The Magical World Of Disney #339: Top 100 Disney Movies, Part 9

84. Oz: The Great & Powerful (2013)

Oz the Great and Powerful is a 2013 American fantasy adventure film directed by Sam Raimi and written by David Lindsay-Abaire and Mitchell Kapner. Based on L. Frank Baum’s Oz novels and set 20 years before the events of the original novel, the film is a spiritual prequel to the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film The Wizard of Oz. Starring James Franco, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis, Zach Braff, Bill Cobbs, Joey King and Tony Cox, the film tells the story of Oscar Diggs, a deceptive magician who arrives in the Land of Oz and encounters three witches: Theodora, Evanora and Glinda. Oscar is then enlisted to restore order in Oz while struggling to resolve conflicts with the witches and himself.

Kapner began developing an origin story for the Wizard of Oz after a lifelong interest of wanting to create one for the character. Walt Disney Pictures then commissioned the film’s production in 2009 with Joe Roth as producer and Grant Curtis, Joshua Donen, Philip Steuer and Palak Patel serving as executive producers. Raimi was hired to direct the following year. After Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp declined the titular role, Franco was cast in February 2011 with principal photography commencing five months later. Danny Elfman composed the film’s score.

Oz the Great and Powerful premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on February 14, 2013 followed by a general theatrical release on March 8, 2013 in Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D formats. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film grossed over $493 million worldwide against a $200 million budget, making it the 13th-highest-grossing film of 2013. The film won the Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Live Action Family Film and Kunis won the 2014 MTV Movie Award for Best Villain for her performance as the Wicked Witch of the West

Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he’s hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz), and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

I really enjoyed it, I got to say for a prequel to the Wizard Of Oz, Sam Raimi did a fantastic job on this film. And I really don’t like prequels, I hated Wolverine, I hated the Star Wars prequels (except for the third one up to the end), and I didn’t like X-Men: First Class, I’m one of the few people in the world that really didn’t like that movie. I did, however, love Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. But for the most part, prequels and I don’t get along very well.

I did, however, really love this movie. James Franco has proven himself to be a good leading actor in 127 Hours and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, and here, he’s great. You don’t really get into his character in the beginning when you find out he’s a hound dog just going for the latest tail around him but once, he gets sucked up in the tornado and taken to Oz and you follow him for the remainder of the film, he becomes more likeable.

Zach Braff and Joey King are the most memorable parts of the film as Finley the monkey and the China Girl. Joey King’s China Girl character has one of the most tragic backstories I’ve ever seen. The second she finishes her story of what happened to her, I literally told myself, “Damn, that is tragic.”

Braff’s Finley has a lot of really great moments and it’s about damn time that Zach Braff returns to film. After Garden State, his film career went nowhere and that’s a shame because Garden State is an incredible movie that he starred in, wrote, and directed. He was Josh Radnor before Josh Radnor did it. Anyone who hasn’t seen Garden State needs to check that movie out and you’ll see an incredible film.

Again, back to the movie. Of the three witches, Michelle Williams’ Glinda is up there with Finley and the China Girl as the best characters in the movie. She’s just such a great character that I just fell in love with the minute she comes up. Rachel Weisz does the job she’s given fine and Mila Kunis, well, that’s another story.

The biggest flaw of the film is Mila Kunis, who was good in the first part of the film but when she turns into the Wicked Witch, that’s when things go downhill. First, the transformation of her turning into the witch is kind of laughable and when she’s actually the witch, she really overplays that role. Granted, the original wicked witch was also overplaying it but at least, she could also settle down at points. Kunis’ wicked witch is far too overplayed and nearly every bit of dialogue she has involves speaking loudly or as the Nostalgia Critic would put it…YELLING AT RANDOM!!!

That’s the only main flaw that I have with the film. Everything else I really liked, the story was well-handled, credit to screenwriters Mitch Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire for that, and the film does a great job steering away from typical clichés like the liar revealed, that was the best part of the movie when Glinda knows that Oz isn’t really the wizard she was hoping for and she’s not angry at him for not being him. That’s why she’s one of my favorite characters in the film, she’s not the typical female character who gets overly angry when somebody lies to her. She knows that Oz isn’t the wizard she was expecting but she’s sticking with him all the way.

The visuals are spectacular, these are some of the best visuals I’ve seen in any movie in a long time and the 3D works really well to bring those visuals to life. The movie is also very clever in following in the same format as the original, starting in black and white and then when Oz gets sucked into the tornado, the film expands in color to a beautiful widescreen landscape and it is spectacular.

Oz: The Great And Powerful gets by on a good story, amazing visuals, great characters, and just an overall fun experience. The 3D works very well and the movie is well-paced and the filmmakers know not to pad down a classic and modern it up. It’s an epic, fun adventure film and one of the year’s best movies so far.

83. The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (2005)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 high fantasy film directed by Andrew Adamson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ann Peacock, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely, based on the 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in the children’s book series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The film is the first installment in The Chronicles of Narnia film series. It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.

William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley play Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie, four British children evacuated during the Blitz to the countryside, who find a wardrobe that leads to the fantasy world of Narnia, where they ally with the lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) against the forces of the White Witch (Tilda Swinton).

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe premiered on December 7, 2005, selected for the Royal Film Performance, before it was theatrically released on December 8 in the United Kingdom and December 9 in the United States. The film received generally positive reviews from critics. It was a box office hit, grossing more than $745 million worldwide against a $180 million budget and becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 2005. An extended edition was released on December 12, 2006, on DVD. Combining both releases of the film, in regular and extended edition, it was the third-best-selling and first-highest-grossing DVD in North America in 2006, taking in $332.7 million that year. At the 78th Academy Awards, the film won for Best Makeup and was nominated for Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects, while at the 59th BAFTA Awards, it won for Best Makeup and Hair and was nominated for Best Costume Design and Best Special Visual Effects. The score was nominated for Best Original Score and the song “Wunderkind” by Alanis Morissette was nominated for Best Original Song at the 63rd Golden Globe Awards. The score was also nominated for Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media and the song “Can’t Take It In” by Imogen Heap was nominated for Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media at the 49th Grammy Awards.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was followed by Prince Caspian in 2008 and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010. The three films have grossed a total of over $1.5 billion worldwide.

A surprisingly well made adaptation of the CS Lewis novels that were trying to be Disney’s answer to the Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings franchise rolled into one and in this first film, they did a really good job capturing the spirit of the books and creating a visually amazing experience that still holds up really well after all these years.

#100 & #99

#98 & #97

#96 & #95

#94 & #93

#92 & #91

#90 & #89

#88 & #87

#86 & #85

Follow The Reviewing Network at our Facebook page at Facebook.com/TheReviewingNetwork for continuing updates and debuts for new blog posts and also follow my Twitter feed so you can see new postings right as they are posted.

‹ Time About The Movies – July 21, 1995

The Weekly Address #313 ›

Tagged with: MagicalWorldOfDisney, TheReviewingNetwork
Posted in The Magical World Of Disney