Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) I’ve got a lot to say. Probably too much! But my loyal readers won’t mind 😉
What do I know about OZ? I know it’s the name of a rather violent series… which has nothing to do with the films!

To this day, I still haven’t seen The Wizard of Oz from 1939 (the year my mommy was born!). I hope I will soon!

I also know the magnificent 1985 film Return To Oz, stupidly translated into French as ‘Un monde extraordinaire (An Extraordinary World)’. And I’d really like to recapture the magic I felt and experienced when I saw this film twice already. OK, I’ve grown up… but I still have my inner child who has the power to be amazed!

So… to get back to this film, first of all I’d like to be completely subjective:

I didn’t like Michelle Williams to begin with. Here, she won me over, even though she’s not extraordinary. But she gave off something I didn’t know about her. As a result, I’m keen to see her in the film about Marilyn Monroe.

I didn’t like Rachel Weisz at first. I didn’t think she played very well in The Mummy.
She’s come a long way since then and I’ve grown to like her. Here, she surprised me and pleased me.

I was never crazy about James Franco, or Sam Raimi at the time. And yet, when these two are together, it seems to me that they make a great team. They even managed to remind me of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, that’s saying something!

Indeed, this film really does have something of Alice in Wonderland about it. Danny Elfman’s music is always impeccable!

There’s nothing to say about Mila Kunis: it’s always a gigantic pleasure to see her.
For a long time, I didn’t like Walt Disney films. I mean films, not cartoons or animated features. There have been some great things since then.

This film is not a masterpiece. But it is surprising! Surprising to know that Sam made the Evil Dead and that here he offers a marvellous and aesthetic landscape like few others. Surprising to see James Franco doing so well.

A nice story… but in the end, we’ll never know if there really is a magician somewhere or not. I’ll have to see the 39th film to find out more.

Lengthy, of course. Some ideas less brilliant than others… but on the whole, the aim of entertaining and amusing is fully achieved. Hats off to you! Top hat, of course!