Review 7: Oz the Great and Powerful

Right! Oz the Great and Poweful is a film that I've been dying to see ever since I heard about it, being a fan of Wicked and The Wizard of Oz. Oh, and James Franco of course!

I must say, although the storyline was simple and easy to understand, for a Disney film, it was actually quite enthralling. Although it was set in 1905, the attitudes of Oz and his assistant (Zach Braff) were surprisingly modern. The way they spoke and presented themselves added a seemingly new age essence to the characters,  and I couldn't tell if it was done on purpose or not. The setting really captured the audience at first sight, and the clever use of relating the audience members of Oz's show to later characters was quite effective.

James Franco did a spectacular job, conveying his character of the arrogant yet good hearted 'wizard' with the right intensity and flair. And the costume, oh my, the costume. I commend whoever was costume director, because by golly they were good. Everything fitted the characters perfectly and captured the heart of what the story was about, and yet again added a modern twist. I particularly liked Mila Kunis' burgundy hat and jacket, as it was feminine yet cool and collected at the same time. Kunis did a great job as Theodora and I definitely preferred her as being the good witch over the bad witch. Talking of good witches, I also have to mention Michelle Williams as Glinda, as I think she did an absolutely brilliant job. She was spot on with the kindness and was exactly how Glinda should be.

The only thing I have to say I got confused about was the name of the china world. On the sign it said 'Chinatown' and automatically you think of Chinese people, and only later did I get that it was referring to actual china as in the crockery. I think it would have been slightly better if it was named something else, but that was probably to do with the book rather than the writers.

Although there are many continuity errors according the book, this story was directed brilliantly and will capture the hearts of many children in the world.  I gave it 8 stars out of 10 on iMDB and it was a great cinema experience.