My Movie Reviews: Oz the Great and Powerful

Oscar "Oz" Diggs (James Franco) and Theodora (Mila Kunis) in Oz the Great and Powerful

Oz the Great and Powerful is a fantasy adventure film directed by Sam Raimi, produced by Joe Roth, and written by David Lindsay-Abaire and Mitchell Kapner.

The film is based on the Oz Series by american author L. Frank Baum and stands as an indirect prequel to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. It was released on March 8th, 2013.

THE CAST

James Franco as "Oz" Oscar Diggs

Mila Kunis as Theodora / The Wicked Witch of the West

Rachel Weisz as Evanora / The Wicked Witch of the East

Michelle Williams as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South / Annie from Kansas

Zach Braff as Finley / Frank from Kansas

Joey King as China Girl / Wheel-chair bound girl from Kansas

Tony Cox as Knuck

Bill Cobbs as Master Tinker

Abigail Spencer as May from Kansas

Bruce Campbell as A Winkie Guard

SYNOPSIS

Oscar Diggs is a womanizing con artist and magician who travels with a Midwest circus, but he is soon swept away by a tornado that takes him to the Land of Oz. Once there, Oscar is assumed to be the Great Wizard the people have been waiting for, who is to save them from the ways of the Wicked Witch. Oscar knows he isn't the true Wizard, but with the help of Glinda the Good Witch, Finley, China Girl, and the people of Oz, Oscar finds the great man inside of himself in this prequel to the timeless L. Frank Baum series.

TRAILER

MY THOUGHTS

Yes, I know I late, thanks for reminding me (;-D JK). Anyway... wow, that's really all I can say for this one. I have always been a fan of The Wizard of Oz, and if I had to pick a movie I'd like to see before I die, The Wizard of Oz would definitely take the hat. I have been knowing that Disney had planned on doing this film since about 2011, and I was probably one of the first to be extremely excited when the first promotional poster surface online in 2012, see here. Besides that, I have always wanted to do my own adaption to the story myself, so if any other existed, I had to see.

I went on premiere night with a friend who was really a fan of the 1939 MGM film, but she too was very excited about the film (mostly because of James Franco, but anyway). I was slightly nervous that I wouldn't like, since I had seen reviews on the film that weren't very favorable. But I went into it excited and enthusiastic anyway. And I must say, I was impressed. The way they connected and linked things together was almost similar to the way that Gregory Maguire did in his Wicked series. SPOILERS: My favorite scene would have to be when Theodora bit the green apple that killed her heart ache and turned her into the Wicked Witch of the West. It was so powerful, and kind of creepy at the same time. SPOILERS END. Despite that, I wished the film would have explored other traditional aspects of the series, but I guess that's why there may be a sequel? 

The film was a great way to explore the Land of Oz prior to Dorothy's Arrival, and it kept me going all the way through. And the score... hats off to Danny Elfman again for his amazing talent in capturing a scene through music. Oz the Great and Powerful is a GREAT family film and is a nice addition to those die-hards who are Wizard of Oz fanatics (by the way, pun was intended).

That being said, Oz the Great and Powerful gets: ★★★★★ 5 out of 5 Stars

"I don't wanna be a good man, I wanna be a great one!"

The New Fairy Tales - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Copyright © 2010 of James Pettis, III

(I referenced the Son of a Witch cover for Liir and Elphaba. No Copyright Infringement Intended)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the sixth story in The New Fairy Tales Series. It is based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum in 1900 and loosely based on Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire in 1995 and 2005. I loved The Wizard of Oz (1939) when I was younger and have always wanted to do my own version of the Wizard of Oz. I was originally going to do David Poral and the Wizard of Oz which had a very solid plot, but I decided to put it with the fairy tale series. I have enjoyed working own my version of it and I hope that others will think it's interesting.

Dorothy Gale is a Nineteen year old Kansas City girl who lives with her Aunt Emma and Uncle Henry on their farm. Dorothy has an American Eskimo dog named Toto that quite often accidentally ruins a local gardener's garden, Ms. Gulch. One day, Ms. Gulch tries to beat Toto with a broom but he bits her. She then takes it to the county and they give her the authority to take Toto to City Hall to be put to sleep. But Toto escapes Ms. Gulch's Car and Dorothy runs away with him. But when Dorothy finds out about a storm coming, she thinks her Aunt Emma will worry about her and get herself hurt looking for her in the storm. Dorothy returns to the farm only to be whisked away by a cyclone the rips the farm right out of the ground. Dorothy then finds herself in the Land of Oz and surrounded by little people. She then meets Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba the Wicked Witch (who's sister Dorothy unintentionally kills). Elphaba's sister's sapphire slippers are then given to Dorothy to help her along her journey to meet the Wizard of Oz; whom will grant her wish and send her back home to Kansas. On her journey, she meets a man with no name (whom she calls Exavior, due to a tag attached to clothes), Cleo (a humanoid robot), a cowardly lion named Theodore, and a handsome young man named Liir (Elphaba's son, who has a hidden agenda). They're all off to see the Wizard in this modern retelling of the 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum.

The Wizard of Oz has always been one of my favorite fairy tales. I have enjoyed coming up with ideas for it and love to work on it. I have taken characters from novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, like Elphaba (the Wicked Witch), Liir (Elphaba's son, a Warlock), Nessarose (the Witch of the East), and Fiyero (Elphaba's old love interest). My version of the Wizard of Oz has several different twists that I think people will really like. I also wanted to change the color of the slippers. I loved the original silver slippers, and the ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz (1939); but I changed them to sapphire slippers instead. Stay tuned for more info and short stories from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

The New Fairy Tales

Copyright © 2010 of James Pettis, III

One of my most recent series is The New Fairy Tales. This series will consist of ten of my most favorite fairy tales. The Fairy Tales are as follows: Lil' Red Ridin' Hoodie, Cinderella, Snow, Beauty & Beast, Sleeping Beauty, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Rumpelstiltskin, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, Peter Pan, and Rose Red (The New Fairy Tales will be getting it's own page soon). Now half of the fairy tales have been modernized (Lil' Red Ridin' Hoodie, Snow, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, and Rose Red); while the other half are going to be closer to their original storyline (Cinderella, Beauty & Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, and Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp). I am very excited about the fairy tales because reading the stories brings back so many childhood memories (though, these fairy tales I'm doing are most likely not for children). Anyway, stay posted so you don't miss short stories and other info about The New Fairy Tales (all fairy tales will be posted in their own archives soon).

Note: This Series Has Since Been Revised. To See The Revision Go Here:

The New Fairy Tales (2011)