What is it with these half full/half empty movies lately? Last week, “Jack The Giant Slayer,” a movie with wondrous visual effects, had a slow first hour before getting on to a finish with great flourish. This week, “Oz the Great and Powerful” does just the opposite; It comes out of the chute with charm and glorious photography, only to be weighed down in the second half with noisy squabbling among witches, and a shrinking James Franco whose personality only comes alive when his face is projected against a giant backdrop of smoke.
This prequel, of sorts (or “Origin Story” as we now seem to be calling them) tells us how that rapscallion of a man behind the curtain first arrived in the Emerald City. The film begins with a sepia tone, square frame ( I believe it’s called an “Academy Ratio”) that drops us in on a carnival, where Oz is a side show magician, and quite the lady’s man, too. He’s a likable con man who, like all cons, is always barely a step ahead of someone who has gotten wise to his ways.
Trying to escape the wrath of an angry side show strong man, Oz takes to his hot air balloon and goes up, up, and away into the threatening skies. A familiar looking twister carries him higher and higher (perhaps past the land of Jack’s Giants?) until he drops into a beautiful, exotic locale. And now, director Sam Raimi expands the frame and turns on the color—it’s magnificent to look at! The visual splendor, surely all digitally done, excites the senses.
James Franco is a rather milquetoast figure, but he gets some assistance from a digital winged-monkey (voiced by Zach Braff) and a creepy China doll who would fit right in as a scary character in a horror film.
Three witches, the good, the bad and the ugly (or was it East, West and North?) are played by Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz with great costuming, but little depth. Things get repetitious and circular and, finally, we just don’t care much who wins the battle, or how. And at more than two hours, all the great looking 3-D shots in the world aren’t enough to keep us from fidgeting.
As brilliant as the onscreen images are, the truth remains that it all comes down to the writing. Two actors sitting at a table can carry a feature length film, if the story is interesting. Conversely, all the Technicolor splash in the world’s palette isn’t enough if the story doesn’t transport you. You might as well be in Kansas.