Zach Braff, who plays Frank, Oscar's underappreciated right-hand man in the Kansas scenes, also voices Finley, Oscar's loyal monkey sidekick in Oz. Iconic touchstones such as the Yellow Brick Road are almost afterthoughts. When Oscar regains consciousness, we're assaulted by an admittedly impressive but sometimes overwhelming visual explosion of LOUD colors and magical creatures that might have cousins on Pandora. Of course Raimi films the reality-based scenes in black and white, and of course he flicks the switch to brightly popping colors once Oscar lands in Oz, having used a hot air balloon to escape the wrath of a circus strongman. (There is a brief nod to Judy Garland's Dorothy Gale character when Williams, playing Oscar's former sweetheart, shows up to tell him she's marrying a man named Gale. It's a steady but less-than-captivating performance. The problem is, Franco's a lot more believable playing slimy than sincere, and the part requires him to do both.
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James Franco has turned much of his adult life into performance art that feels equal parts sincere and con game, and it would seem he'd be well cast as Oscar Diggs, a small-time illusionist and unabashed serial liar working the dusty back roads of Kansas in 1905. (Raimi does pay tribute to the past by framing the earth-bound prologue in the old-timey Academy ratio, switching to CinemaScope scale only after we've landed in Oz.) It might have been more interesting if Raimi had attempted to shoot an "Oz" prequel using only the tools available to Victor Fleming and King Vidor in the late 1930s. We can picture the actors pretending to cuddle the little doll or banter with the monkey.
Director Sam Raimi and his army of special-effects wizards have created a visually stunning film that makes good use of 3-D, at least in the first hour or so.īut is that really a good thing? The magical cities (for the most part) and the Oz-dwelling creatures, including a talking monkey and a cute-but-also creepy talking China doll, are of course the stuff of CGI. Like "The Phantom Menace" trilogy, "Oz the Great and Powerful" precedes a beloved classic on the fictional timeline but makes full use of modern-day technology, which means everything's grander and more spectacular, and there's not an obvious soundstage scene or a cheesy special effect in sight. (I believe Evanora's the one who will eventually find herself on the wrong end of a house in "The Wizard of Oz.") Only Rachel Weisz acquits herself well in a witchly role, playing Evanora, the scheming older sister of Theodora. Mila's Wicked Witch would get her first place for makeup at a Hollywood Halloween party, while her performance is closer to a Razzie than to an Oscar. Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch in the original "Oz" was the stuff of nightmares for generations.
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