Well, basically, it's amazing. I would give it three and a half stars. Why? Well, the CGI is astounding. Bright colors, mystical creatures really coming to life, the CGI really made all of the magic in Oz seem real. It really draws you in. Let me tell you, no film yet has really captured the grandness of Emerald City until this film. It is amazing.
The 3D is also used very well. I haven't seen a lot of 3D films but this is the best I have seen. It didn't overly use the 3D but it didn't underutilize it either. There were some moments when the 3D was really cool and was used in a way that wasn't quite as effective as other films I've seen in 3D.
The characterization is very good. Though, sometimes Glinda kind of comes off as a bitch. Not very characteristic of someone who is supposed to be the "good" witch. But, I can give it a pass.
James Franco has a very fun performance to watch. He plays the lead role of Oz who gets brought into the land of Oz in a similar fashion as Dorothy did in the original movie. Oz is basically a selfish asshole who does things to get what he wants and doesn't care about anyone else. Yeah, it's similar to Scrooge from A Christmas Carol but it's done well here, especially when he's trying to deal with certain characters in the land of Oz.
Melia Kunis also has a good performance. Though I can't really talk much about it without spoiling stuff so, I'll hold off on that.
The music is phenomenal, though, at this point, we don't expect any less from Danny Elfman who is probably the best movie soundtrack composer of all time.
The plot is actually very interesting. It's both predictable and stunning which works pretty well. Why? Well, using what you know about the original movie, you can predict some things that will happen pretty easily. However, this lulls you into a false sense of security which makes the twists in the story really take you by surprise.
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. I personally don't think that IMAX 3D is worth the cost for any film but I definitely think that you should see this movie in the theaters. Should you see it in regular 3D? Maybe. I suppose it depends on if you're a fan of 3D or not. I know with some people the 3D really bothers them and it screws with their eyes. I, on the otherhand, don't have problems with that so I enjoy the 3D perspective. So, I would say, see it in 3D if you can handle it. Otherwise, see it in regular.
Either way, this is one that you don't want to miss.
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SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT*******************
First of all, one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Theodora (I think her name is) is incredibly hurt that Oz also spent intimate time with her sister. Most notably, when she's crying, her tears are melting scars into her face. Of course, this foreshadows that she is going to become the Wicked With of the West and sure enough, Theodora's sister gives her an apple that makes her emotionless, permanently evil, and hideous beyond belief.
Speaking of which, I don't know if this is something that Disney was going for when making this film but, it almost seemed like the witch from Snow White and Theodora's sister have a lot of similarities. In fact, it almost seemed to me that Disney was trying to say that they were the same person. They're both very jaded, power hungry, evil, and they both have a thing about being very beautiful, or should I say, "the fairest in the land." Even when Theodora's sister has Glinda all shackled up, she has to touch her face and make a comment or two about how beautiful she is. Also, the apple scene was just all too familiar. She used an apple to turn her sister evil? It's just all so similar.
I think the overall message of the film is pretty cool. You don't have to have magic powers to be magical. Creativity and ingenuity are a kind of magic in their own way too.
I like that. Especially the way Oz uses the talents of everyone to trick the sisters on numerous occasions in the final battle.
Though magical and colorful, some of the scenes are really dark too which is a great contrast to the very colorful scenes. For instance, when Oz gets to the city of tea pots and china dolls, the scene is very dark and you get the full extent of how gloomy it is and the horrid destruction of the town. In this scene, I also like the reference to the beginning of the movie when he can't make the girl in the wheel chair walk but uses the glue from his home world to fix the china doll's broken legs. Kind of cool that he can appear to be a magician in Oz with just regular household stuff from our world.
I also thought it was cool that they had the same actress playing Glinda as the woman in the beginning of the movie that Oz liked a lot. It was incredibly predictable but it was still kind of cool.
I think this movie really puts out a bad underlying message for kids. Amongst the regular Disney stereotypes like: ugly people are evil and good looking people are good, basically, Oz gets what he wants in the end despite being an asshole the whole movie. He lures all of the witches into his trap of being a good man and genuinely loving them. All of them. Sure he admits to Glinda of the kind of guy he is but come on. He literally got some with every witch in the land of Oz! So basically, if you go around being an asshole to everyone, you will get all the chicks. Also, you will get the Emerald City treasury, throne, and scepter. He literally got everything he wanted since the beginning of the movie. How do we know that Oz isn't an asshole after all of this? How do we know that Oz didn't save Emerald City just so he could be king and get some with Glinda instead of being a "good" person?
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