Oz The Great and Powerful
Starring: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Bill Cobbs and Joey King
Director: Sam Raimi
Genre: Fantasy, adventure
Running time: 127 minutes
Soon showing at Cineplex Cinema
From the creators of Alice in Wonderland and Spiderman comes OZ the Great and Powerful, which is Cineplex Cinema’s Easter gift. It features several cinematic allusions to The Wizard of Oz and you will see this in the film’s opening sequence, which is presented in black and white and transitions into colour when the protagonist arrives in Oz.
We are in the American city of Kansas when fraud artiste Oscar Diggs is seen working as a small-time magician in a travelling circus. There are signals of a storm approaching and as everyone rushes to get to a safe corner from the rainstorm, Oscar is seen to be caring for the circus strongman who has every reason to believe he has been flirting with his wife. The strongman cannot stomach this and immediately attacks Oscar who is clever enough to escape in a hot air balloon only to get sucked in a tornado that brings him to the Land of Oz.
He is found by the witch Theodora who believes he is a wizard prophesied to overthrow the Wicked Witch who killed the King of Oz. En route to the Emerald City, Theodora falls in love with Oscar, who rebuffs such commitment to her.
They also encounter the flying monkey, called Finley who pledges a life debt to Oscar when the latter saves him from a lion. The strong man is hatching another plan to revenge Oscar’s bad act. You will have so much fun watching this.
Sam Raimi, this fantasy’s director is good with fantasy works and has directed the cult horror comedy Evil Dead series, the superhero film Darkman, and the SpiderMan trilogy.
