Movie Review: Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

The movie starts in black and white and we meet Oz (James Franco), a magician with a flair for seducing women. He dreams of acquiring fame and money and is willing to sacrifice the love of his life Annie (Michelle Williams) to realize his ambitions.

But fate has different plans for Oz and he is forced to flee in a hot air balloon. He is magically transported to the Land of Oz.

Oz meets lovely Theodora (Mila Kunis) and is upto his old tricks again. She falls for him and believes him to be the wizard, who according to a prophecy, will save the Land of Oz from the Bad Witch.

James Franco and Mila Kunis in Oz the Great and Powerful

Theodora's sister, Evanora (Rachel Weisz) is less welcoming and informs Oz that he needs to kill the aforementioned witch before he can start enjoying a life of riches. Oz also picks up a talking monkey, Finley (Zach Braff) and China Girl (Joey King).

We then meet the Good Witch, Glinda (Michelle Williams). Glinda is able to see through the character of Oz for the selfish coward that he actually is. Still, she introduces Oz as the savior to the people and privately asks Oz to keep up the show.

Evanora is revealed to be the Bad Witch and she manipulates Theodora into attacking Oz and Glinda. Theodora is transformed into an ugly witch, thanks to Evanora.

Rachel Weisz as Evanora

The rest of the movie deals with how Oz lives up his prophecy and saves Glinda and her people from the combined onslaught of Evanora and Theodora.

I have enjoyed all of Sam Raimi's movies (Evil Dead trilogy, Spiderman trilogy and Drag me to Hell) I have seen so far. This movie proved to be the exception.

This is a typical summer blockbuster movie. While there is nothing wrong with that, it deprives the movie of the humor and wit that Sam Raimi is known for.

All his trademarks are there: the fast camera movements (in a couple of scenes), cameos by Bruce Campbell and Ted Raimi and the Evil Dead hand scene reference. But they seem more like obligatory nods to his fans.

The movie boasts of some excellent CGI work, as can be expected from a big budget movie from a top notch director and the biggest movie studio. What the movie lacks is originality. There are some clever touches here and there, but I was reminded of Avatar, Lord of the Rings and Alice in Wonderland more than once.

I also felt that the actors were kind of lost in the green screens they had to work with. The digital imagery takes precedence. This need not be the case. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is an example of fantasy movie making where both the imaginary landscapes and the actors complement each other to present the ultimate immersive experience for the viewer. Peter Jackson's movies transported us to Middle Earth during the movies' running time. Unfortunately, this is not the case with this movie.

I have never been a big fan of James Franco's acting and this movie does not help his case. Just as it was in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, he continues to be upstaged by the computer generated cast members. Andy Serkis stole the show as Ceasar, the chimp in that movie. Here, it is Zach Braff as Finley and Joey King as China Girl who make the best impression.

Joey King as China Girl and Zach Braff as Finley 

These 2 characters breathe more life into the movie than the rest of the cast combined and the visual effects team deserves full credit. Both Zach and Joey do some excellent voice work and are more appealing in their computerized representations than as flesh and blood characters.

Zach has some of the funniest lines in the movie and he delivers them to great comedic effect. His exchange with Oz about stereotypes was probably the best. Speaking of stereotypes, the movie also pokes fun at the general perception of witches being ugly and riding on broomsticks.

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Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams are here to collect their pay checks. Tony Cox and Bruce Campbell fare much better in their much briefer roles.

I have enjoyed a lot of Disney movies in the past: The Lion King, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo and the Pirates of the Caribbean series. I believe there are 2 types of Disney movies: one for mass consumption and the second one, I prefer to call Disney movies for kids. This one unfortunately falls in the second category.

Yes, this is a Disney movie for kids

This is a predictable Disney family movie that delivers exactly what a Disney family movie always does.

Fans of Sam Raimi would probably do better by rewatching his earlier movies. Fans of fantasy genre have the Lord of the Rings trilogy and/or the Harry Potter series.

I would recommend this movie strictly to die hard fans of Disney movies.

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Image Source: Walt Disney Pictures

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Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

The movie is a reboot of the popular series Planet of the Apes. Directed by Rupert Wyatt, the movie attempts to explain the circumstances leading to the takeover of our planet by our simian relatives.

Will Rodman (James Franco) has working on developing a cure of Alzheimer's disease, that afflicts his father, Charles Rodman (John Lithgow). He tests his cure on chimpanzees, one of whom turns out to be pregnant (without the knowledge of the scientists and this is one of the logical loopholes in the movie). Will ends up adopting the new born baby chimp, who is named “Ceasar” by Charles.

Ceaser is quite the naughty one and soon receives a cut on his leg after a brief encounter with the neighbours. This leads to Will taking Ceasar to  a primatologist, Caroline Aranha (Freida Pinto) and this leads to the mandatory romance part of the movie.

James Franco and Freida Pinto in 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'

Ceasar soon starts showing signs of extraordinary intelligence, thanks to being exposed to the drug while he was still in his mother's womb.

Things take a turn for the worse, when Ceaser intervenes in a verbal altercation between Charles and his neighbor, Hunsiker (David Hewlett) and ends up biting off one of Hunsiker's fingers.

Ceasar is sent to a Primate Shelter run by John Landon (Brian Cox) and his sadistic son Dodge (Tom Felton). Ceasar studies his fellow inmates and soon assumes leadership by dethroning the alpha male.

Soon, it is a showdown between humans and the liberated chimps, led by Ceaser, atop the Golden Gate Bridge. Ceaser and his cohorts win the battle.

Meanwhile, Hunsiker gets infected with a newer version of the drug developed by Will and the infection quickly spreads all over the world. The stage is set for a sequel!

Andy Serkis gives an amazing performance as Ceasar

Andy Serkis gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Ceasar. His work marks a continuation of his winning streak since playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the titular character in King Kong. He is ably supported by the WETA team that does a flawless job bringing Ceaser to life.

Coming to the human cast, Franco and Lithgow are competent in their roles. Lithgow, in particular, is appealing.

Freida looks ravishing and brings grace and dignity to her role.

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I did have a hard time understanding how the initial troop of the apes that numbered around 50-60, suddenly swelled to around 200 in the climactic fight. This was something that I could not accept, even though it is understandable that the initial numbers were not enough to support an uprising. Still I wish the script/director had accounted for this.

Highly recommended to fans of Planet of the Apes series and/or people who love the Great Apes.

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Image Sources: G4TV, USA Today

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