A Solid Seven

A solid seven is what I am giving the new movie Oz: The Great and Powerful, a Disney/Tim Burton film released to theaters yesterday. Overall it's an alright film. If your not familar with this film, a short synopsis can be found here.

  

So where is Oz go right/wrong? I'll start with the pluses

It's visually striking: It's a gorgeous film. It starts off in black and white whilst Oscar (Oz), is in Kansas, and switches to vibrant color upon arrival in Oz. This is a great parallel to the classic film, The Wizard of Oz. The depiction of Oz is exotic and beautiful, like jumping into a mixture of Avatar-like alien world and Dr. Suess book. A particular favorite of mine was the emerald scene, complete with emerald/ruby flowers.

Humor: Good for all ages: With a rating of PG its a family film for sure. There is plenty of childish humor, your kids will love (and you too!), but there's also plenty of adult humor cleverly placed so your kids don't see it that way. For a Tim Burton film it's pretty light hearted and steers clear of the usual overall "darkness" that we tend to see with his films. I'll avoid spoiler's here, but as an adult, be prepared for your mind to go into the gutter here.

Alright so now for the downside.

 Awkward-Cheesy Acting: Yes, at times, I'd say the acting was not up to par and caused for some awkward sense here. James Fracco (Oz) makes Oz seem like more of a creeper than the master con-artist Oz is supposed to be. And let's not forget that creepy smile. AH!

Oddly-Placed Scene: Alright just a forewarning, stop reading RIGHT NOW if you don't want spoilers!! Anyway that being said, there is a particular Scene(s) nearer to the beginning of the film, that while they are a necessary part of the film, evolved so fast, that it made me thing "Woah? WTF?" I'm referring to when Oscar (Oz) first arrives in Oz, he meets Theodora, they run into some trouble, get of it, blah blah blah.. and then the next thing he's professing how he "cares" for her well being and about a minute later there is this rapid evolution of her falling in love with him. It's like how did we go from "AH bad scary monsters, run!" to "We are meant to be together"?

In conclusion, this movie is a good family-night movie or a movie night at home. I'd recommend seeing it eventually, but seriously don't waste your money at the theaters, wait until it's on DVD.