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Oz the Great and Powerful (Movie Review)

At the end of the summer 1939 audiences experienced ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ a film that became an instant classic that has been watched for generations and came from L. Frank Baum’s books. Seventy-four years later comes the prequel ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’, which tells the story of how the wizard came to be. I think most people would agree with me that the biggest fear of touching a classic is of ruining or shaming it, well fear no more! In our interview director Sam Raimi assured me that you can’t ruin a classic and I’m happy to say he carefully crafted a film that can be proud to be a prequel of such a renown movie and can maybe even become a classic itself starting with this generation, because it used all the great elements of its predecessor and extenuated some more. 

 

This prequel follows young Oscar better known as the magician (later on Wizard) Oz (James Franco) at the beginning of his struggling career as a trickster, by chance he’s taken to the magical Land of Oz where he meets three witches: Theodora (Mila Kunis), her sister Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams). Here with the help of an assistant monkey, Finley (Zach Braff) and an adorable China Girl (Joey King) Oz gets a chance to transform himself and become a better man by helping the people in this land.

 

The film does an enchanting contrast beginning with black and white in a more real setting and changing to bright colors once we reach the Land of Oz, something it took from its predecessor and it is truly magical. The 3D effects are sure to captivate the audience, adults will fall in love with Oz all over again and children will want to visit this Land more than once. One of the smartest moves is that the movie uses ingredients from the previous film such as the hot air balloon, traveling companions, the yellow brick road and many more, which set a familiarity. The script incorporated well what we know of the Land of Oz as well as new additions; it has a lot of substance and likability. Admittedly the movie really reaches its PG audience at some point and here it might get a bit childish, but hey it is a PG movie after all. The film has its flaws in that some parts feel rushed, while others prolong more than necessary and there are some smalls gaps, but that’s easy to overlook thanks to everything else it offers, including nods to the original.

 

Franco’s character is so layered and he easily goes from being a trickster, to being a decent human with ease; in my opinion he filled in the shoes well. Williams is so sweet you might get a toothache just from looking at her, that’s her character’s intent, which means she did a good job. Weisz has a great mysterious atmosphere although her performance is a little too over the top at times, but nonetheless she’s a good representation of a typical Disney character. Kunis beauty really stands out here with her innocence but that dies off once she begins to throw tantrums, which are exaggerated a bit, but her high pitch voice (á la Meg Griffin) goes along with her character development. My favorite character is Finley the flying monkey, he’s delightfully hilarious and has so much heart that he sets a tone in every scene and steals each and everyone of them. The China Girl is so pretty and cute, we are all going to want to buy one!

 

Honestly I didn’t think they were going to be able to pull it off and they completely surprised me and left me speechless because they did it! Thanks to an amazing cast, director and team this movie went beyond my expectations. There are some parts that might be scary to younger kids, so keep them close to you. As a side note if you’ve never seen ‘The Wizard of Oz’, this movie is capable of standing alone; although you might miss what some of the nods represent you can enjoy the story with ease. Even the introduction to the film in the circus setting is beautiful in 3D and the film in its entirety with its colorful gorgeous atmosphere is bewitching. Exploring the Land of Oz and walking down the yellow brick road to Emerald City once more is bound to take you back to your childhood and you’ll be happy to share this story of love and friendship with your children.

‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ makes it to #1!

This was a very slow weekend at the box office; the numbers coming in Friday didn’t look so good. Now, at the end of it all ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ topped the box office with $28 million dollars, a great amount over the other ones. Although this isn’t a win for Warner Bros. because the film’s estimated budget was around $200 million and they are far from it, making this film a definite flop.

‘Identity Thief’ fell to second place with $9.7 million dollars and a grand total of $107 million dollars for the four weeks it has been out in theaters. This movie on the other hand has been a big winner, so big applause to all involved. Read More

‘Oz the Great and Powerful’: wardrobe and merchandise

Next week on Friday March 8^th ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ comes to the big screen nationwide. Many are awaiting this film not only because it is the prequel to the beloved classic ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ but also because of the big names attached to the film, starting by the director Sam Raimi and following the entire cast. I got a chance to fly to Los Angeles not only to interview them all, but also to check out the original wardrobes they wore on set, check out the merchandise out on the marketplace now to promote the Disney film and to get treated to a setting of a yellow brick road and a hot air balloon even if just for a little while. Read More

Jack the Giant Slayer (Movie Review)

Hollywood has decided to recreate a number different tales from centuries ago, now is the turn of ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’, a mix of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and ‘Jack the Giant Killer’; which means a little bit of innocence, adventure and violence. The film will do best with its intended audience of 13 and up; the first half is slow paced and a little dull, but finally the action picks up on the second half and that’s the kicker that makes the film fun. Watching the movie in IMAX 3D is a real treat, because it truly enhances the experience, although you have to wait for the effects to really begin after we get past the “meeting†the characters part of the movie.

 

The classic story begins with a poor farm boy named Jack (Nicholas Hoult) who is trying to get some money by selling his horse; the boy gets easily tricked into taking magic beans as payment. Back at home he laments his innocence, but when the beanstalk grows he finds himself in an adventure where he’ll fight giants that live in the sky, meet princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson), her most noble men among them Elmont (Ewan McGregor) and together they’ll try to save the world.

 

We get two similar stories between Jack and Isabelle that have their keen differences but unite into one thanks to their love for adventure. The story doesn’t become interesting until we reach the world of giants, which are fantastically gruesome, idiotic, and somewhat cavemen like and we want to know how these humans fight for their survival there. There’s conniving between the humans and giants and this part although predictable helps the story.

 

Hoult and Tomlinson play their parts fine enough, but there’s nothing that really stands out here; Hoult was much better in ‘Warm Bodies’. Stanley Tucci as the villain is instantly dislikable, but lacks mystery. McGregor is usually on point with his roles, but here his script calls for corny jokes although despite that he’s one of the most interesting characters. Of course the giants steal a lot of the focus, specially their two-headed leader Fallon (Bill Nighy). The CGI of these creatures and their world is for the most part well done and are the biggest part of the tale driving the movie forward.

 

The story saves itself because just when it starts dragging the action really picks up and here is where your money goes. The movie mainly suffers from a very weak script that is full of corny jokes, lines and predictability; all of which would deem it to fail were it not for the great CIG effects and battle in the second half of the film. There’s an unexpected interesting twist at the end, where the story tries to connect fantasy to reality and it’s a nice closing touch.

 

Here’s another classic fairytale 21st century style which though it complements the original stories, by no means is it a cinematographic wonder, but it is still a good enough film to enjoy with the family. Director Bryan Singer uses his knowledge in superhero action films and incorporates a pinch of it here, but a little more could have gone a long way. It might put younger children and adults to sleep at some point, but will eventually wake everybody up on the second half till the end.