Home > Categories > Movies > Fantasy > Oz The Great and Powerful review
A stage magician is hurled into a fantasy world, and must use his wits to stay ahead of three enchantresses who have plans for him.
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Almost everyone that I know has seen The Wizard of Oz, so when I heard that they were making a prequel I was very excited to see what it would turn out like. I didn't manage to see it at the theatres so hired it out on dvd when it was released.
My first love about this film was that it stuck with the vibe of the original film in that it starts off with everything filmed in black and white and it doesn't switch to colour until you reach Oz. This, for me, created a great feeling of nostalgia for me as a fan of the Wizard of Oz. Oz is a beautiful place, the imagery is stunning and itâ ™s a place that I wish I could visit, if only it were possible.
Oz is a man who has an act in a travelling circus as a magician who only thinks of himself and money. He is shown as a bit of a ladies man who makes up a story of a musical box belonging to his grandmother and then gifts it to a woman to gain her favour, with this being shown as something that he does often. Then a storm hits town and whilst fleeing an angry man he ends up in a hot air balloon and lands in Oz where he is told that he is there to fulfil a prophecy and ultimately save Oz.
The characters are great and I really enjoyed all of them. They all offered up what I expected but in a good way. They were all what I thought that those characters would be and thus it added to the overall effect of the movie, creating something fun and enjoyable. My overall thought, I simply cannot not own this, and so will be adding it to my collection at some point or another.
The author who wrote the Wizard of Oz, actually wrote a whole host of books about Oz and the people there. There is such a wealth of titles, that I have always wished that more of them would become big screen stories. A few people have been saying that Oz The Great and Powerful is not a great re-make of the Wizard of Oz. But its not a remake at all. This is the story of how the Wizard comes to land in Oz. One that hopefully results in a couple of follow up movies to help tie in the original Wizard of Oz movie and Return to Oz as well.
We saw this in 2D, after a recent issue with 3D and my daughter's eyes. I really liked the movie. It was epic, and full of adventure. There were a few adult sort of themes, and some scary scenes too. So it's not for the faint hearted. But it has all the fantasy and fun of Oz too. Just like the Wizard of Oz, the real world is filmed in black and white, while Oz is in brilliant full colour. Unfortunately, the black and white scenes did not hold my daughter's interest. Luckily though, the colour came soon enough to stop her acting up.
The world of Oz is beautiful and lush. The characters and creatures were thrilling, scary, loveable, and very funny. My daughter laughed heartily at places and hide behind her popcorn for some. The theatrics were in keeping with what I know of the Wizard in other tales. All in all, a good solid movie, just screaming for a sequel. But if you go looking for a remake of the Wizard of Oz, you will be disappointed.
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