Oz the Great and Powerful- Page 2

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/10/13 at 6:48pm

In essence, it's a $325 million dollar children's movie.

(Although, how any child can sit through all that lovey-dovey boring stuff, I'll never know.)

And by "children's" I mean only them. Not for adults.

I predict it will do as well as Burton's "Alice In Wonderland."

... which is pretty dang good.

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 3/10/13 at 7:07pm

Isn't Burtons "Alice" in the billion dollar club or no?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/10/13 at 7:08pm

Alice did that well? Wow. I really hated that movie. Like, every single frame of it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/10/13 at 7:18pm

Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland:

Domestic: $334,191,110
+ Foreign: $690,108,794

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/10/13 at 7:19pm

Wowza

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 3/10/13 at 7:32pm

I hated every single from of ALICE, as well. By the way, my 5 year old granddaughter loved, OZ.

Updated On: 3/10/13 at 07:32 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/10/13 at 8:40pm

ALICE makes OZ look like THE GODFATHER.

[supportivemom]

Posted: 3/10/13 at 8:44pm

I enjoyed the film. The time flew by and it was visually appealing- although a little fakey in some spots. I did not like Mila Kunis' performance and Michelle Williams was just ok. Rachel Weisz was really great though. I thought the China Girl was cute. I do know that there was a full audience in the theatre and the tweenagers really enjoyed it. I heard some aws throughout. I suspect Disney will have a lot of costumes and toys from this movie in their stores and there will be a lot of Glindas and China Girls at Halloween this year. I thought the monkey looked like a little old Jewish man. It was a nice escape for two hours.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 3/10/13 at 10:40pm

I can't bring myself to want to invest the two hours of my life from what I have seen in the previews. All I see are actors starring at ping ball balls on green sets while watching it. During shooting the China Girl was a marionette which was much more interesting then the CGI thing they created. With it's limitations it had more life.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 3/10/13 at 10:57pm

SNAFU The animation of the China Girl is on the level of Gollum in the Hobbit, she was that stunning.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/11/13 at 12:10am

I agree that the China Girl was very well done and you could actually connect with her, more so than the human characters. Of course the animators had the advantage with her that they didn't need to replicate a living texture (skin, hair, etc) so I would have been really disappointed if she didn't look good.

I think the most telling thing, for me, about this film is that while I'm not sorry I paid money for it (like some films), I'm also not telling everyone they need to see it, and certainly don't feel any compulsion to try to convince somebody who's decided they don't want to see it that they should do so anyway.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/11/13 at 6:23am

I think the most telling thing, for me, about this film is that while I'm not sorry I paid money for it (like some films), I'm also not telling everyone they need to see it, and certainly don't feel any compulsion to try to convince somebody who's decided they don't want to see it that they should do so anyway.

I agree with this. I would also not tell anyone not to go see it just because I didn't like it, especially if they are OZ fans...they may wind up liking it and getting something out of it that I didn't.

I think it's necessary for one to experience things for oneself and make up their own minds.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/11/13 at 6:48am

I thought the China Girl was appalling. The CGI was great, but the character became an annoying, entitled, precocious brat right after she joined the group. Roald Dahl would have turned her into a blueberry or dropped her down a garbage chute.

And the "love triangle" plot line between the wicked witches and the wizard played out like an After School Special about junior high kids.

Still, I enjoyed many of the nods to MGM's Oz. Lots of carefully conceived visual details. Even Danny Elfmann's score snuck in a few strands (like a sound-alike section of the tornado music). I just wish the story and characters had been as carefully conceived.

All in all, I'm squarely in the middle. "Thumbs sideways!"

[supportivemom]

Posted: 3/11/13 at 10:09am

I sat next to two tweenage girls and they loved the China Girl. I went into the movie without any expectations and just wanted an escape for a couple of hours and I got that. I wasn't bored and I loved all the colors in the film. However, I can certainly understand the criticisms that have been posted thus far.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/11/13 at 10:30am

I loved all the colors in the film.

This sentence made me laugh out loud...not because of anything against what supportivemom wrote, but because it reminded me of a statement me and my best friend Derek would say to each other once we had finished seeing a movie that was absolutely terrible.

We would turn to each other and almost simultaneously say: "Well, it was colorful!"

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 3/11/13 at 10:57am

I can't imagine this will do anything to hamper WICKED getting made.

WICKED is a work of dramaturgical genius compared to this terrible film (though, admittedly, I laughed a great deal during it. It was all completely unintentional, but hey...take 'em where you can get 'em!)

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/12/13 at 7:25pm

Liza's thoughts on the movie are perfect:

Have you seen that there’s a prequel to Oz that’s coming right around now?
No, haven’t heard a thing.

It’s Sam Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful with James Franco and Mila Kunis.
Oh! Great! Whatever.

Would you see it? Is it something that interests you?
Oh, I don’t think I’d run, but I mean, I’m sure if I thought it was interesting. So, where do you live?

http://www.vulture.com/2013/03/liza-minelli-arrested-development-cabaret-interview.html

[AudienceMember85]

Posted: 3/12/13 at 7:35pm

When I saw the trailer I was really excited to see this movie. But having read what people are saying about it, it doesn't sound all that. A waste of money or not? That is the question

[TheLadyoftheWood]

Posted: 3/13/13 at 3:54pm

Saw this over the weekend. After seeing the trailer practically before every movie over the past month I thought this would be a pretty good view. I also went because of my love/lust for James Franco. After seeing the film I can not say that I love it, although I didn't hate it either.

Things I liked and didn't like:

***Spoilers ahead***


The China Doll looked stunning.
The fact that some of the characters in Oz' life were actual characters in the film such as Zach Braff being the monkey and Michelle being both Aunt Em and Glinda made it better.

The plot seemed to be very predictable from the beginning. I am wondering if it is was because this was a Disney film they wanted to make it suitable and understandable to all audiences?
I didn't understand why the Wicked Witch of the East Evanora turned into an old hag instead of dying, as she stated Glinda would if her wand was broken. Another thing that annoyed me from the beginning of the film was that they image they were portraying of women was very sexist. All of the women in this film were characters who were naive, gullible and made very silly choices. I also disliked Glinda's costumes, but that isn't her fault.

***Spoliers end***

Did anyone else feel as though the trailers were painting this film to be a very action-packed adult style movie?

I also strongly dislike the song which Mariah Carey sings at the end of the film.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/13/13 at 6:45pm

MORE SPOILERS:




I agree with a few observations you have, but just to clarify a couple of things:

Michelle wasn't playing Aunt Em in the Kansas scene at the beginning. Her name was "Annie" and she told him she was going to marry John Gale. I'm guessing she's Dorothy's mother. But she's not Emily (or Em), marrying a man named Henry.

The Witch of the East (Evanora) can't die until a certain girl from Kansas drops a house on her. She is also lacking the famous footwear so far.

[DAME]

Posted: 3/13/13 at 7:03pm

Besty; It's a shame it wasn't better.. I pretty much agree with everything you said .. but I was still midly entertained and glad I saw it. The china girl was so annoying .

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/13/13 at 7:25pm

I was still mildly entertained and glad I saw it, too, Dame! I agree with what you said.

[BroomstickBoy]

Posted: 3/13/13 at 9:22pm

I think it would've been better if Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis had switched roles. Maybe it's my WICKED mindset with the Witch of the East being the younger, weaker-looking sister, but I just don't understand how Mila Kunis was cast with THAT voice playing such an iconic character. I would rather see Rachel Weisz play the green one.

Although it would explain why in her later form she's so screamy.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/13/13 at 9:58pm

Rachel Weisz was the only one who came close to acting in the film.

Although I was shocked by her Botox cheeks. I admit I haven't seen her on screen in a while, but she looked like a Beverly Hills witch with all that numbness going on under her eyes. Such a shame when ladies do that.

As for Kunis, I have found her to be really good before ... not in this movie, however. Not only was she miscast, but her choices were really bad (or non-existent). And why would you cast a moon-faced, doe-eyed, apple-cheeked pretty girl and then add a pointed chin and nose to her? She looked like a green Pokemon character after her (non-dramatic) transformation into the Wicked Witch of the West. And I'm not a fan of the "biker chick meets Victoria's Secret" costume she wore either. These weren't accidents. This is the "witch" they wanted.

To me she was a hot, ineffective mess.

[TheLadyoftheWood]

Posted: 3/15/13 at 11:32am

Like this?