No one has ever accused Sam Raimi of trying to be an auteur. The guy makes movies, not films. The bottom line is that he wants his audience to have fun. Raimi’s brand of fun usually involves a smartass anti-hero with a particular skill set that happens to come in handy for fighting evil. “Oz the Great and Powerful” is basically a PG version of “Army of Darkness” on mushrooms. Despite the presence of greatness (i.e. Michelle Williams and Rachel Weiss), it is not a great film. But it sure is fun, if you like that sort of thing (I do).
Part homage, part unauthorized prequel to Victor Fleming’s 1939 classic, “Oz the Great and Powerful” has some big shoes to fill. To further complicate matters, they couldn’t even use the shoes you would expect. Iconic images like the ruby slippers, the original Emerald City and even that particular shade of Wicked Witch green were off limits. They managed to work around these elements and still included tons of references. But the way they had to go about putting them in definitely gave the entire film a “red-headed step child” tone…
Read the rest at Film Threat.
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