This was an interesting film.
It begins in 1905 Kansas, where Oscar (James Franco) is nothing more than a con-man, and a man-whore, with a traveling circus and a girl in every town and an under-appreciated side kick, Frank (Zach Braff). To make each girl feel special, he gives them a music box he claims belonged to his grandmother. Only one girl, Annie (Michelle Williams), has gotten through, but someone else has asked her to marry him. Oscar tells to her to marry the other guy because he will never be a good guy. At least he can admit it to himself. Then someone else realizes that Oscar is a scumbag and starts to chase after him. He climbs into the hot air balloon and starts to fly away but then gets caught up in a tornado. Part of me wishes he never got taken up by a tornado. I wanted to see what would happen hear. Would Annie marry John Gale (yes, a reference to the real story) or would Oscar have fought to get her back and became a changed man? But he must go to Oz.
Then the color enters and Oscar lands in Oz. The first person he stumbles upon is Theodora (Mila Kunis). She is delighted to have found him because he is the prophecy coming true. They quickly fall in love and then he shows her a music box (great, this again) and while dancing, they kiss. It wasn't epic, just a kiss. But whatever. She is convinced that he will marry her and then become queen.Then Theodora brings the great man home. Her sister is less than pleased. Evanora (Rachel Weisz) doesn't believe her sister, thinking that the evil witch may have hired Oscar to trick her. She tells Oscar that he can have all the riches. But first, he must kill the wicked witch. So he sets off on this journey. Joining him is Findlay (Zach Braff) whom he rescued and now is his servant. They find a chinatown (literally, a town made of china) which has been destroyed by the wicked witch's minions. Here, they meet a broken china doll (Joey King, who was in a wheelchair in Kansas). He is able to mend her here thanks to the power of glue, which he brought with him.
Then they find the wicked witch and he nearly breaks her wand (which will kill her) when she reveals herself to him. She is Glinda (also Michelle Williams) and Evanora is the evil one and she has lied to everyone, even her own sister. But thanks to her spyglass, Evanora shows Theodora that Oscar has betrayed her and she develops a rage in her heart. Thanks to eating a green apple, Theodora turns completely evil (only after realizing that her sister is the nasty one), her heart being destroyed so it will never be broken again. She also turns green, just like she was in The Wizard of Oz.
Glinda brings Oscar to the town where he is greeted like a hero. He finally admits the truth to her, not that she cares, as the people don't know that, so he must continue to fool them. He does nearly leave, but after some encouraging words from china doll girl, he decides to stay. Oscar must perform his biggest and best trick ever. Thanks to the help of the citizens of the town, including the tinkers, munchkins and farmers, they band together and they certainly do. Scarecrows are built to go through the toxic poppy field, which kills some of the nasty flying monkeys, while Oscar sneaks into the palace, thanks to Knuck (Tony Cox), a well-placed spy. However, just when it all seems to be lost, as Glinda is captured and is about to die, and then they see Oscar fly off in a balloon and Evanora and Theodora throw fire balls at it and it burns away, appearing to kill him. Glinda gets her wand back from the china doll girl, who sneaks it through enemy lines. Glinda escapes and then, using real world magic and channeling Thomas Edison, Oscar reappears, scaring the witches away, using pyrotechnics and fireworks to terrify them. Then Evanora and Glinda get into an epic fight, with Glinda being tossed down the stairs. But then Evanora loses her power because during the fight, Glinda ripped the emerald necklace off her neck so her powers are gone. She escapes. All is calm, for now. The film ends, as The Wizard of Oz did as well, with the wizard bestowing gifts to his honored companions. He and Glinda kiss in his secret booth. Though this probably shouldn't have happened, I am nevertheless glad it did. All is right in the world, for now.
That's only part of the problem. The film cries sequel and one is already in the works, which kills the mood. Heaven forbid we use our imagination to imagine what is going to happen, though we all know what will happen, thanks to The Wizard of Oz already being made into a film. The dialogue is also rather weak and contemporary at times. My friend called it cheesy, I suppose that is right. James Franco is also not that great, with a role he just can't sink his teeth into and he even makes the weirdest face ever at one point. Fortunately, Michelle Williams (brilliant in My Week with Marilyn) saves the film. She is absolutely great and beautiful. Plus, she's the good witch so it's easy to root for her. Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis are alright, better than Franco but not nearly as good as Williams, but I feel that the fault lies in the script, not in their performances. The special effects and costumes are fantastic so the film was visually awesome so that is the reason to see the film, not because of the story, but it was still fairly enjoyable. Grade: B+
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