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.