Like the classic film whose coattails it hopes to ride to fortune "Oz the Great and Powerful" begins life in black and white. Oscar Diggs (James Franco) is scouring the Kansas farm country for suckers trying, in that great American tradition, to hustle a living through sheer force of personality. He's a man of few actual talents and practically no means but he spends time in the spotlight and that is enough to attract the dust bowl equivelant of groupies. When he winds up with the strong man's girl however the gig is up and he beats a hasty retreat in the the state fair's hot air balloon.
Any idea what happens next? Well if you said his balloon ride goes horribly wrong thanks to a twister and he winds up in Oz, you win. Or lose. Depending on whether or not you like your movies to surprise you now and then. Sadly "Oz the Great and Powerful" is largely bereft of surprise, which in my mind, should go hand in hand with wonder. No surprise, no wonder. No wonder with a story like this and the kids are going to be playing games on their iPhone before the movie is half over.
The film is more remake than prequel hitting most of the same story beats the 1939 film established and never veering too far outside the lines. While the (occasionally) wonderful eye candy (and I don't mean Mila Kunis - okay, I don't
only mean Mila Kunis) is enough to make you suspend your dissatisfaction from time to time it isn't enough to carry the whole film. You need characters for that: well-written characters occupied by well-cast actors.
And that last point touches on the other problem with the film because it turns out that the casting of James Franco in the title role is what winds up the movie's undoing. He's a fine actor and all, but his presence here reminds me of Robert DeNiro's in "Stardust". It's a paycheck too many. Robert Downey Jr was originally cast in the role before backing out and a few minutes into the picture you realize that the producers probably should have offered him a percentage of gross if that's what it took to snag him because a film like this - with very little that's new or wonderful to offer in the story department - needs a central persona who can carry it. Franco is not that man, not for this movie anyway.
Because Franco looks so fish-out-of-water for much of his time on the screen the movie is never able to gain traction and the theme of an ordinary man rising to confront extraordinary circumstances with the help of others is largely lost. To make matters worse the lack of iconic, easily understood secondary characters like the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion leaves no one for the audience to fall back on once they disconnect from the Wizard.
On the upside the aforementioned Ms Kunis along with Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams do a fine job with what they're given and some scenes (like those in the dark forest) are visually strong enough to make you believe again. The art direction as a whole is excellent even though the effects occassionally veer into cartoonland. Ironically, Kunis herself plays out an origin story that turns out to be far more compelling than the title character's. Unfortunately for the movie it's a case of too little too late.
On the whole, Oz the Great and Powerful is a movie undone by poor casting, a lack of sympathetic characters and a too-familiar story line. It's possible that the kiddies just won't care about such things but if you're gonna take the kids I'd advise you to confiscate the iPhones before the curtain rises.
Verdict: ★★☆☆☆
