Review: Oz the Great and Powerful

   
    We all know the story of Dorothy and her trip to Oz from the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. But, what we didn't know was who Oz truly was and why there was a good witch and a bad witch. Well Oz the Great and Powerful is that story. Now, this is a prequel not a remake, there has been some confusion about that out there, which might make people not want to see this film. This is a prequel about how the wizard of Oz became the wizard of Oz.
    The first thing to touch on would be the cast, which is an A-list cast. We have James Franco as a magician who is swept to the Land of Oz by the likes of a tornado. Next, we have Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis who play sister witches Evanora and Theodora respectively. Michelle Williams plays the witch Glinda, if you've seen the original you know who she is. We also have Zach Braff playing a CGI character named Finley, who is a monkey helping the magician, and a young and up coming actress named Joey King who plays another CGI character, China Girl, along for the ride with the magician and Finley.
    The cast did a good job overall considering that most of the time they were probably working in front of green screens. James Franco's character is a magician from 1905 so you can expect his performance to be a little cheesy several times, but that was how magicians acted back then. He does a very good job in the more serious scenes. Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams both do a very good job at taking over their roles. Rachel Weisz is probably the best performance in the movie because she is the leading witch and she takes control and Michelle Willams helps recreate the good witch Glinda in her own way that is hard not to love.
    Where we have our main problem with this movie is Mila Kunis. From the beginning you just feel like her heart was not in it at all. She delivers her lines as dual as ever and at times you are wondering whether she even wanted the role. What makes her not good in this movie is that she keeps a straight face and her voice sounds so monotone even in the emotional or angry scenes. This might not be her worst performance, but it is close to it. However there are several other aspects that help us over look her performance.
    One is two characters that we grow to love as the movie goes on. The first is a CGI monkey named Finley, voiced by Zach Braff, who is there for a lot of the comic relief. The other is another CGI character named China Girl, voiced by Joey King, who is also there for comic relief and to keep pulling us in to see what will happen because she has an important task near the end of the movie. When we first meet both of these characters they are in peril, but are saved, and from that moment on we are attached to them.
    Director Sam Raimi took on a big task when he chose to do this movie because it is all CGI and effects driven, which can hurt movies. But, the effects are great and Raimi used them well and there are not too many effects that it clouds the plot or the characters. With the movie being set in Oz effects were mandatory and were used very well, but at times you might feel that Raimi could, or should, have used less effects to make it feel closer to the 1939 film, but I don't believe it hurts it that much. Sam Raimi gives us a good family fantasy picture that will keep you entertained with a good cast, except Mila Kunis, and great effects. We also get the classic Bruce Cambell cameo as well. 3/4 Stars.