoes as Dorothy and encountering a new bunch of characters whom she could call her companions. The response was almost universally negative especially at the idea of Garland (who had died in 1969) having her role recast with the actually quite appealing Balk (who went on to have a successful career anyway) and for even thinking that any live action sequel could live up to what was accomplished in 1939. And thus the Oz cinematic franchise remained dormant until 2013 when Disney (keeping in mind that Baumās Oz books are in the public domain but Warner Brothers holds all intellectual property rights to the 1939 Wizard Of Oz itself) decided to give it another shot with a most intriguing story idea: what if the charlatan Wizard himself (played by Frank Morgan in the original) had a whole entire movie made devoted to his backstory (much of which is based on story information from Baumās novels) about how he got to Oz and more importantly, who exactly he was before he got there? This would allow them to obviously cast a younger, marketable actor in the role to carry the movie and more importantly, have no sign of Dorothy anywhere in sight so that nobody could complain about somebody filling Garlandās shoes. For the role of the future Wizard, they got James Franco as Oscar āOzā Diggs, sideshow carnival magician and first class bullshit artist who is one of those types who is always clearly trying to make a buck. Franco appears to be the right choice here since he knows how to bring that slimy, sleazy charm to his roles when needed and joined here by director Sam Raimi (his director in the original Spiderman trilogy where he played Harry Osborn / New Goblin), he shows that he can specialize in being a sneaky asshole while still being likable, putting on his two bit magic show for a bunch of hicks for whom he does such a good job of convincing that he has real powers that suddenly a little girl in a wheelchair asks him to make her walk, a request that catches him so offguard (which he has to decline) that the audience suddenly turns on him and when the carnival strongman suspects him of moving in on his wife, things go from bad to worse which forces him into a hot air balloon in a misguided escape attempt when he flies directly into a twister and is whisked away to The Magical Land Of Oz (and just like in 1939, the movie turns from black and white to color while the aspect ratio of the movie greatly expands as well). Upon landing, the first person he encounters is Mila Kunis whom it turns out is a beautiful good witch who informs him that he is the prophesied one to fall from the sky, The Wizard who will free the kingdom of Oz from The Wicked Witch and she quickly falls in love with him as well. They also pick up a benign flying monkey in a bellhopās uniform (while scaring away a lion who appears to be cowardly) and the monkey (who can talk) pledges to stay by his side until the bitter end while Kunis brings Franco to The Emerald City to meet her sister (Rachel Weisz) and take his place on the throne (and help himself to the piles of gold within the castle) but first he (and the monkey) must fulfill their mission to set out and kill The Wicked Witch so that the kingdom of Oz can finally be freed from her. Off they go on their witch hunt, picking up along the way the most touching character, a little living doll girl made completely out of china (and voiced by the sad little wheelchair girl from earlier) and representative of another Baum creation from the novels (Chinatown) that never made it into the movies, that of a town where everything in it (including the people) were made out of delicate china. After fixing her legs with glue and earning her undying devotion, Franco continues on to where The Wicked Witch is only to encounter Michelle Williams as Glinda (yes, THAT Glinda) and find out that the other two sisters (Kunis and Weisz) are the true Wicked Witches who had tried to deceive him by sending him after their sworn enemy in Glinda, the true symbol of goodness in all of the land. Of course it goes without saying that one of the two sisters is indeed the future and only true Wicked Witch Of The West as played so memorably by Margaret Hamilton in 1939 (and the other sister is the Witch Of The East squashed by Dorothyās house in Munchkinland upon her arrival) so the movie also turns into a origin backstory for that character as well. The storyās central conceit is that Francoās Wizard (who knows full well that he has no actual magic powers but only confides in this to the monkey) is believed by everyone (due to the prophecy) to be far more powerful than any of the witches (who do have legitimate powers) or anybody else for that matter but for all of the mystical aspects that the land of Oz possesses, one thing that they have no familiarity with is that of early 20th century technology and THAT is something he can use to his advantage which is good since his character is a great admirer of one Thomas Edison (whom he considers to be the one person from his world who was a real wizard) and inventions such as a movie projector, fireworks and gunpowder can all be used to fight the good fight (even as Glinda reminds him that the good people of Oz are forbidden from killing which makes it doubly hard to find a way to win any kind of a war). And it is here that Franco shows his ability to play a flawed hero who acknowledges himself as a shady con man but when called upon to win a war such as this realizes that smoke, mirrors and a hell of a lot of bullshit are exactly whatās needed which happens to be his specialty and Franco does a nice job pulling it all together. As for the sisters, obviously you have to get a little bit into the movie before the true incarnation of The Wicked Witch Of The West emerges (complete with green skin) but when she does, it definitely does justice to Hamiltonās iconic original performance with the contrast between them being that her sister (East) is more of a cerebral, crafty type who plots out every move she makes while the other (West) is much more of a savage, animalistic type whom if not kept in check will employ more of a monstrous, slash and burn type mentality that would actually make her harder to deal with and defeat. Raimi as director makes the Land Of Oz a beautiful, multilayered environment and only occasionally falls into some corny pitfalls and story booby traps that hurt things a bit but Franco in the lead keeps things light and the three female leads play off him well as the whole thing comes off not only as a prequel to the 1939 original, but also as a well crafted homage as well, ending the story with all of the pieces put into place for the arrival of Judy Garland and Toto and the delightful sidekicks whom she would travel with to see The Wizard who couldnāt grant her or her friendsā wishes nor get her home, but he sure could put on a great show with pomp and circumstance, thunder and lightning, full of sound and fury and signifying absolutely nothingā¦
8/10