OZ: Not A Bomb But No Magical Masterpiece Either

Opening today at nearly every multiplex in the Triangle area:

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL 

(Dir. Sam Raimi, 2013)

At one point in this movie, Sam Raimi’s lavish prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” when James Franco as the title character is making his way through the Land of Oz, I half expected him to run into a gang of Hobbits. These lush green 3D fantasy worlds can really look alike, you see.

Raimi is counting on familiarity here, with plot points matching the beats of the 1939 original (even has an extended black and white opening), but as keen on the details as he and his crew are, OZ feels like just another souped-up fairy tale update, interchangeable with the kind of projects Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have been doing for the last decade or so. 

It's a notch above, say, Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND, but not enough of a notch that makes it anything special. If it really was something special, it wouldn't be releasing at this time of year.

Franco certainly puts in an energetic performance as carnival magician con-artist Oscar Diggs, especially when he finds himself in a hot air balloon caught in a tornado. That's when he calls upon some 127 HOURS-ish method skills. Unfortunately the film's comic thread of Franco reacting to fantasical events with a modern day wiseacre delivery goes down as badly as it did in YOUR HIGHNESS.

On his journey on the Yellow Brick Road through the Dark Forest to Emerald City, Franco meets a cast of characters including some counter-parts to folks he knew back in black and white Kansas including Zack Braff as Finley the Flying Monkey (a CGI-ed monkey sidekick in a bellhop uniform, mind you), Michelle Williams as Glenda, Mina Kunis as Theodora (looking, at first, positively like a porcelain creation), China Girl (an actual porcelain creation via CGI voiced by Joey King) and Rachel Weisz as Evanora. 

The trio of beauties, Williams, Kunis and Weisz all become witches (one good, two bad), with Kunis getting transformed the most into the iconic green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West who screeches at the top of her lungs, and yes, gives us an ample sampling of that famous cackle. Kunis does her best, but still seems miscast, and the story-line of how she feels wronged by Franco isn't satisfyingly fleshed out.



The premise of a selfish scoundrel finding redemption by becoming what others believe in, in this case, the Munchkins, the tinkers, and the farmers of Oz thinking that Franco is their wizard savior from the reign of the Wicked Witches and using his trickery he becomes just that, is a well worn one that packs very little power in this all too conventional family friendly fairy tale.



There's a sometimes jarring disconnect between Franco and the artificial landscape surrounding him. I haven't been as aware of the heavy use of green screen since the STAR WARS prequels. In one bit, another allusion to the original WIZARD OF OZ, which has Franco and Williams travelling in bubbles in the sky, it was hard not to visualize the actors stumbling around on a sound stage - the desired effect of experiencing a different world sure wasn't happening there. Raimi's SPIDER-MAN movies are much more visually convincing.



OZ isn't directly based on any of L. Frank Baum's original Oz novels - it's supposed to be set a few decades before the first one ("The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" from 1900) - so it's a prequel to both the books and the 1939 movie, but despite the efforts of the capable cast, the savvy director, over 20 writers (that's right), and hundreds of computer animators it comes off more like glorified fan fiction than canon.



Still, it's not a total bomb; it's passable entertainment if you don't go in expecting a magical masterpiece (and if you're a Raimi fan you'll enjoy the Bruce Campbell cameo). It also may inspire some kids to seek out Baum's books and watch the 1939 classic so there's that. 



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Tim Burton Gets Back To Basics In FRANKENWEENIE

FRANKENWEENIE (Dir. Tim Burton, 2012)

Tim Burton’s new full-length animated remake of one of his earliest works, the 1984 live-action short of the same name, is one of his best films in ages. I know, as many cynical cinéastes will undoubtedly think, that’s not saying much, what with all the wretched Johnny Depp re-imaginings that have been cluttering Burton’s career in the last decade, but still FRANKENWEENIE is a demented delight.



In the same black and white stop-motion style and character aesthetics as Burton’s THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and THE CORPSE BRIDE, we get the tale of a New Holland boy named Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan), whose beloved bull terrier gets hit by a car. Inspired by his intense science teacher (voiced by Martin Landau), Victor rigs his attic so that he can harness the power of lightning to bring his dog, the aptly named Sparky, back to life.



It works, except that Sparky’s stitched together body parts occasionally fall off and he leaks when he drinks water. Victor hides his walking dead dog from his parents (wonderfully voiced by Martin Short and Catherine O’Hara) and the rest of the town, but the secret gets out, and the other kids in the neighborhood start conducting their own life-regenerating experiments.



This results in a finale filled with lovingly placed and witty nods to classics like GODZILLA (a monstrous fire-breathing turtle terrorizes the town walking upright on its back legs), and GREMLINS (wild oversized sea-monkeys), all with the backdrop of the sterile suburbia of Burton’s own EDWARD SCISSORHANDS.



That’s not the only self reference to Burton’s past - Winona Ryder voices the girl next door (whose name happens to be Elsa Van Helsing), the before-mentioned Landau does what he did for Bela Lugosi in ED WOOD in his handling of the very Vincent Price-ish Mr. Rzykruski, the science teacher, and O’Hara, in her first Burton movie since 1988’s BEETLEJUICE, voices three characters, including the ginormous eyed ‘Weird Girl.’



Although I like that the funny and frightening (in a family-friendly way) FRANKENWEENIE is the first black and white (and first stop-motion film) to be released in IMAX 3D, as usual the 3D did nothing for me. But the new fangled presentation doesn’t diminish the charge I got from seeing Burton getting back to basics, and finding his old fire in the process.



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The Wrong Alice Indeed

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Dir. Tim Burton, 2010)





I had forgotten that in my review of SWEENEY TODD (January 13th, 2008) I had joked that I was only going to see Burton/Depp productions at Movies At Timberlyne in Chapel Hill. Since I now live in Raleigh, I'm so glad that wasn't a strict vow because this really wouldn't have been worth the 40 minute drive. 




This is exactly what I thought it was going to be - another CGI fueled fantasy fest with Depp dancing around like a maniac as dark yet ostensibly beautiful imagery bombards the viewer.




We all know the basic story here so I'll try and keep it brief. A 19 year old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) in Victorian times escapes from her oppressive family and the unwanted marriage proposal from a chinless Bourgeois doofus of a suiter (Leo Bill) into a magical land. She encounters, you know, a White Rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen), a Blue Caterpillar (voiced by Alan Rickman), a Cheshire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry), and twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum (both voiced by Matt Lucas). 



For villainy's sake there is the Red Queen - Helena Bonhma Carter (you knew she'd have to be here somewhere) with a disturbingly huge head, who has stolen the reign of the land from her sister, the blindingly White Queen (Anne Hathaway) - who strangely has little presence. 



Also there's Crispin Glover, who doesn't look like he likes working in ginormous budget world, plays Stayne Knave of Hearts, the ominous head of the Red Queen's army.

But of course most folks won't care about any of that stuff - they care about Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.




For some reason his make-up with his green eyes and fiery orange hair made him look like Madonna at times. His patently wacky performance will surely please hardcore Depp fans, but his take on the character, much like his turns in previous Burton work as Willy Wonka and Sweeney Todd, has that not so fresh feeling.



I personally feel that Depp and Burton should be separated for a decade. If they want to come back in ten years and make another Disney re-imagining of something that's been done to death in the past, so be it. But give us, or at least me, a break for a bit!



The film builds to a big battle climax which too greatly resembles the terrain and aesthetics of the STAR WARS prequels. The humorless execution and the distinct lack of charm made the third act particularly hard going.



Still, I can't completely slag it off. On the whole it's a well made and reasonably entertaining movie that I think a lot of people will enjoy. There are inspired flights of animated fancy and some close to great Gilliam-esque visual splendor. 



I just felt overall that as played by Wasikowska, Alice was too much of a blank slate, Depp was too weird, Glover not weird enough, Bonham Carter not as amusing as she's supposed to be, and the whole remake enterprise ambiance was a bit off.



All through the first half of the film, seemingly every character says that Alice is the "wrong Alice." I'm not going to spoil why it is they say that, but of the dozens of adaptations out there in which to experience Lewis Carroll's immortal story, it's an apt statement because this sure isn't the right one.

More later...