Oz the Great and Powerful

I think I have never seen a movie with such (over)saturated and vibrant colors. Well, that is apart from the first few minutes which are in black and white as some tribute to the “original” Wizard of Oz movie. Surprisingly enough it works quite well. The sceneries and landscapes are beautiful to watch in just the right fairy-tale style that you would expect from the land of Oz.

The story is pretty much a prequel to the original Wizard of Oz story. Something which does not really intrude too much for most part of the movie but becomes painfully obvious in the last couple of scenes. As for the general story it is pretty much okay. It pleased the kids for sure and I would say that is the main goal of this movie. For adults well, as I said it is okay but not really much more.

The lead character can be infuriating at times with his “dubious ethics” as the blurb words it. Unfortunately he never really manages to convey that likable rascal attitude that one would have hoped for. He somehow just stays a rather bland character with “dubious ethics”. I think this goes for most of the other main characters as well. Except for the dubious ethics of course which for the other characters are either plain good or totally and without a doubt bad ones.

On the whole I would say that the movie was okay but never really reached any higher than that. For a kid it was probably somewhat better than okay. I did enjoy the movie although this was mostly for the unusual and vibrant colorization and the lovely scenery.