OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL (2013)

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL REVIEW

I have decided to begin my blog reviewing horror and exploitation films with a most unexpected entry, Disney's OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL. Though not a horror film nothing could escape the feelings of nausea, terror unending dread which followed my watching this.

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL tells the story of magician Oscar "Oz" Diggs who is transported from Kansas to the Land of Oz by familiar tornado. As the prophesied "Wizard of Oz" the three witches, Glinda, Evanora and Theodora, attempt to get Oscar to claim the throne of Emerald City and destroy the Wicked Witch.

Hollywood's unending fascination with prequels, sequels, reboots and sidequels has finally made its way over the rainbow. The film serves as a prequel to L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz and could easily be seen as a tie-in to Judy Garland's classic Wizard of Oz. Which was clearly Disney's intent although they are barred from the mythic iconography of the ruby slippers. They were invented for the MGM film and so the rights to them reside at Warner Brothers.

Modern remakes have a terrible fixation with trying to explain every piece of continuity. I half expected the film to turn into a discourse on the genetic characteristics of the Munchkins. We are shown Oz The Great and Powerful as a failing Travelling Show illusionist who is swept away to Oz to spend 2 hours trying not to drown in a sea of fanwank.

At no point in this film did I ever begin to care about the Wizard who would be King. James Franco is glaringly miscast as the petty con-man who comes to rule the Emerald City. I had hoped in the opening minutes of the film his lack of showmanship was intentional and it would develop as he moved towards becoming the great wizard. Clearly I was wrong and instead we get a level of showmanship last seen on at a Butlin's Kids Show.The rest of cast do there job but no performance rises above the film's gaudy CGI wallpaper.

The film begins quite nicely in the black and white in the Academy 4:3 Aspect Ratio used in the 1930s and when it moves into Oz opens not only into colour but the modern 16:9 ratio. A lovely touch but the only one. The rest of the film is a lifeless parade of ill-conceived green-screen and fag-packet computer graphics. The entire film resembles those commemorative photos from theme parks where you and your strained holiday companions are lifelessly superimposed over a poorly conceived special effects scene.

A bladder destroying two hours long Oz the Great and Powerful is overblown and the director Sam Raimi appears to have forgotten how to edit and simply included everything they shot. Its a film so obese and bloated it reminded me of Robert Maxwell's corpse.

There are some redeeming qualities.When Mila Kunis's Theodora cries her skin burns and melts foreshadowing her eventual fate. A surprising and nice bit of lateral thinking having the Wicked Witch literally dissolve in tears. The costuming is fantastic evoking both 30s Hollywood and the Dust-bowl Americana of the original novels. Those two do not make up for the admission price. For me the most enjoyable part was when a friend of mine turned up in the short film, the Plotters, which was on before the main feature.

This film was the lifeless zombie version of Oz. It looked and moved in the same way as other Oz films but lacked any sense of humanity. I look forward to its even more obscure follow-up prequel, a daring tale of the Oz labour market, The Yellow Brick Road Builders of Oz.