oz

i finally saw oz the great and the powerful! haha! i wanted to see this in one of those biz trip flights but for some reasons, i always ended up either watching another film or falling asleep.

building up on themes from the 1939 film, oz the great and powerful was about oz,  “a small-time magician is swept away to an enchanted land and is forced into a power struggle between three witches.” oz (james franco) encounters theodora (mila kunis), the good witch of the emerald city who turns into the green-skinned wicked witch after evanora tricks her into biting a magical apple. evanora (rachel weisz)  is the true wicked witch, who poisoned the king, glinda’s father. glinda (michelle williams) is the good witch of the south and together with oz, led the good citizens of oz to defeat and banish evanora and theodora from oz.

most people said that this movie fell short of the expectations. some said that james franco and mila kunis were flat and the story and dialog were lame. and i agree with them. but this one is totally better than alice in wonderland that featured johnny depp, anne hathaway and helena bonham carter. first, oz’s visual effects had the wow factor. it gave the viewers a vivid, dazzling and colourful world of witches, flying baboons, quadlings, munchkins and tinkers. then its references to the 1939 film gave it interesting characters such as finley (voiced by zach braff), the flying monkey and china girl, a living china doll. mariah carey's almost home was also played at the credits of the film. and of course, they had the “delicious” villain in rachel weisz as the evil evanora and michelle williams provided the very capable contrast to evanora and theodora’s wickedness with her ethereal presence and quiet, virtuous bearing. the fight scene between these two is one of the highlight of the film.

it wasn’t a great movie but i was entertained. it didn’t ask to be taken seriously and it’s a fun way to spend a monday evening.

   

glinda: [as the bubbles are flying towards the shield] the shield allows a good-hearted person to pass.

oz: [panicking] i'm gonna die!