I'm a big fan of L. Frank Baum's Oz series. I've read all of the books multiple times and know the main stories and characters inside and out. There could be a dozen more great Oz films based on the books not even counting the extended universe. Oz: The Great and Powerful as it appears onscreen is not one of them. In this tonally inconsistent, poorly structured, and horribly directed fairy tale, a traveling conman/magician gets chased out of a traveling circus before landing in Oz. A prophecy proclaims that he, Oz, must be a powerful wizard who will restore order to all of Oz. Theodora, a rage-filled witch, finds Oz and instantly falls in love for no reason. She brings Oz to her older sister Evanora, a wicked witch, who instantly feels threatened and torments her younger sister for no reason. Evanora sends Oz to kill a third witch to prove he is a wizard. Along the way, he befriends a flying monkey and a China Girl (sadly, the character's actual name) and the trio venture through the Dark Forest to earn their destinies.
It's hard to pinpoint what the worst aspect of Oz, The Great and Powerful is. Is it the one-two punch of bad to terrible leading performances by Mila Kunis and James Franco? Is it the completely overworked design that distracts from any substance in the film at ever turn? Is it the wretched screenplay that reduces every character to a foil for the visual effects with no depth or semblance of logical behavior? Is it Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams fighting against the bloated epic by going far too naturalistic to be anything more than pretty window dressing? Or is it Sam Raimi's complete inability to reign in anyone's interpretation of the screenplay no matter how much the the actors' choices are at odds with each other and the actual screenplay?
Mila Kunis, bless her heart, does everything she can to bring Theodora to life. Theodora, however, is the single most pathetic excuse for a character I've ever encountered in a fantasy film. Damsels in distress who exist only to be kidnapped have more depth than Theodora. Her character, a grown woman, acts like a four year old meeting Santa Claus for an hour, then cries for a few minutes, then goes to storybook villain territory. Not one word she says has any depth or purpose beyond fluffing up the great wizard Oz. Kunis is not phoning it in or making any particularly bad choices; there is just no way any actress, no matter how good, could have salvaged that poorly developed character from the screenplay. Her first two scenes are very good, but the wide-eyed wonder with nothing else grows all the more insulting as the plot begins to twist and turn.
James Franco has no excuse. The only character with any actual backstory, depth, or drive in Oz: The Great and Powerful is Oz. Instead of playing that character, James Franco does his best impersonation of Roger Rabbit or The Mask (not Jim Carrey in The Mask but the cartoon Mask itself). He stretches his face in grotesque facsimiles of human emotion. You thought his Oscar hosting stint was uncomfortable to watch? Wait until you see Franco recreate all the infamous TrollFace comics on an endless loop for almost two hours.
To say Franco did not care about anything other than a potential pay day is an insult to actors who take gigs so they can make rent or feed their families. Franco's performance is a more bizarre experiment in the Alienation Effect that Joaquin Phoenix's stunt documentary I'm Still Here. Every action onscreen is an insult to the craft of acting, the entire production team, and the audience.
There are those who will blame Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams for bad line readings. It is impossible as an actor to generate chemistry or a sense of believability when the other actor does not care and is just fooling around. You can't edit around someone's total disinterest, arguably disdain, in a project. Franco's most insulting act in the entirety of the film is to bring down every single scene partner he has and manage to avoid any blame for being the anchor to their acting abilities.
Honestly, with a different actor as Oz, all the terrible structural problems in the screenplay and hokey dialogue might not have been as damaging. Look at Tim Burton's Wonderland. That, too, was a revisionist prequel to a well-known story, loosely adapted from the other texts of the author. It had a style so over the top that it distracted from everything else. The story was silly with lots of illogical behavior. However, the cast was strong enough to give you something to latch onto. James Franco single-handedly prevents Oz: The Great and Powerful from rising above a bad screenplay into something even moderately amusing.
Rating: 3/10
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