If Disney makes a sequel to this film, it will almost undoubtedly have to be an adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Problem is, there already exists a version of that with a green Wicked Witch of the West and a wanded, bubbled Glinda, so making such a film would be rather pointless.
And the ruby slippers are more appealing but I think the original film should have stuck to silver anyway just for faithfulness and to avoid this whole silver/ruby debacle we're discussing right now.
Hey were the silver slippers in this film, because I saw the film last night and didn't see the slippers when I thought they were supposed to be in this film.
Anyway, as for what I thought of the film...I loved it! I thought it was great! Really something! A good movie. I wanna review it, so here I go. Some spoilers, but I won't spoil the whole movie or it's end surprises.
Okay, first of all, what wonderful, imaginative opening titles of sweeping old 1900's invention imagery. They really set the mood, too. Then, we meet James Franco's young magician, who...is not really that good of an actor.
But he'll do, you still wanna root for the guy. Zach Braff is slightly better. Michelle Williams comes in and is ok. But who cares about the acting when the story and action and visuals are all amazing! You get hooked in starting with the titles and it takes you on a fun, fun ride!
When you land in Oz, it is visually beautiful, not quite breathtaking, except maybe in some few places. But it's still all a wonder. Mila Kunis comes in and she seems pretty great actually. The trouble is, then her romance with James Franco starts and yes, he's a swindler who pretends to be romantically invested in women until he later moves onto another hot chick, but Mila Kunis's character gets too emotional over him for the very short time he spends with her and the little chemistry they have. It ends up making her later bitterness and, well, wickedness seem to come uneccessarily and unbelievably. And speaking of, apples are for Snow White, not Oz. They should have made her drink a potion or something else. And speaking of
that, I was dissapointed that this film didn't show how two witches truly, psyhcologically became wicked, but just how one wicked one magically changed the other to also wicked.
But I'll admit when they show their wickedness, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz are really great and scary! Especially Mila Kunis. I commend her for being terrifying much like the original MGM witch, which I'm sure was intended. And those flying baboon monkeys! They were an even scarier version of the winged monkeys than the usual chimps! I really feared and got worried over them and the witches hurting Glinda! Speaking of, Glinda was ok again in the acting department. But I must say, for those of you thinking her acting is the same as her character "not doing enough" that's not criticizing her acting, your problem should lie with how she was written, as a character who was meant to be peaceful and "not do anything". The story's twists and turns, and the way the wizard saves the day in the end were all brilliant and cleverly done I thought, despite the plotholes.
Those plot holes are as follows, in white to avoid spoilers:
Ok forst of all is Oz a real place or James Franco's dream, because they seem to say Oz is real but Zach Braff and Michelle Williams are in his home in Kansas and in Oz. Then, the whole "my wand/necklace/magic thing is the source of all my power" trope is overused and it's not like the witches were born with their magic objects, right? How did Evanora know Glinda would be in the Dark Forest? How did Evanora and Theodora know what James Franco was up to sometimes in the crystal ball but not other times like when Franco was having them build illusions? I guess they were too busy preparing to fight to look in the crystal ball then... And finally the poppy field in the original movie appeared only when the Wicked Witch of the West used her magic, but here the field has always been there.
Well, that was my review. The film, to me, started off with some bumps but then got better, and better, and better, into a truly great night at the movies. I saw it in 3D and it made those scary things extra scary! I would not take young kids to the film and unfortunately some parents probably did take too young children to see it. Poor kids.
