Oz The Great and Powerful (2013)

"Bully!!" -Tinkerers

Huh? Yeah. OK.  That works.  Cool.  I guess...respect.  (Seriously, that last nonsense actually best encapsulates my feelings about Oz The Great and Powerful. )

It had so many cool things and yet none of them quite fit together for me...yet it was OK.  I do find it extremely strange that the black and white of the intro was high def and resoundingly unold looking. It looked cool..but took me out of the story.  I loved Mila Kunis's hat and character story...but I hated her wicked witch makeup.  (Maybe they were trying a little bit too hard to look like Almira Gulch aka Margaret Hamilton?)  I loved Zach Braff...I wasn't too fond of the flying monkey messenger.  The China girl was amazing.  Sometimes movies just do things right.  The voice, the actions, and interactions with our characters were perfect.  Unfortunately, this movie has also moved Rachel Weisz over the line from actors that I tolerate to actors that I don't like very much.  She could surprise me with her next several roles.

Ratings

Color fiends:  See it

Stage Magicians:  Skip it

James Franco:  See it...but please try to do better.  (Not intended as flack...)

Sam Raimi:  Think about how you motivated your actors...you too can do better

Dates:  See it

On a scale from flying monkeys to flying monkeys in space, I give Oz The Great and Powerful 3.48 out of 5 stars.