Oz The Great And Powerful

Initial Thoughts

            A prequel is really a whole other ball game as, even though it may be an amazing movie all by itself, the prequel aspect overrides everything else. The main focus of the prequel is to give a long back story to the characters, setting, and plot devices in the original movie.

            When I first started watching this movie, I was a little nervous that they wouldn't succeed. Even though The Wizard of Oz is a classic movie, there is no denying that it’s older, and for that reason they may decide to add plot devices and such that aren't in the original.

Prequel Elements: 40 out of 40

            For what it’s worth, the prequel elements were done really, really well. Sure, they did add some characters that aren't in the original, but the storytelling is fantastic, the characters are well-developed, and early on as well. And the plot element I enjoyed the most was the backstory of the witches. The film did a fantastic job of creating a believable and compelling backstory, for characters that weren't really well explained in the original movie.

            The writers really brought the witches to a whole new level, and fleshed them out for the original. Everything that happens in Oz: the Great and Powerful manages to further develop the characters that appear in The Wizard of Oz, and that is no small feat.    

Story: 9 out of 10

            But how does the story hold up? It holds up really well, complete with twists, betrayals, and lots of character-building romance throughout. The atmosphere in every scene is nailed on the nose, just like it was in the original, not only with special effects, but with dialog and actions as well.

            The story with the witches has some confusion, for me anyway, as the original evil witch (trying to avoid spoilers) doesn't really say why she was evil in the first place. And the other evil witch (again trying to avoid spoilers) doesn't really have a good reason to continue being evil. Since those two are main characters and that is a direct sub- storyline, that does hurt the score a bit.

            But nonetheless, the story is still really well done.

Characters/Acting Quality: 30 out of 40

           

Rant Moment (SPOILERS)

            This is something I really need to address right off the bat. I did not like Mila (Theodora) Kunis’ acting. In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it was downright laughable. After she becomes evil, it looks like every time she screams at someone, she is trying to eat them; thus, her performance is hilariously over-the-top. Besides that, her reason for becoming totally evil in the first place makes no sense, and her reason for not agreeing to become good again makes even less sense.

            However, besides her, everyone else's acting is very well done especially Oz himself; right off the bat he portrays his character very well. Playing it just like it would be played in real life, he is greedy and selfish and will do anything to get what he wants. When a problem arises, however, his true colors show, and everyone basically laughs at him. Yet for some reason he has a very likable vibe.

Special Effects: 8 out of 10 

            Many of the background and setting effects are really gorgeous; however, more then a few of the character effects are below par, especially the evil witches and their henchman. I am also not fond of the china girl’s animation; I felt that it could have been done better. But I digress.

So in the end Oz: the Great and Powerful gets a rating of

87/100

Amazing

It delivers great prequel elements, loads of funny lines, a great and intriguing storyline, extremely developed characters, and relatively okay special effects.

Overall, this is one trip to OZ that you won’t soon forget.

Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader

Initial Thoughts

            Now, this movie is the latest in the Narnia franchise, and honestly by far the most fascinating. although the previous films have been amazingly detailed as well, this movie does one thing that the other movies do not, they cut out most of the physical combat. one of the major plot points of narnia is the epic combat, and although they do have a final battle, its not with another army, and some would say its not even with a real physical enemy.

            Could this movie possibly surpass the fascinating and awesome films that came before it? lets find out, as we sail aboard the Dawn Treader!

Story/Plot 25 out of 25

            This storyline is much, much different from the previous movies, one major reason for this is the change of setting. Because the film takes place on water, many of the characters from the previous film, Prince Caspian, are not in this movie, except of course Caspian himself.

            Another interesting point is that many new characters introduced, are only in the film for one short scene, and are then gone. However the advice they give to the main protagonists, is almost essential to their journey. this adds some wonderful plot devices, yet still keeps the 4 main characters the main focus.

            And finally, because of the change in villain (I will cover this later) it goes into each main characters mind, like we have never seen before. although we have already learned much about many of the characters, some of those underlying personality traits, are really boiled up to the surface, which makes for very interesting scenarios. and because we have seen many of them already, the audience becomes very curious of how they will handle these new situations thrown at them by our new villain.

            Fantastic storyline, with almost all new plot devices, compared to the previous movies. Very compelling, very heart wrenching, very well done.

Characters 25 out of 25

            One of the new characters in this film is the infamous Eustace easily the most irritating character in entire franchise. He is especially annoying because even after he has been in narnia for a while, he still insists that he see the "British Council." What makes this frustrating? well we have seen the world before, and just his overall cluelessness will be annoying to most viewers. (Spoilers) Reepacheep helps teach Eustace a lesson, throughout his time being a dragon (which occurs due to a spell) which gives Reepacheep much more respect, to deal with the guy who no one else wants to deal with. this is an interesting difference from his original way of life, he was more of a run and gun type of mouse in the last movie.

            Prince Caspian has not changed a ton since his last appearance. He is still helping everyone he can, interacting and fool around with his crew. But one thing that we do get to see, is just how much the death of his father effected him, sure we naturally assumed it hurt him in the previous movie, but here, its made clear that his fathers death is the only thing that has been on his mind since he was informed of his murder.

            Lucy seems like a much stronger character in this movie, it was quite a dramatic change from the way she was in the 1st and 2nd film, more curious and careless. however in this film, she takes care of herself, during the few battle scenes in the movie we see her killing a few soldiers, and fighting with everything she has. and its also made clear that she can take care of her own when it comes to dealing with some people on board the Dawn Treader. But another interesting discovery we learn about Lucy is that she envy's Susan's looks, even though its not really mentioned in the previous films. This is what she is tempted with during her section of the movie. with such an emotionally/physically strong character, its quite interesting to watch her envy others, when clearly she has a lot going for her.

            Edmund, hasn't really changed either, it seems like he hasn't done a lot since his encounter with the white witch in the first film. And we do also see what his greatest weakness is (which we sort of already knew) and that is pride fullness, ever since his very first scene, he has always been selfish, and prideful, even when he was helping others, there was always that one line, or facial expression that showed his real motives and feelings (And shows once again the great acting skills of the actors). And he real shows those feelings here, and since Peter isn't here he takes all of his anger out on King Caspian. resulting in one short but heart stopping duel.

            Amazing characters taking place in an amazing storyline.

Battle Scene/Soundtrack 25 out of 25

            I said that the soundtrack was new in the last film, but man, when I heard the new soundtrack, it was like a complete overhaul! they really went out of their way to make these scores much different than the previous films, this really makes it stand out from the other movies, by giving the movie its own unique musical style.

            Even though their wasn't a ton of battle scenes in Dawn Treader (maybe one or two full fledged battles). The scenes they do have, they get really right, with brand new SGI effects, that look absolutely beautiful, tons of camera angles and interesting ways of finishing off different opponents. And probably one the most epic villain death scenes of all time! The final battle, instead of being fought against an army, is fought against one opponent, which makes it seem all that more intimidating, and powerful.

The Villain 25 out of 25

            The Villain is so much more mysterious than the previous antagonists, which makes it seem even more powerful than the other narnian villains. even though Miraz was a powerful man, and was by far one epic villain. You still know where he is and he can be killed be the everyday sword. the new antagonist not only cannot be killed by a sword, you can only see it when it wants to be seen, and it can every form, can bend the laws of physics, and all it wants to do is destroy everything in the world that's good and lovely. if that's not scary as crap, I don't know what is.

            Most of the time, it is referred to as simply "The Mist" which is just what it sounds like, its a mist that can go anywhere be seen or unseen, change the laws of physics, do fancy spells, and take any form.

            What the mist try's to do, is to tempt our main protagonists in to either turning around, or just making there lives miserable, or sometimes it physically try's to hurt them. One thing that makes it so mysterious (besides what I have already listed) is that its never really explained what it is or where it came from, all that's said is that its pure evil, no background, no who invented it, nothing.

            because of all this, it makes our protagonists seem like an ant in comparison to the mist, because the mist adds a type of warfare that none of the characters have experienced very much, physiological warfare.

  Final Verdict

100/100

 Hall Of Fame

Every single problem that was experienced in the previous films where fixed, I really tried hard to find one legitimate problem with this movie and I couldn't. everything has done perfectly! with brand new settings, plot devices, characters, and much better character development! Go see it right now!! If you don't, you will be missing out on a great history making recent film!

  

   

   

Narnia: Prince Caspian

Initial Thoughts

            In my last review of the first film, I said that the first movie was a master piece that sets the bar fairly high for the second film. And overall they did fix most if not all of the issues I had with the first film. However new problems are now present with Prince Caspian.

            But does Prince Caspian still have the overall feel and charm of the first film? Let’s find out, here’s Prince Caspian!

Story/Plot 20 out of 25

            Let’s start with the story. The story, while good, still had some plot points that have been used a lot in other films, such as Prince Caspian having an uncle who wants his throne, blah, blah, blah. But what separates this storyline from other similar storylines, is the amazing plot devices used all throughout. Let me explain, even though we have all seen this idea before, in other instances, the two kingdoms would be separate and of equal strength, not so here, the Narniaian’s are now rebels within the realm of Narnia now being ruled by the Telmarines. And the Narniaian’s are now bordering on being classified as savage beasts, lurking in the forests, stalking there pray, and stuff like that.

           

            That was just one example of how the clever and well placed plot devices and plot elements help cover up the over used story ideas.

            Also the pacing in this movie as to when all the events occur is especially important, pacing is crucial in many if not all films however it is very important here. Why? Well because the pacing of the plot and story elements determine when and where the characters will interact with each other, especially later in the movie. For example, when Prince Caspian meets all of the Narniaians, the begin treating him like he’s their king, however when the “kings of old” come around, the army almost immediately shift there attention away from Caspian almost indeffently. This creates a lot of tension between the kings of old and Caspian, making for some interesting dialogue and interactions. But if the kings of old had somehow seen the Narnian army before Caspian (Maybe they could have stumbled across them I don’t know) than even if Caspian had shown up, the Narnians wouldn’t have paid as much attention to him at all, and even though he may become jealous of the kings of old, he wouldn’t have any reason to personally hate them for de-throning him.

So all in all, very clever way of covering up an overused story, by using amazing pacing and fantastic new and fresh plot devices, elements, and twists.

Characters 30 out of 30

            Even though the storyline was a little bit worse than the first film, the characters defiantly pick up slack. Even though a lot of the movie is focused around the kings of old, it still isn’t as much as it was in the first film. Prince Caspian and the Telmarines are the main, main focus of the film. And I must say that Lord Miraz is running for the best villain award. This bad guy is far more intimidating than the white witch for one main reason.

            Power. Even though the white witch was the “queen of Narnia”, she never really did anything that would suggest her right to rule. Sure she did cruel things and had a pretty awesome looking army, but she didn’t really feel that powerful. Lord Miraz on the other hand has not only a professional looking kingdom, but it’s also established that Narnia is not the only place that the Telmarines currently inhabit, Miraz also has a pretty impressive army as well, but the difference is that you see him interact with the army’s where about’s and movements, you also see him concentrate on the task at hand rather than simply walk around being evil like the white witch had a tendency to do.

            Prince Caspian, Miraz’s rival, is competing for the throne against Miraz. However He is not the only rival that Prince Caspian has, high king Peter is also a close foe of Caspian Mainly because of the consistent power struggle that is almost consistently occurring between Miraz, Caspian and Peter.

            Right from the very beginning Caspian and Peter loath each other, why? Because of the throne of Narnia. At first it seems like Caspian will be leading the Narnians because they establish him as their leader first, however once the high king comes along, Caspian goes through de-thronement, that and Peter’s extremely prideful personality in this movie leads to Caspian Loathing him. Which creates some interesting scenarios between the two as tensions build more and more every single scene there in, which also creates lots of suspense.

            One last point, the four kings and queens of old have also changed a bit, for example, instead of Edmund being the rebel, it seems as if Susan has become the rebel, and Edmund has found his place within Narnia. Susan feels like a rebel, because she is consistently talking about how she misses England, and unlike the first film, she is looking out for herself more, rather than her trying to keep the family safe. This creates a little bit of contrast between her and the rest of the group, and creates emotions for the audience as they tend not to want to see characters leave the scene.

Soundtrack/Battle Scenes/Writing 40 out of 45

            In my previous review I mentioned how some soundtracks seemed out of place, and a little recycled, well that’s not the case here! There were many freshly composed scores composed for this movie, and each one fit the scene perfectly! 

Also a complainant in the first film was the lack of epicness in most battle scenes, but again, not the case here. The battle scenes and SGI effects have been made so much better, at some points it seems better than LOTR! They do this by adding in thundering sound effects, a brand new epic soundtrack, and tons of different camera angles for the viewer to look at the action from. And finally the duel between Peter and Miraz feels so much better than the first films duel between the witch and peter because of the listed reasons.     

And finally the writing, the writing in Prince Caspian is defiantly more eventful than the first movie. Even though the film still went into great detail about each characters mind and what they were feeling and such, it still feels like most of the writing was focused on the events, there were many different events which occurred during Prince Caspian, defiantly more than what was in the first film. This gives it quite a different overall feel; it makes this trip to Narnia feel much more drastic and eventful, because of this writing style.

Final Verdict

90/100

Magnificent

Just like how Prince Caspian followed in the footsteps of his father as being noble, this movie followed in the footsteps of its legendary predecessor. And although it didn’t get a higher mark than the first movie, because of its interesting take on the story and cool plot devices, and the amazing characters, and the fantastic heart stopping combat, this movie defiantly earns the rank of Magnificent!

Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe

Initial Thoughts

            Who doesn't know the famous first Narnia movie? based off of the best selling book franchise of the same name, which was originally written by C.S. Louis. When this movie first came out, everyone was dying to see it, and you can tell that because the movie made a whopping _______ dollars in the first week of it being in theaters.

            But regardless of its famous background, is the movie actually good? Well lets grab our popcorn and find out!

Story 25 out of 25

            Now, in case you weren't aware before, C.S. Louis was a Christian man, and the storyline all throughout the Narnia franchise is based off of and has many, many morals that are proclaimed and taught in the bible. This is actually very genius, Louis took widely spread historical religious events, and changed the characters, and went into great detail of ideas taught in the bible, and transferred those ideas into his fictional world. By doing this he taught people his beliefs without them even knowing it. Because of this and with the brilliant writing and creation of his world, we get one brilliant, and realistic storyline that will keep everyone watching on the edge of their seats, or crying with the characters.

Characters 25 out of 25

            The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe's 4 main characters are Susan, Lucy, Peter and Edmond, there are other main characters, occupying them, but still many of the major plot devices focus around the four children.

            Seeing how the majority of the film is focused on the four children, lets start with them. These four characters where written perfectly and realistically, just by the way they interact with each other you are able to relate to at least one of them, or possibly all of them if you also have three other siblings or more. these characters are realistic because each sibling's personality traits are similar as to what they would be in real life, for example Lucy, being the youngest, is mischievous and sometimes even a little sassy. but when she is in real danger, she will scream and or run away towards peter or Edmond. this is so realistic because the youngest in the family generally will be able to get away with more there for becomes more sassy and risk taking, however since they are a little spoiled, and rarely are in physical danger whenever that occurs, they will scream or cower in fear. 

            That is just one example of one major character in the movie, and every other sibling acts and feels like a real person, just like Lucy. Furthermore these personality traits not only happen when they are interacting with one another, but when they interacting with other characters within the film, such as Mr. Thomas.

           

            Another great aspect of the characters is that every character get exactly the right amount of screen time, so the viewer can see the fantastic writing and acting of the character. in conclusion, every single character within narnia feels so real, I have to keep reminding myself that its just a movie, everything regarding the characters was done with absolute perfection.

Battle Scenes 20 out of 25

            Now, although the battle scenes were done extremely well, they weren't as good as they could have been (Many of the points made in this section will be regarding the final battle). The final battle had a good opening transition from the army camp and peter talking about Aslan's death, into the actual battlefield, however I did not feel it to necessary that the film had to cut to another scene just after the battle started, to me, it feels like every time they cut away from the battle, it just drops all of the suspense and epicenes that they were building up in the scene. and so when the battle resumes, they need to start that suspense build up all over again.

            Secondly, when the two armies are first charging at one another, I felt that the soundtrack, while it did sound fantastic, it seemed a little out of context to me, I felt that it seemed a little to majestic. I would have really liked it if when they where first charging at one another they played a soundtrack of the sound of all the hooves thundering, and a massive overwhelming epic orchestra track over top of that.

            And finally, I felt that the final battle between peter and the white witch could have been a lot better. now don't get me wrong, its still really well put together, however again it lacked the overwhelming epic music, the up close and personal camera shots, and other aspects of a duel that would have been awesome to see.

            These are the reasons why I think that the lord of the rings battle scenes are a little bit more well done, because they fix many of the listed problems.

Soundtrack/Writing/Acting Quality 25 out of 25

            The soundtrack was outstanding, allot of hard work and time was put into creating this history making beautiful peace of art work. if I where to say one thing about it, it would be that they recycled the some tracks a little two much, but that's just a little selfish on my part.

            The writing was phenomenal, the movie is very close to the book from what I have heard, as I have not read the book in quite some time. The writing of the characters was perfect, the writing of almost every scene was perfect, and almost every plot point was well thought out and made logical sense. there where a few areas of some scenes that didn't make sense , but the occasions where few and I doubt the everyday audience member would even notice.                

           

            And finally the Acting Quality. I can safely say that even the extras did a marvelous job in this movie, not to say anything of the main characters. it is very clear that every actor involved was trained very well, and took their cues from the director and others very well. they added so many great personality creating things to each one of their characters, including facial expressions, yelling, stuttering, and many other great little things that added so much to their character.

Final Verdict

95/100

LEGENDARY

This movie is a master piece that should be hung on the wall, with very realistic characters, an absolutely fabulous storyline, fantastic writing for the majority of the plot devices and scenes, and a fantastically written and fleshed out world for all of these things to take place in, if you haven't seen this movie yet, go out right now, and purchase it, no matter what price you get it at, it is worth every single penny!!