Oz the Great and Powerful

[aud19]

Watched this Friday night with my 14 year old niece. I have to say I went in with pretty low expectations due to the classic and adored nature of the 1939 film...and was actually pleasantly surprised!

Franco did a very convincing job of the flawed, flim flam artist combatting his own weaknesses and personally I thought Kunis (her character on an opposing arc to Oz's) was the stand out, compelling us to sympathize with her despite her own flaws and her losing battle with them. Williams and Weisz did excellent work as well. You could tell Weisz especially had fun with some of the moments egging on her sister.

The visual effects are as eye popping (even in the 2D I enjoyed it in) as you'd assume of the land of Oz. They did a good job of capturing the colour/feel of the 1939 film IMO and it's beautiful to behold though I did find myself sucked back to reality a couple times as it was almost TOO "slick" and digital. Most of the time beautiful, occasionally too much so but certainly demo worthy.

The sound effects and score were all aces. Elfman does his usual excellent work and the effects were well done and entertaining with plenty of surround work for your system and ears to enjoy. I would be very surprised if the film doesn't earn a few sound/video nominations at this year's Oscars.

Good story, good cast (both lead and supporting), good sound and visuals... It's not quite the "classic" of the original but Ill give it a solid and quite enjoyable :4: out of :5:

[aud19]

Nobody else plans to (or already have) watch the prequel to one of the most beloved films of all time...?:unsure:

[Silver1omo]

It looks interesting. I'll try to go tomorrow to blockbuster.

[Chris D]

Oh, it'll be a rental for me. Jason, would you have any qualms about watching it with small children?

[aud19]

There's definitely some scarier moments. The "flying monkey's" in particular are far more frightening than in the original. Also a couple of the scenes with the wicked witches could frighten younger children. I'd say 6-8'ish and up minimum. Much under 5 and you'll be sharing the bed later with a terrified, nightmare riddled child I'd guess :lol:

[Chris D]

Ah, thanks... that's the kind of thing we try to consider when deciding whether to watch a movie with our 4 year old.

[aud19]

Yeah I'd say unless you have a REALLY mature 4 year old it's probably better to wait a few years to watch it with them Your other daughter's about 7 though, correct? She should be fine unless she scares easy.

[Chris D]

Yeah, she's 9. Maybe we'll wait a few years to watch this one as a family.

Heck... did you know a munchkin hangs himself in the original movie? This has been removed from most of the modern copies. [EDIT] Snopes says that what you see is not a little person swinging from a noose, it's a stork flopping its wings. Hmmm... judge for yourself.

[mjb]

I've just watched the "airline version" at 38000ft, and absolutely loved every moment of it. Nice twist on a classic, with just about the right amount of excitement, humor, scary stuff (for the kids), pretty women (for the adults), and special effects (for everyone). Not to mention being a damned good story, with a (patronizing?) moral. It was a bit tough to see Mila Kunis play a baddie, although she did it very well. James Franco was perfect in his role as the wizard, and Rachel Weisz was also a superb choice. I'll be looking out for the full un-edited version soon.

[George Bellefontaine]

I'll be passing on this. I had a copy of the original on vhs and every time my granddaughter came to visit she wanted me to play it for her. I am just so sick of the Wizard, Dorothy and everything else associated with the original that the prequel just doesn't interest me.

Geez, I'm starting to sound like grouchy Chris.

[aud19]

I don't know Chris... It has always struck me as one of those urban legend things that someone made up and it got legs of it's own to the point it's now somewhat accepted as "truth". Who knows... Either way it certainly has never ruined my enjoyment of the original

Now the stories of munchkin orgies etc... :lol:

Mike, sounds like you took away a pretty similar experience from my own, glad you enjoyed it too :T

George, that's a shame as you're missing out on a pretty good movie. I've probably seen the original 50+ times myself :lol:

[George Bellefontaine]

George, that's a shame as you're missing out on a pretty good movie. I've probably seen the original 50+ times myself :lol:

Well, one of these days...

[impala454]

Hmm, hadn't even heard about it until this thread. May have to give it a look.

[Ovation]

My kids love the original (I did too when I was a kid--took me a few years to notice the same actors in the B&W and colour worlds). I'm sure my daughter will love this (my son might have to wait another year--he's a bit more sensitive to scary things on film than he'd like to admit).

[Dmantis]

A customer of mine watched it and holds the original in very high regard , she said it was a fantastic movie and I should check it out.
I think it's worth a few hours of my time.