The Great and Powerful...meh.

How many of you have heard about the movie 'Oz, the Great and Powerful'?

If you haven't, well, there's a GOOD REASON.
It sucks.

I only heard about it briefly before it was released, and then 'poof', it was gone. Only until just recently did my mom suddenly rent it from Redbox. So here's a little review, despite the fact that I just summed up my feelings for it in the two words and seven letters above.

So it starts in...where else, Kansas. A country fair. In said fair is a magician, who makes his living as a con man (making gullible people believe he's the real thing when he's not) eh...So anyway, said magician is called...is called...eh...sheesh, I can't even remember his name and I watched this movie not an hour ago. That's a bad sign for the movie. Anyway, he eventually cons too much and is chased out of the fair by a strongman. But he makes his escape in...a random balloon that just happens to be floatin' around. Okay. And then he runs smack into a tornado. Tough luck, bro. But he prays and screams that he'll be a better person and capoof! He's in Oz. (Oh yeah! His name is Oz, now I remember) So apparently he's the magician of a prophecy come to free the people of Oz from the wicked witches and yada yada. Did I mention he's something of a playboy? He kisses at least three or four different women in the entire movie. And it eventually works itself out with plot twists galore and you finding out why he uses projections and stuff (basically, he cons his way to convincing the witches to leave). The end.

Obviously it's supposed to be a prequel to the actual Oz story (Dorothy), and they leave it open for said sequel at the end. But considering the success...or lack thereof this movie had at the box office, I'm pretty sure it's not coming. And there's good reasons.

There are knockoffs of other movies everywhere. Me and my brother were literally pointing and identifying Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and...Snow White. (Yeah, surprised me too.) It was obvious to the point of painful.
Next, the acting. It was skewed. I don't say horrible, because...well, Oz is a kiddie story and this was a kiddie movie. The actors acted up to that par. But even then, it was a bit over the top. The main character, Oz, was especially...weird. It wasn't satisfactory.
Finally, the plot. It was just downright strange. Even if this movie was intended for kids, Disney, at least give us a viable plot! You screwed us up with all the princess movies, yet even they had decent plots! Come on! There's several plot twists and some of the casting is downright dumb.

Oh, did I mention Morgan Freeman was in this film? He played a secondary role as a head tinker. Wonder how much they paid him to get into this shattered piece of colored glass. I saw him and nearly had an accident. Dude! What the bleep are you doing here?? Whoa!

All this ranting being...ranted, I do have to say I actually enjoyed it a little.
A. Little.
I mean, it was obviously intended for kids (I hope it was, at least...) and it pretty much delivered. Even with the weird plot there was an obvious beginning, conflict, climax, and conclusion. And the action as well as resolution was satisfying, if over the top and kiddie style. And of course there were a few nice moments.

So, to sum up: I technically find this movie a below-average film, but there are moments that are satisfying. If you would like to watch it, I fully recommend renting it, because buying it just isn't worth your money. G'day...or g'night, folks!