Project 52: 'Oz: The Great and Powerful'
Posted Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 4:55 PM Central
Last updated Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 9:09 AM Central
by John Couture
The Wizard of Oz is a film that I remember as being one of those iconic family films of my youth. It seems that when I was young, our family would gather around the TV and watch it each and every year when it was on.
Allow me to paint a picture for those of you born in the 1980s and onward. Back in the stone age, we didn't have cable/satellite TV with hundreds of channels. The Internet wasn't even a glimmer in Al Gore's eye back then and even VCRs were a couple years away.
In other words, we had four or five channels that would come in reliably, if we remembered to put tin foil on the antenna, and we actually had to get off the couch to change the channel. Now, before you cast me aside as just another "Get off my lawn!" crazy old man, you have to realize just how far we have come in so few years.
Back then, TV viewing was event driven. There were no DVRs to time-shift your favorite shows. If you didn't tune in to see The Wizard of Oz at precisely the time it was scheduled to start on the day it ran, you had to wait an entire year to see it.
Think about that for a minute.
So, I'm not sure that The Wizard of Oz holds the same place in the hearts of children these days, but perhaps this film will re-kindle some of that magic.
Oz: The Great and Powerful
Given that the time requirements of a toddler, we have to be very selective in what we actually choose to see in theaters. This is quite a change for me and my bachelor days when I was known to see one or two movies at the local megaplex each week. Now that I'm lucky to see 10 movies a year at the theater, you have to be a bit more picky.
At first, Oz didn't strike me as a film that I had to see in theaters. I wasn't enamored by the early looks at the film and while I could appreciate that the vivid colors of Oz would look infinitely more impressive on the big screen, I just wasn't sold on the film.
Thankfully, Mother Nature stepped in and doused our original date plans and we had to fall back to plan B, a movie. Since last weekend didn't really offer much in the way of must-see movies, my wife and I both thought that Oz would be the best bet. And, it truly was.
Off the bat, let me say that while I enjoyed the totality of the film, the first act and the opening credits of all things hold a special place in my heart. First, believe it or not, the opening credit sequence is a work of art in its own right. According to the firm that was tasked with creating it, the style drew upon the Theater of Perspective to create a 3D effect.
Yeah, I'm not an expert on the technical process behind it, but the end result was effective as it seemed to harken back to a simpler time when films truly were works of art. Stylistic credit sequences aren't something new, just as David Fincher, but this choice just set the stage perfectly for what was to come. If you don't believe me, go ahead and check them out below.
And boom, just like that, you immediately buy in to being in Kansas in 1905. The credit sequences also includes a few pieces of foreshadowing that those with a keen eye will pick up on.
From the opening credits sequence, it doesn't take long to realize that something isn't quite right with the film. Not only is the film in black and white (a great nod back to The Wizard of Oz), but it's also presented in a 4x3 aspect ration, basically a square with empty space on either side.
Again, it's these little stylistic choices made by director Sam Raimi that instantly create tone and perspective in order to allow you to buy into the scene that unfolds. And let's be honest, I'm not the only one who thought that the weak link in this cast would have been James Franco.
Interestingly though, his slickness and smarmy disposition actually works for the character of Oz. In Kansas, he was a con man/magician who would use his "power" of persuasion to sleep with unsuspecting women. So yeah, Franco was a natural for the role.
Actually, this flawed man is the perfect spot to begin the journey that Oz takes over the course of the film. It's not rocket science, but the redemption of the selfish man is a story as old as time itself and it really shines against the backdrop of Oz's vibrant colors.
But, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. I do want to point out a couple more nice homages to the original film. First, there's a quick little nod to The Wizard of Oz and Dorothy's origins when Franco's Oz looks to enjoy a quick fling with Michelle Williams' Annie.
Apparently, there was a standing arrangement between the two every time the circus rolled through Kansas. For a split second, I thought to myself, "Whoa, what if Oz turned out to be Dorothy's dad?" I mean think about that unique spin on things.
In the original film and the source books (well, the few I've actually read), we aren't given much in the way of background information on Dorothy's parents. We know that she lives with her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em on the Gale farm, but beyond that there isn't much reference to them.
In Oz: The Great and Powerful, they do throw a possible nod in that direction when during their encounter, Annie informs Oz that a "John Gale" has asked her to marry him. Forever the commitment-phobe, Oz actually encourages her to accept the offer despite his very real feelings for the young woman.
While it's still possible that Oz could turn out to be Dorothy's father, I do believe that recent remarks from the filmmakers put the time between films at roughly 20 years. I think it's a better bet that John and Annie Gale are Dorothy's parents, but we may never know.
Another great homage to the first film was having characters in Oz be almost mirror reflections of themselves from Kansas. In The Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tinman were all portrayed by farmhands from the Gale farm. This left the ending with a sort of unresolved conclusion about whether Dorothy had indeed traveled to Oz or if it was all simply a dream.
In Oz: The Great and Powerful, a few characters make the trip too. Notably Michelle Williams becomes Glinda and Zach Braff continues his servitude to Oz as Finley the flying monkey. However, it's Joey King's dual roles that really make the film jump out and tug at the heartstrings.
In Kansas, she plays a girl confined to a wheelchair, who after witnessing Oz's show asks him to fix her legs so she can walk. Oz, being the con man that he is, can't do it and that really sets things into motion. Over in Oz, Joey plays China Girl, a girl made out of china.
There's a great parallelism between the two characters when Oz finds China Girl with her legs broken off. I don't think it's much of a spoiler, but this time Oz is able to fix her legs and China Girl can walk again.
This is the first real selfless act in the film by Oz and thus begins his own personal journey to becoming a better man, or Wizard, that everyone hopes that he can be.
Visually, Oz: The Great and Powerful rivals the original film in their reveal of color. As I mentioned earlier, the first act of the film is presented in a 4x3 aspect ratio, but as Oz regains consciousness not only does he see the vibrant colors of Oz, but the aspect ratio expands to the fill up the entire screen.
It's hard to really put into words how impressive this transition is, but you unconsciously become accustomed to the smaller screen and then all of a sudden your eyes are bombarded with massive color. It's like you also took that ride on the tornado and became immersed in Oz. It's a pretty neat trick and sure, other films have used it, but I would argue that they didn't use it as effectively as they do in this film.
Ah, the witches. When you have three top-notch talents like Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz, the biggest challenge is balancing their screen time so that all three deliver top-notch performances. Interestingly, while Weisz' Evanora is the main driver of the action in the film, she really takes a back seat to Kunis' Theodora and Williams' Glinda.
Over the course of the film, Theodora's transformation to the Wicked Witch of the West is marked with wonderful nuances that both recall the first film and foreshadow what we might see in future Oz films. The "tears of acid," in particular, were a reminder just where this character is going to end up when everything is said and done.
There are also other little touches such as tease cameos from characters that could very easily turn into the Cowardly Lion or the Scarecrow. I didn't notice a direct setup for the Tinman, but it's very possible that I could have missed it.
And ultimately, that's why this film works so well, especially for fans of the first film. They didn't set out to reinvent the wheel and make a film that wouldn't work in the same world as The Wizard of Oz. No, instead Disney created a film that will serve as a bookend (along with The Wizard of Oz) of all of these great adventures in Oz.
It's no secret that Disney has already commissioned a script for a sequel and that the main cast is already under contract for another film. But, what might be surprising is where they go in said sequel. The obvious and natural inclination would be to remake The Wizard of Oz and bring in Dorothy to play in this world, but early reports seem to nix this.
Given that there's approximately 20 years between films, it seems that there is more than enough time and stories to be told between the two movies. I loved the fact that Oz: The Great and Powerful was so strongly tied to The Wizard of Oz, but I'm ready for them to cut those strings and venture out into the unexplored world of Oz.
It's a great and magical place and even with two films, we've only scratched the surface of the world that L. Frank Baum created over a hundred years ago. Given that technology has finally caught up to his vision, now is the time to do justice to the rest of Oz.
What can I say? I loved this film and look forward to owning it and watching it over and over again with my kids. I give it a Straight Flush.
