Two Jews On Oz The Great And Powerful

In Sam Raimi’s ‘Oz The Great And Powerful’ he’s not exactly wonderful or a wizard.

In fact he’ Oscar Diggs (James Franco) a 3rd rate circus magician/con artist who escapes from Kansas in a hot air balloon, only to land in the beautiful, magical Land of Oz.

There, Oscar meets the beautiful witch Theodora (Mila Kunis) and her older sister, Evanora, (Rachel Weisz) who rules over the Emerald City.

When the sisters mistake Oscar for the wizard that the prophesies said would come one day to save the city, he thinks his struck gold.

Well actually he has. Seems Oz is filled with gold…a lot of gold, enough to make Oscar a billionaire several times over.

Of course nothing is simple for our con man…It doesn’t take long for the sisters to become suspicious of him. So in order for him to claim the riches of Oz, he must solve the epic problems facing the Land Of Oz and its inhabitants.

To do so, our so called Wizard in Training, must find out who is good and who is evil before it’s too late.

Putting his magical arts to use, along with some ingenuity and even a bit of wizardry, Oscar transforms himself, not only into a great wizard but, thanks to Glinda, aka The Good Witch (Michelle Williams) he becomes a better man as well.

‘Oz The Great And Powerful’ written by Mitchell Kapner,and David Lindsay-Abaire imagines the origins of the beloved wizard character first brought to life in author L. Frank Baum’s book ‘The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz.

Shot in 3d, the film also introduces new characters including…an adorable porcelain child called China Girl (voice by Joe King) and Finley (voice by Zach Braf ) a winged monkey who accompanies Oscar on his journey through Oz; serving as his sounding board and conscience.

I really enjoyed ‘The Oz The Great And Powerful’ which opens in theatres Friday March 8, 2012 and for that reason gave it 4 bagels out of 5.

Check out our video to for John’s thoughts and his bagel score. Also love to know whom you agree with.

Podcast: Download

• Author
• Recent Posts

Joan and John Schwartz

Joan and John Schwartz are ex New Yorkers, living in Los Angeles. They are married and see a lot of films. They usually disagree but always tell it like it is. John is most famous for creating the cult classic films Faces of Death. He has also written for various prime time series and has written movies for both Showtime and HBO. In the world of reality television John has produced, written and directed over 450 segments for various magazine shows He has also written and Executive Produced several Prime-Time Specials. Joan has appeared on the New York Stage on and off Broadway…and has been in several Los Angeles theater productions as well.. Joan has been in several low budget films and at present she is busy writing screenplays with her husband, John.

Latest posts by Joan and John Schwartz (see all)

• Two Jews On Spiderman: The Homecoming - July 7, 2017
• Two Jews On War For The Planet Of The Apes - June 30, 2017
• Two Jews On Baby Driver - June 29, 2017