Originally Posted By leemac Despite the fact that this thing is tracking for a $100m+ opening weekend it seems that it isn't very good: <a href="http://beta.variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-oz-the-great-and-powerful-820799/" target="_blank">http://beta.variety.com/2013/f...-820799/</a> <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie/oz-great-powerful/review/425417" target="_blank">http://www.hollywoodreporter.c...w/425417</a> Disney have now sunk nearly $350m on this puppy in the US alone so it needs to perform. I've never envisaged Franco as a leading man so I'm not surprised the perception is that he has been badly miscast.
Originally Posted By dagobert That's not good, but I'm going to watch it anyway. I want to see Zach Braff and I need to finish my cinema members card.
Originally Posted By leemac << I want to see Zach Braff>> You mean hear him. I won't be able to get beyond either Chicken Little or JD when I hear him! His character wasn't even in the rough cut I saw last year.
Originally Posted By dagobert He was in Chicken Little? I guess I have to watch the movie in English some day. I own the DVD, but I've only seen it in German. Scrubs is my favourite TV-show and JD is just great and so I hoped for a bigger role.
Originally Posted By leemac <<He was in Chicken Little?>> He was Chicken Little. Despite the movie being pretty poor I thought his vocal performance was very good - but I'm a fan (LOVE Garden State). <<Scrubs is my favourite TV-show and JD is just great and so I hoped for a bigger role.>> I wish Bill Lawrence hadn't tried to eek out a few more seasons (particularly the poor decision to move to ABC). The Brendan Fraser episodes get me every time - particularly his last one. Just brilliant comedic drama. At its height it was one of the best sitcoms around - so smart.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>I wish Bill Lawrence hadn't tried to eek out a few more seasons (particularly the poor decision to move to ABC). The Brendan Fraser episodes get me every time - particularly his last one. Just brilliant comedic drama. At its height it was one of the best sitcoms around - so smart.<<< The Brendan Fraser episodes are among the best Scrubs episodes. I was happy that Scrubs moved to ABC, just to give the series a better ending. Season seven was a disappointment. NBC didn't want to renew Scrubs, so I think it was a good decision. Nevertheless the ninth season shouldn't have happened. It was definitely the worst. Unfortunately after season four the series fell a little bit flat, but still much more enjoyable than so many other series. We also watch Bill Lawrence last creation "Cougar Town", which I expected to be pretty bad, but I have to admit I like it. Sure it's not a masterpiece and there are better shows, but it's entertaining. And I love the Scrubs reunions. I haven't seen Garden State yet, but I definitely will. It got so many good reviews.
Originally Posted By u k fan The reviews I've seen so far are mixed. RottenTomatoes has it on 60% for 5 reviews so I think it's too early to call. I don't think this movie will struggle to find an audience. One of the main criticisms of Alice in Wonderland was Mia Wasikowska as the lead and that did just fine!!!
Originally Posted By JeffG I actually saw the film at a preview for DVC Members last weekend and enjoyed it quite a bit. I think the Variety review (which is mostly positive) that was linked in the first post covers the film's strengths and weaknesses fairly well. It isn't a perfect movie by any means, but it is very entertaining. As a note, if you are interested in this film at all, do try to see it on the big screen. The film is visually very impressive and will lose quite a bit on a smaller screen. The showing I attended was in 3D and I thought the effects were used well. -Jeff
Originally Posted By danyoung ><< I want to see Zach Braff>> You mean hear him. < From what I understand, he's in the movie early, kinda like Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion were all in there early on as farmhands. Haven't seen it yet, though.
Originally Posted By doombuggy I plan on seeing this in IMAX3D, Alice had very good 3D and this should too. While the plot is very predicable and casting Mila Kunis is bad casting for who she plays. Funny the review said what I was thinking, It's a phantom menace in Oz. What I think is going to hurt this movie is people thinking this is a prequel to the classic. I can hear it now as people watch "silver? there supposed to be ruby"
Originally Posted By tonyanton True...but a lot has changed since Disney attempted "Return to Oz" in 1985...for one, the Wizard of Oz does not hold the "once-a-year" special status it once did. There has been VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, plus multiple cable viewings each year since the late '80s. Also, the success of the "Wicked" books and the huge success of the musical IMO has opened up the idea of Oz being more than just the 1939 film (and no ruby slippers in Wicked either). I think Disney hit the right timing with this, of course, the proof will be in the box office, which we'll know in a couple of weeks.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <And casting Mila Kunis is bad casting for who she plays.> Yeah. And James Franco. And Rachel Weisz. This one looks like a real stinker to me. Hope I'm wrong.
Originally Posted By just another guest I'm not a big fan of director Sam Raimi. He has been around for decades and has done really nothing I have enjoyed. Everything he directs seems to be too much on the surface and lacks any in-depth story-telling/character development. This is the guy who did "The Quick and the Dead" that starred Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russel Crowe, etc. All that talent went to waste in a horrible film. Even Saimi himself knew he was to blame for it being a bomb when he said, "I was very confused after I made that movie. For a number of years I thought, I'm like a dinosaur. I couldn't change with the material." It seems like he has been pretty confused for awhile. Sure Spiderman was successful but it's Spiderman! Kids are going to see it no matter what. Everyone ran out to see the new Spiderman movie as well. And everyone will go to see this movie as well but if Disney wants to take it up a notch with sequels, they're going to have to look elsewhere, IMHO.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: There can be no denying that M-G-M's Wizard of Oz is a very tough act to follow. This is most likely the main reason Walt Disney, himself, abandoned his own plans to do a movie about Oz with the Mouseketeers. Still, the idea of visiting the land of Oz again appeals to many--even at the risk of those dreams not being fully realized. ORWEN: Return to Oz should have had some songs, I think, and then it might have gotten better reviews. ORDDU: Then, again, Return to Oz was a bit hit in Japan and England. In America M-G-M's Wizard of Oz is too highly regarded by so many--so that any other Oz movies will most certainly be compared unfavorably. Still, we have hopes for Oz the Great and Powerful... ORGOCH: Didja bring yer broom sticks with ya?
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 There are worse things I can think of than having to look at Mila Kunis, Rachel Weiss and Michelle Williams for a few hours, And even if he film is average it will be better than Alice in Wonderland
Originally Posted By xrayvision I'm open to this seeing this interpretation of OZ before Dorothy primarily because I'm a fan of Wicked (both the books and the stage musical), and I want to see Disney's prequel interpretation. I know it won't be Wicked, but it should still be fun and I love the beautiful visuals of this movie that I've seen thus far in trailers. BTW, the ruby slipper are mentioned in Wicked the book and a few times in the musical. The musical ties the slippers into the play by having Elphaba create the slipper for her sister (during the first half of the play). If I'm not mistaken, the ruby slippers had a magical spell that would help the sister to walk again after being crippled and bound to a wheelchair. The sister wears the ruby slippers until a strange tornado from Kansas rips through OZ and Dorothy's house falls on the sister (during the second half of the play). While everyone is trying to figure out who concocted this weird tornado, Dorothy emerges from the house wearing no shoes with a mangy little animal called a dog in her hand (not shown but told by Glinda). So, Galinda gives Dorothy the ruby slippers because Glinda thought it was extremely tacky for Dorothy to walk around OZ barefoot. When Elphaba finds the house on her sister and sees the ruby slippers are missing, she asks Glinda, who is still standing by Dorothy's house, what happened. Glinda tells Elphaba what happened and Elphaba gets angry that Glinda just gave Dorothy her dead sister's ruby slippers. Elphaba asks where is Dorothy because Elphaba wants the slippers back, which Glinda replies, "I don't know...she looked homely and was asking me things like how to get back to somewhere called Kansas and I just told her to follow the yellow brick road and ask the Wizard." Elphaba jumps on her broomstick to find Dorothy on the yellow brick road, cackling while saying that she's going to find that little pretty and her mangy dog too. Glinda tells Elphaba to forget the ruby slippers and stop cackling while she's flying on that dirty broomstick. There was an earlier joke about the ridiculousness of Glinda floating around OZ in a plastic bubble where everyone below her could see up her dress vs Elphaba flying around on a old broomstick while cackling. So, somehow the play got the rights to incorporate the ruby slippers into the show. Back to the movie, I really can't wait to see it, hopefully in IMAX 3D.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: I don't think Oz the Great and Powerful is as bad as some would have us believe. (Of course my sisters and I haven't yet seen it.) But these days it seems as though so many are so jaded and prone to be negative about so many things that they don't give movies as much of a chance to succeed as they used to. People in general have become so spoiled that it's harder to impress them with anything at all.
Originally Posted By utahjosh This looks soooo much like the Alice in Wonderland from a few years ago. I missed that in the theaters, but at home, I really enjoyed it. I think this will be a smash hit.
