"Oz the
Great and Powerful" isn't merely a trip back over the rainbow for the
majority of us. It is, in a very real way, a trip back to our collective
Munchkinhood. That's just what happens when Hollywood tries to revisit the
singlemost iconic film in American cinema history -- and one that is deeply,
irrevocably engrained in the childhoods of multiple generations.
That is to
say, director Sam Raimi and Disney took on a great
and powerful responsibility when they pointed James Franco, Michelle
Williams and company down the yellow-brick road for their
"Oz" odyssey. We don't justremember Oz, after all. We know this
place -- from Munchkinland to the Emerald City to that nondescript crossroads
where Dorothy meets the Scarecrow -- at least as well as we know the shortest
route to the gorilla pen at the Audubon Zoo, the flavor list at Plum Street
Snoball, and the exact dimensions of the vacant lot across from Mr. Ray's house
where the gang used to gather to play football.
That's
exceedingly tricky territory for a filmmaker to navigate -- an occupational
poppy field if ever there was one. After all, Raimi can't possibly hope to
replace "The Wizard of Oz," or to do anything close to bettering it
in the minds of moviegoers. The absolute best he can hope for with "Oz the
Great and Powerful" is to try to recapture the spirit of director Victor
Fleming's beloved 1939 original -- and avoid having his name reduced to flying-monkey
status in the process.
And while
the instinct of many movie-goers will be to re-enter "Oz" with no
small amount of skepticism, Raimi mostly succeeds in that regard. His highly
polished "Oz the Great and Powerful" is a lovely family fantasy, one
that pays fitting homage to the spirit of the original, with its well-formed
sense of magic, wonder and fun -- and all without betraying the childhood
memories of the American moviegoing public.
Wisely,
Raimi and company don't attempt to undertake a direct remake of 1939's "The
Wizard of Oz." Rather, "Oz the Great and Powerful" is intended
to function as a prequel to that classic film, telling the story of how the
wizard (played by Franco) came to rule Oz in the first place. Think of it as
the story of the man who would be the man behind the curtain.
The way
they've built it, however, it functions as an enjoyable and smartly designed
companion piece to the original. (A feat made even more impressive when
considering the sticky legal issues involved. Baum's books are in the public
domain, but the rights to the character designs from the 1939 movie are still
held by MGM, which required a delicate legal dance from an art-direction
standpoint, right down to the exact hue of the Wicked Witch of the West.)
Like
Fleming's film, "Oz the Great and Powerful starts out with a
black-and-white prologue set in Kansas and boasting a deliberate
shot-on-a-soundstage feel. Also there: The first of numerous sly little
references -- visual and spoken -- to the original. (In a technical flourish
that film geeks will appreciate, the prologue is presented in something
approximating the old, nearly square 1.37:1 aspect ratio that was the standard
pre-1950s.)
At the
center of it all is another familiar flourish: the wagon of a certain traveling
magician. That would be Franco's future wizard -- at this point a charlatan and
philanderer named Oscar Diggs -- who spends the early part of the film wishing
out loud for a chance at greatness, all the while running into people he will re-encounter
in one form or another when he goes over the rainbow.
Cue the
tornado, cue the shift to wide-screen format, cue the Technicolor images. Cue
the enlisting of Oscar by the denizens of Oz -- who mistake him for a real
wizard -- to fulfill a prophecy and restore order to their land.
Cue also
some downright dazzling 3-D visuals, as Raimi and company use every tool in
their digital toolbox (and a reported, but unconfirmed-by-Disney $200 million
budget) to wow today's much more sophisticated audiences. They don't waste any
time doing it, either, as this "Oz" starts with some of the most
beautiful opening credits you're likely to have seen in some time -- and which
alone are almost worth the price of the 3-D box-office upcharge.
Granted,
those effects work better at times than others. A highlight: the adorable
little China Girl who joins Franco's journey and who is herself a fragile work
of art, from her crackled-porcelain visage to the way she clinks ever so gently
when she walks. Not as impressive: the effects used to transform one of the
three magical sisters he encounters -- played by Williams, Rachel Weisz and Mila
Kunis -- into the familiar green-faced Wicked Witch of the West.
Despite
that, though -- and despite the story's occasional lapsing in talkiness, as
well as a generally confused scene regarding Weisz, Kunis and a Granny Smith
apple -- there's more to appreciate than to disregard here. (No, there are no
musical numbers, outside of an oddly out-of-place Mariah Carey number that
plays over the closing credits. But a monkey voiced by Zach Braff -- friendly,
and a motormouth -- is bound to be an audience favourite, for example.)
Is all of
that to say that "Oz the Great and Powerful" comes even close to
matching the timeless, iconic stature of 1939's "The Wizard of Oz"?
No, of course not. That's not just a once-in-a-lifetime cultural phenomenon,
but a once-in-many-liftimes one.
It does,
however, make for a pleasant journey, one that gives yet one more generation of
Munchkins even more fodder for yellow-brick dreams -- not to mention a few
flying-monkey nightmares.
