No Singing in This Wizard Movie

If you're in the mood for more childish fantasy, Oz The Great and Powerful is just the movie for you. I saw Wicked on Broadway, and the storyline was a more mature rendition with an interesting plot. This prequel Oz story felt much more like the innocent version with Judy Garland. The special effects were magnficent, but the story sagged in the middle, leaving Larry and I feeling a little less than enthused when the final credits rolled.

The movie begins in black and white. Oz as the carnival wizard from Kansas is portrayed as a gigolo and a cad by James Franco. He lures innocent women in to be his magician's assistant and offers them each the gift of a music box he claims belonged to his warrior grandmother. Also, like Garland's original, characters from the Kansas carnival become Land of Oz residents.

When the strongman finds he gave such a box to his smitten wife, he comes tearing after the magician. Oz narrowly escapes in his hot air balloon and is immediately sucked up in a tornado. After a harrowing ride, he glides through in an incredibly beautiful and unique landscape to finally crash in a swamp. There he meets Theodora played by Mila Kunis. Theodora is by far the most interesting character in this movie. Her costumes are beautiful and her eyes couldn't be bigger if they tried.
 Theodora escorts Oz to the Emerald City, and there he meets her sister, who also seems enamored with this handsome Wizard who fell from the sky to fulfill their father's prophecy.

This story is about the three witch sisters and their dysfunctional relationship: Theodora from the West, Evanora of the East played by Rachel Weisz, and Glinda from the North, portrayed by Michelle Williams. At first we are lead to believe that Glinda is the evil witch who poisoned her father to gain his throne and all the gold that comes with it. But soon we see that Endora controls Theodora, and it is in Theodora's transformation that the rest of the ride takes place.

Endora shows the wizard around Emerald City, and finally introduces him to the room filled with gold. Oz is greedy and wants to be the important, and soon to become very rich, king of the land that bears his name. But Endora tells him that before he can be king or get any gold, he must kill the evil Glinda by breaking her wand. Oz is convinced this quest is worth the risk, so he embarks down the yellow-brick road towards the Dark Forest.

Oz is accompanied on his journey by Finley, the flying monkey he rescued from tangled vines on his way to the Emerald city with Theodora. Finley swears allegiance to the death in exchange for his rescue, only to be told by Oz out of Theodora's earshot that he is not the great wizard the people of Oz have been awaiting for. But, Finley swears he will remain silent. Finley is played by Zach Braff, and is just adorable.

Along their way, they come upon China Town. It has been destroyed by evil flying monkeys, and they hear the crying of a little girl. They find China Girl, played by Joey King, and she couldn't be cuter if she tried. Her legs were broken in the rampage and the Wizard used his "magic" to repair her legs. At least his glue could repair china legs, when his carnival magic could not make a crippled girl walk after she begged him during his performance in Kansas. China Girl insists she accompany Oz and Finley to the Dark Forest and now we have three heading into danger.

Glinda seems demonic when she first appears, but we soon find out it is really Endora who is the evil one, and the three companions accompany her to her northern outpost city where she convinces Oz that he can be the Wizard they await. Apparently, she and Endora both realize he is not the one. Endora sees this realization as a way to win the throne for herself, while Glinda sees it as a way to save her people.

Theodora is then told by Endora that the Wizard loves Glinda, and has abandoned her; betraying her trust. This causes the volatile red witch who throws fire balls when she's angry to implode and become the green witch we recognize from the original movie. Her transformation is magificent, and Ms. Kunis' portrayal is the best of this movie.


The movie's magic was fun, and the landscapes created were reminiscent of the movie Avatar. I loved the huge flowers. Everything was brightly colored, and fantastic. But the story fell flat for us, and we were a little bored. The movie is worth seeing on the big screen for the sets alone. We paid $4.50 each for a 1:00pm show. Otherwise, wait for it to come on TV and see it for free.