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Why’s it Forgotten? Oz The Great and Powerful (2013)

posted 7 years ago by TMC-4 (20185)
4 replies | jump to latest

https://lebeauleblog.com/2018/02/24/whys-it-forgotten-oz-the-great-and-powerful-2013/

Do you remember Sam Raimi’s take on the land of Oz? Kevthewriter does.

Everyone loves The Wizard of Oz. Sam Raimi has a successful franchise and many cult movies under his belt. And everyone loves Disney’s movies, as a company not as much. Still you’d think the three things put together would produce a very popular and beloved movie. But no one talks about this movie anymore. Why? I mean it made almost $500 million dollars, there’s gotta be an audience for it somewhere.

Well I hate to put my personal opinion in here and feel like I’m talking for everyone but maybe it’s because it is a surprisingly forgettable movie. Despite being a Disney movie about “The Wonderful Land of Oz” from the Director of the Evil Dead and Spider-Man movies, Oz the Great and Powerful failed to live up to expectations. I mean there are some elements that stick out for being good (it’s pretty) and some elements that stick out for being awful (Mila Kunis and James Franco are both wildly miscast) but…there’s just not much to it for the most part.

Think about the most popular things that take place in this franchise. The 1939 classic is well-known for its songs, story, characters, and everything about it. Wicked is popular for the same things, and The Wiz is well-known for having an African-American cast. Then there’s Return to Oz (also from Disney – maybe the mouse should stay out of Oz, huh?), which has gained a cult following, and is definitely a memorable movie for how creepy it is.

But Oz The Great and Powerful? There’s just not much to it. Not much to really remember it by besides some annoying flaws and some things that worked. For the most part it’s just…fine. It lacks the quirkiness of Sam Raimi’s best work and feels like he kinda just did it to fund projects he was more invested in (like Ash vs. Evil Dead). And it lacks anything special made by Disney to boot!

And, while I can’t say for sure, I guess most people just felt the same way. It probably just didn’t make that much of an impact on most people. In fact, most of its money was probably made on brand recognizability and a lack of family friendly entertainment out at the time but, once people were drawn in by the name Oz and had their fix of something to entertain their kids, they probably forgot about it along with their kids and moved on to other things.

As a result, I know I’m probably putting my personal feelings for the movie here but I’m guessing it’s forgotten because…it’s forgettable. And, while I don’t know for sure, I’m guessing I wasn’t the only person who just didn’t find it that memorable.

[–] DarthJJ (343) 7 years ago

The movie starts off with the dramatic performance of Joey King as the girl in the wheel chair and OZ proving he just a fraud. They never redeem him at the end of the movie by going back and using his magic friends to cure her. Those opening scenes set it as a drama but as soon as they got to OZ it turned campy.

[–] LuckyLucius (342) 4 years ago

I cannot figure out how Oz The Great And Powerful became a hit and I learned about it when I saw a line of dolls based on the movie and when I bought my doll of Theodora I learned even more about the movie and when I got to watch this movie on TV I found Oz The Great And Powerful weird but the movie actually gets better when Oscar lands in Oz. I could tell that this movie would be a hit mainly because of the weird storyline but I saw Oz The Great And Powerful merchandise on clearance at The Disney Store which told me the movie flopped in theaters. Why they cast James Franco as Oscar is beyond me and having the monkey sidekick Finley was annoying at times and why they made Zach Braff provide Finley's voice is a mystery. If there was a hall of fame of worst and weak Disney movies this movie would likely be the weakest link

[–] HarlemEagle42 (17865) 4 years ago

I didn't mind Franco that much, but Mila Kunis was poor casting.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (14496) 4 years ago

This movie was not a hit. Disney hyped the crap out of it (including tons of commercials, merchandise, and Barbie Dolls), hoping people would turn it into a new classic, but it was weak in a lot of areas, very predictable (save for that one part about exactly how the plan was going to work to "defeat" the new witch), and Mila Kunis can't act to save her life. She was the weakest part of that story, and once again, the writers managed to piss off feminists when Princess Theodora turned to evil because of a man. A pity they totally missed her evil sister helping her along that path with the evil green apple.
I also didn't like the Kansas scene (which is kinda dumb, because the Wizard was from Omaha, Nebraska) because the screen was soooo small, I could barely tell what was going on. The cheesy romance between him and Glinda at the end that went nowhere was icing on the cake.