Flick Chick Movie Review ‘Oz The Great And Powerful’

Well, here I am back in the saddle again. Fighting the battle for truth, justice and to keep you from spending hard earned money on movies that suck.

So my ever faithful movie companion Mom and I headed over to the Bangor Mall Cinemas to check out  Oz the Great and Powerful, a prequel of sorts to the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. James Franco plays a magician who's swept away from Kansas to the Land of Oz, where he encounters three witches and becomes the great wizard. Along the way, he meets a talking monkey, voiced by Zach Braff. The witches are played by Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz. This film was the clear winner at the box office last weekend. Run time for this movie 2:07 and is rated PG and is available in both 2 and 3D.

I start this review from 2 places in my heart..1) I am a huge Wizard of Oz fan, but 2) I am generally not a fan of James Franco.  I liked the homage to the original classic they did by started  the film in black and white. Other than that though I thought the beginning was a little weak. Once the balloon is sucked up in the twister it turns into more of a video game/promotional opportunity for Disney.  Visually over the top and rife with scenes to make theme rides with and characters created to be sold in Disney gift shops.  The movie dragged for me as well getting to the will he make it or break it moment. The end did finally pull it together and it was good. I'd give it no more than a 7.

Mom on the other hand has never been to any of Disney's theme parks and did not get the marketing vibe from this movie at all.  She found it to be beautiful and imaginative and although she too finds Franco to be less then believable in general, since the wizard is a bit of a charlatan she thought it worked for this film. She gave it a 9. And given the round of applause from little hands in the audience with us I'd say she isn't alone.

See the full list of what is playing this week at the Bangor Mall Cinemas