How did a Kansas man get to the land of Oz and become the great and powerful Wizard of Oz? In the classic 1939 The Wizard of Oz, an elderly fraud is revealed to be the "Great and Powerful Oz." Walt Disney's Pictures latest fantasy release, Oz The Great and Powerful, is the story of how Kansas con man Oscar Diggs finds himself in a fantasy world.
Although this film was based mostly on the 1939 classic, the makers took themes, characters, and places from L. Frank Baum's fourteen Oz Chronicles books and puts them into this family film. The cast includes James Franco as Oscar Diggs/Oz, Mila Kunis as the witch Theodora, and Michelle Williams as the witch Glinda. The movie was a box office hit, making $149 million in just its opening week alone.
SUMMARY
Oscar Diggs is a magician in a traveling circus in 1905 (twenty years before the original Oz film). Immediately, we see he is selfish, deceitful, and immoral. The first scene is him bribing and lying to a young woman in order to get her to make his show a success.
After the failure of a show, a cyclone hits the area. Oscar (nicknamed "Oz") is in a hot air balloon when the tornado comes through the circus. He is sucked up inside of it and spun around until he lands in a strange new world.
He soon meets Theodora, a young witch. She leads him to the Emerald City, where her sister Evanora awaits them. They tell him that he must destroy the Wicked Witch's wand to drain the power from her. If he does this, they tell him he will be ruler of Oz and inherit a vast fortune of gold.
On this quest he is accompanied by a lovable flying monkey named Finley. They meet a porcelain girl along the way and the three of them make a plan to steal the Witch's wand. ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** They discover that the "Wicked Witch" is actually Glinda, the good witch of the South and that Evanora is really the wicked witch of the East. Oz joins Glinda and they go to her kingdom, where the Munchkins dwell.
Evanora meanwhile turns Theodora against Oz (who she loves) and turns her into the Wicked Witch. The two send flying baboons to destroy Oz and Glinda. When that fails, Theodora goes after them.
The movie ends in the final confrontation between the forces of good (led by Oz and Glinda) against the forces of evil (led by Evanora and Theodora). It cleverly ties in this movie to The Wizard of Oz (as do many other scenes in the movie).
CONTENT
I think the violence was slightly borderline for a PG movie. First off, the flying baboons are vicious and may frighten younger viewers (one review said that, "These are not your grandfather's flying monkeys!"). In addition, there are some action scenes and a battle at the end (including an intense duel between Glinda and Evanora). In addition to this, when one of the witches is transformed into the Wicked Witch of the West, she screams and stumbles around the room. My two youngest siblings (aged 7 and 5) viewed the film, but closed their eyes frequently.
Oz is often seducing women, but nothing is shown beyond a few kisses. He has a love interest in Theodora, Glinda, and also seems to like Evanora. I felt this did not fit very well into the film. It felt awkward and out of place. Also, though, when one of the witches eats a poisoned apple (as mentioned in the above paragraph), she strips down to her underclothes. In relation to this, the witches' dresses are a little immodest, particularly Evanora's and the Wicked Witch's.
The language is rather minor, with only two uses of d***.
The three witches are both good and bad. Witchcraft can only be used for evil, not good. In Oz, though, there is no real-life witchcraft used.
I enjoyed this film a lot and recommend it to those who enjoyed the 1939 musical or just love a good fantasy adventure. The acting amazed me and the musical score was great! The film was enjoyable and there were moments that made myself and my family laugh (the monkey Finley is particularly comical). I think Oz may just find a place with our other movies!
GENERAL INFORMATION
Length: 130 minutes
Rating: PG (for sequences of action and scary images, and brief mild language)
Director: Sam Raimi
Producer: Joe Roth
Music: Danny Elfman
Year of release: 2013
Audience: Pre-teens, teens, family
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