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.
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