Plot
Oz (James Franco) is a two-bit conman struggling for greatness in a Kansas travelling circus, juggling women and his meager riches. On a fateful day, one of Kansas’ surprisingly common cyclones propels the would-be Wizard out of the monochrome wasteland and into the wide-screened, ultra-saturated world of Oz. Within minutes of crash landing amongst the lush musical foliage, kinda-sorta ambivalent witch Theodora (Mila Kunis) proclaims Oz to be the prophesized saviour, sending him on a quest to defeat the Wicked Witch alongside the aid of dopey flying monkey buddy Finley (Zach Braff) and a beautiful china girl (Joey King).
 |
| Oz takes colour coding to whole new levels. |
Review
It goes without saying that Oz the Great and Powerful faces a monolithic challenge: one part replicating, one part following possibly the most beloved family film of all time, trying to find a balance between homage and prequel while still needing to establish an identity of its own.
It’d probably be easier to go to Oz on holiday.
Unless your name is James Cameron, it’s as good as impossible to entirely construct, market and predicate a film on its visual showboating. Where 1939’s The Wizard of Oz was groundbreaking in its use of technicolour, visual effects are common fair these days, as notable as white on paper. There’s an instantaneous issue with impact then and, despite the ‘ooo’ moment of narrow to wide screen upon entering Oz and the use of 3D, it establishes a sense of lacking that Oz never quite manages to shake off.
 |
| Zach Braff spent 17 days in the make-up chair every day when shooting. |
As a technical exercise, it’s difficult to discern whether Oz is a result of director Sam Raimi’s personal stylings or a conscious marriage of classical movie-making tropes with the epitome of contemporary technology. Either way, it’s an effortlessly, shamelessly camp production, reveling in the nostalgic waters of montages, screen-wipes and superimpositions, gleeful in its conflation of crisp computerised saturated colours and rampant gurning. For a film that is so celebratory of films (the protagonist is effectively, and fittingly, a visual effects artist) Oz holds no punches in cheerleading its own industry throughout a whole new world.
But superficiality is the main issue with Oz; it is the tin-man: shiny glamorousness on the outside but with no heart to hold it all together. The screenplay is a train-wreck, equal parts dull and juvenile, with dialogue that rarely flows and feels as natural as a one-eyed carnivorous plant. Characters come and go as though constructed on a conveyor belt in a dizzying hurricane of vibrant costumes, hair-dos and make-up.
It’s a relief then that the cast performs admirably despite the bevy of poor material. Oz ultimately lives or dies on the shoulders of the eponymous wizard and James Franco proves suitably broad for the part. As an inherently unlikeable character – in fact, as a cowardly self-centered conman he’s actively loathsome – Franco helms an effective conflation of sneering repugnancy and genuine good heartedness; his grin and remarkable eye-brows suggest a PG friendly sexual deviancy while belying a sufficient dose of good-natured heroism.
Zach Braff, first as overworked assistant Frank and then as the voice of Donkey-esque flying monkey Finley, skillfully translates his bumbling, good-natured, infinitely likeable persona onto the biggest of the big screens (there’s a $200 million budget behind this Oz iteration) in continuation of his systematic take-over of all media forms. Joey King too, voicing the utterly adorable little china girl, provides consistent entertainment in what is easily the most sympathetic (...only) and engaging role of the film.
 |
| She knew that vindaloo was a mistake. |
In something of a peculiar twist, it’s Mila Kunis’ Theodora who provides the major weakness, with Kunis apparently equating emotion with shouting (note: screaming): the more emotion you need the louder you screech. In regards to narrative engagement she’s far and away the most prominent, but that may be more because she’s the only character to undergo any actual development rather than skill on her part.
Elsewhere Oz skates by in a style of unrepentant mediocrity of which it should never have been guilty; with music provided by Danny Elfman it sounds exactly like a film scored by Danny Elfman.
Oz is frequently cripplingly disappointing. It had the budget, the cast, the world and the director to make something utterly, remarkably unique. But without heart it doesn’t matter. Yes it all looks incredible but it’s an unreservedly vapid experience, often too eager to push its Oz origins (multi-coloured horses, poppy fields, bubble carriages, oh-my!) to notice where its characters are or what they’re doing. Some lines hit home (almost all delivered by Braff) but the abysmal screenplay habitually serves to highlight the film’s shameful lack of focus.
And yet, it can be hard to care with a film that has so much fun. You could sit there and tut at how little that last bit makes sense, or you could laugh along to Franco’s gurning face as he desperately seeks to mobilise the eclectic simpletons of Oz prior to the explosive climax. Talking of the finale – in a completely spoiler free way of course – the battle between conventional sparkly magic and practical smoke-and-mirror showmanship is exciting and positively unique, offering a refreshing change of pace in a film that – confused as to what era it’s replicating – opts to copy everything in the hope that something sticks. Everybody knows how the film must end before they even see it, with the witches positioned at their respective compass points, and it all comes together in a way that thankfully works.
 |
| Pictured: the implications of said vindaloo. |
Verdict
Though riddled with primitive failings, Oz the Great and Powerful is a full-faced, unabashed fantasy flick, as deep as a teaspoon with more colours, characters and things than Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. It’s utterly harmless and frequently charming, the very definition of that ubiquitous phrase: fun for all the family.
3/5
Check out the trailer, it's all you need to see...seriously:
As a final note, please follow me on Twitter: @smariman. You'll get told of updates and new posts as soon as they happen as well as the odd desperate attempt at being funny, entertaining and likeable. Such is life.
0 comments:
Post a Comment