Movie: Oz the Great and Powerful

Oz the Great and Powerful: a children’s movie.  Beautiful colors and an interesting story line will not be enough for most adults in this tale as to how Oscar Digs, aka Oz, got to the land of Oz.  If I had to use one word to describe the film, bland would be my choice.  But as I started to fidget in my seat, I noticed the young kids in the theatre were really enjoying themselves.  This may be the most Disney of Disney films in years.  There are scenes in the movie that reminded me of the old Disney TV show: the fireworks display is a good example.  Anyone with a pre-teen child should take the child to the film.  You won’t dislike the movie and if you are with your child, you may not find the 129 minutes quite as long as I did.  For adults, it wouldn’t have taken much to move the film into the positive category.  How about Johnny Depp as Oz?  James Franco was a dud as Oz.  How about making the witches act like witches?  The children presumably liked it because these are the most un-evil witches you may have ever seen and the good witch had no real personality.  We could also have done away with the scene where the background song lyrics say freedom and we suddenly see a black couple.  I’m pleased Oz is integrated but…  I know a lot of money was spent putting this film together and you can sense it as you watch it.  The film is directed by Sam Raimi.  When you see competent actors give blah performances, you wonder about the director.  In this instance, however, I think it was faulty casting, at least as to Franco.  Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams play the three witches with Michelle also doing the opening character, Annie.  Williams is not the only actor with a dual role.  The movie opens in Kansas (where else) in the year 1905.  This opening sequence is in black and white.  Oz has a male assistant named Frank, played by Zack Braff, who is also the voice for Finley the Monkey.  Besides a monkey with wings, there is a talking porcelain China doll instead of a lion and a man of straw. The acting  problems, except for Franco who was simply miscast, was probably more the script than the director.  It could be copyright issues (Warner Brothers owns The Wizard of Oz) or the lack of female input (credits overwhelming male).  I saw the movie in 3-D.  I think if I’d seen it on a regular screen, it really would have been a long 2 hours.  The photography was brilliant and the highlight for me in a movie that clearly is not directed towards adults.