Oz the Great and Powerful (possible spoiler)

My girlfriend has somehow never seen the Wizard of Oz; I advised her to watch it before seeing this one. Is that necessary?

Looks gangsta. And it's got by boy James Franco in it. I got to see this.

Mrs. Midnight and I just got back from seeing it.

It was enjoyable - primarily because I had few expectations.

Clearly there will be a sequel. The witches were all good and Franco was better than I expected.

I am really taking a dislike to movies shot in 3D, even if I don't watch them in 3D (which I don't unless it is a theme park ride). I know they have to have the obligatory 3D shots to show off the capabilities.

On another technical note, the CGI/Green screen "dehumanization" of the film was much less pronounced than from other directors *cough* Lucas *cough* Bay *cough*, though it threatened at times (i.e. the original balloon entry to Oz).

I'm not a huge fan of Raimi, but I give him a solid B+ with this effort.

Here’s my take on it. I took my 6 year old to go see it and she was on the edge of her seat the entire last hour. She happily clapped her hands at the end and I’ve never seen her do that, either.

Really, that’s all I was hoping for. Kind of like Wreck it Ralph. That was nothing great, but I thought it was pretty good and entertaining for a kids movie.

As for an adult going in not expecting much more than a bunch of eye candy, I was amused. It does not have the tremendous screen play the Wizard of Oz sported, but with the technology today, the visuals are just as good and probably even better. I found myself thinking about half way in that this is a very good escape from reality movie and it almost has that dream feel to it as well.

Holes in it? Sure, everywhere, but hey, who cares the hot Russian witch could have just killed the wizard when she landed in the village near the start looking and acting like our wives do after a year or so into a marriage.

Does it have a classic ending. No, not really, but it does have a lot of action and it has a pretty good story line.

Great? No, not by any means, but I’d give it a solid 7 out of 10 and recommend it for sure. See it in 3D. Three thumbs up.

So will there be one more sequel that leads up to the remake of the wizard of oz?

Just got back from seeing it, and boy did I really not like this movie. Its just typical Hollywood bullshite when milking money out of a famous franchise.

First of all they royally fricked up the Wicked Witch of the West. Mila Kunis may be the biggest miscast since Kate Bosworth played Lois Lane. I am struggling to think of a decent actress who would be worse for the part. But what they did to her character is just baffling to me. She's merely a girl who instantly falls in love with someone and then turns into psycho stalker once he leaves her without telling. On top of that being evil isn't really her fault at all and she was merely tricked into it; that's a huge "frick you" to the history of the character. Couldn't she just be incredibly damn evil, since I don't think we're led to think anything else in The Wizard of Oz. The Wicked Witch is not supposed to be a sympathetic character, and certainly not a psycho stalker. Wasn't a fan of Franco in it either.

Also part of the fun of the Wizard of Oz were the companions on the journey, and the companions blow on this one. Plus I really see no reason to have the Wizard hook up with the witches, especially it being the climax of one of the witch's entire life. I think the movie would have also been better and truer to the spirit of the original film with some musical numbers, but the only one that starts James Franco interrupts it and acts like this film is better than going into song.

I do think the film is gorgeous and they certainly got the look of Oz right, but other than that I really didn't like this movie.

1 star out of 4



And here's a classic article from Cracked why Glinda the "Good" Witch is actually one of the best villains of all time: LINK

Movie was pretty boring. I didn't enjoy it at all.

Franco was terrible. He always looks high and his acting feels so flat. It's like he's just reciting lines. Depp would have been much better, and I agree with a previous poster that Zach Braff would've made a better Oz.

I didn't buy the witches for one second. The casting for those roles seemed off.

My wife, who LOVES to Wizard of Oz, was even underwhelmed by it. She came in wanting to love it, but afterwards was like "meh".

I watched Oz this weekend with the wife, and cannot see the appeal of this film. Visually it was good, but it seemed slow throughout and very predictable. For the OP to say it was better than the Hobbit is absurd.