Is it too soon for a prequel to the classic 1939 musical fantasy The Wizard of Oz? It’s only been seventy-four years! Although technically the film is not related to the 1939 classic (different studios, fights over rights), in all general aspects Oz the Great and Powerful introduces Kansas con man / magician Oscar “Oz” Diggs (James Franco) as a young version of the older dude (Frank Morgan) who blusters his way through MGM’s classic Emerald City tale so familiar to us all. This new film borrows several elements from the earlier one, including a black and white opening, a yellow brick road and flying monkeys and baboons. But for some viewers, including myself, even seventy-four years is too soon to mess with a genuine masterpiece. I wasn’t sure if I would feel this way until I witnessed that even with modern technology, good actors, good intentions and all the time in the world to prepare . . . it wasn’t worth trying.
I shall digress for a moment about the flying baboons. Sometimes my attention flutters away from the main story, and in this movie I found myself wondering about the flying baboons. They are loud and terrifying — and they seem to live in the Emerald City. How can that be? They serve at the beck and call of the evil witch, who is supposed to live far away, but when they attack, they emerge from the towers of the Emerald City to do so. Wouldn’t the Ozlings know about them, and thereby determine who the wicked witch really is? How would the ostensibly good witch go about caring and feeding these horrible creatures? Especially without letting anyone else know about them? Wouldn’t their screeches and smell be a dead giveaway?
As should be obvious, I wasn’t particularly engrossed by this movie. The visuals are pretty neat, especially when Oz enters Oz (how stupid is it to name the guy the same as the place?) and pretty color and pretty music overwhelms the scene. That, and Mila Kunis in slick boots and hot leather pants. The other witch, Rachel Weisz, also wears boots, although the rest of her outfit is comfortably traditional. The high-heeled boots must be a dark-haired witch thing. But I digress again.
Three of the four leads are former Oscar nominees, so there’s no question of talent on the screen. But none of them are particularly charismatic or even interesting; Oz is such a stereotypical con man character with a hidden heart of gold that I was half hoping one of the baboons — or the teethy river fairies, who only make a token appearance when he first gets to Oz — would eat him. Michelle Williams (as Glinda, whom Oz inexplicably calls Wanda for some time) suffers daintily, but Rachel Weisz seems to be afraid to cut loose and Mila Kunis is completely underwhelming in perhaps the key role in the movie, tight leather pants aside. Why is it that with three hot supernatural babes in charge since the King was poisoned, the country is at a standstill, just waiting for the prophesized wizard to arrive, do his thing and take over? And at the climax, the two supposedly smart, powerful witches are defeated and driven away by illusion and fireworks! Talk about sexist!
Sam Raimi’s film pays homage to the 1939 classic in various ways and a respectful approach, but the inferior script undermines its logic. Not having read the L. Frank Baum books on which the film is based, I cannot ascertain where the fault lies, but I suspect that Baum’s fantasies are simply not designed to be filmed — remember, the 1939 movie turned Dorothy’s adventures into a wild dream; at least that made some sense. No such diversion occurs here, with the result that this movie is neither great nor powerful. Unnecessary, yes. Worthwhile, no. ☆ ☆. 9 April 2013.