Film Review - Oz: The Great and Powerful

Oz: The Great and Powerful is mainly based only on the series of Oz books by L. Frank Baum, but is essentially a prequel to Victor Fleming’s classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

Directed by Sam Raimi (The Spiderman Trilogy) the film opens in a black and white Kansas in 1905. Travelling carnival magician, con man and womaniser Oscar Diggs (James Franco) is transported from Kansas to the Land of Oz during a tornado. There he is taken for the wizard who is prophesied to save the realm of Oz from a wicked witch.  

The sisters Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Theodora (Mila Kunis) send Diggs on a deadly quest that brings him into contact with Glinda the Good Witch (Michelle Williams), flying baboons, a china doll, oppressed Munchkins and the Emerald City.

Trying to do a film that references (never mind prequels) such a seminal film as The Wizard of Oz is a tough ask for anyone, even a talented director as Raimi. However, he makes a decent stab of it and provides some lovely touches and some decent humour along the way. There are also numerous loving homages to the books and earlier film that are worth looking out for.

Given that we all know how the story ends, with the man behind the curtain and good and bad witches at the appropriate compass points of Oz, there’s still an interesting story in Raimi’s version.

Diggs gradually changes from a greedy, shallow, cowardly conman into a semi-decent fraud who nevertheless is a half-way fit ruler of the land whose name he shares.  Franco’s grin and charm help a potentially hateful character pass by, as the would-be wizard discovers an urge to live up to the trust put in him by his naive companions.

Raimi, as shown in his earlier films, uses 3D as liberation rather than a commercially-mandatory inconvenience, so visually, the film is a treat, echoing the Technicolor brilliance of the original film. Raimi gives us exactly what we are looking for, by turning Oz into its own wonderland without it ever seeming predictable or tired. Gems, flowers, waterfalls, mountains, rock formations, sunsets, are breath-taking and the CGI is crisp and clean. The scene where Diggs awakens in Oz and the screen slowly bursts into life with colour is quite magical.

There are some big let downs though and most are due to some seriously ill-advised casting. I didn’t think James Franco was the right choice for Diggs, and although reasonably interesting at the start of the film, it felt like he sleepwalked through the film from half way.

Mila Kunis as Theodora was, in my opinion, terrible. She lacks the ability to display any emotion other than anger and by the end her character became wooden and laughable. Michelle Williams brought some radiance and charm to the role of Glinda, but for me Rachel Weisz steals the show with a deliciously deceitful performance as Evanora. Diggs’s companions include a sympathetic flying monkey (voiced by Zach Braff) and an adorable orphan china doll (voiced by Joey King), and these two add a great deal of charm and humour to the proceedings as well.

In more ways than one, the story of Oz draws parallels to that of Jesus Christ. When the paralysed young girl in the beginning of the film asks Diggs to make her walk again, he is instantly set up as a man who is far from the saviour that our world so desperately looks for. When he arrives in Oz to the prophecy of a saviour who would return to set them free from death and destruction, Diggs is set up as faux Christ who can only pretend to fulfil a prophecy far too large for even his huge ego.

In addition, Diggs, although recognised as a fake by those who know him best (including himself), is not a man who seeks to do bad things; instead, he simply desires to achieve the ‘greatness’ that eludes him and, as a result, allows  himself the freedom of moral compromise in its pursuit.

Gradually, Diggs begins to see that there is goodness inside him that desires to come forth and he is given the opportunity to redeem himself on a grand scale. His emotional and mental turmoil resonates with us as, forgiven by Jesus, we still experience the tension of desiring to do good but being bound by our old habits. As Paul says, ‘We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.’ This struggle resonates on many levels, especially as we look at the battle between our old and new self.

It was always a tough ask for Raimi to come close to the original film, and though he comes up short it’s a decent enough effort, despite the bad casting. Be warned though, that despite the colour and fun, the scary scenes are definitely not suitable for younger children.

Review by Martin Barratt

Genre: Fantasy 3D
Director: Sam Raimi
Rating: PG (scary scenes)
Run time: 2 hours 10 mins