Reviews for this film from our members:
- Dragan Antulov @ Draxblog VI [Croatian]
- Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
- Excerpt: Somewhere along the line I wonder whether either Raimi or screenwriters David Lindsay-Abaire and Mitchell Kapner didn’t stop and say, “we’re simply throwing in too much into Oz the Great and Powerful”.
- Chris Barsanti @ Film Racket
- Luke Bonanno @ DVDizzy.com
- Excerpt: Maybe diehards and protective purists, those who object to even the long-accepted liberties that the MGM musical takes, will feel that way about this. Judged on its own, however, as pricey spectacle cinema, this new Oz is quite all right, entertaining with its clever storytelling, tasteful parallels, and agreeable spirit.
- Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Excerpt: Pretty as all heck, in a manner that unquestionably reeks of Disney’s attempt to sell you a theme park ride.
- Kevin Carr @ 7M Pictures
- Excerpt: “Oz the Great and Powerful” is a pretty unique film. It’s beautiful to watch, and it takes full advantage of the modern filmmaking technology to present a visual spectacle.
- Bob Cashill @ Popdose.com
- Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: …director Sam Raimi…gives Baum’s world a 3D/CGI/origin story spin that has more life and imagination than it’s seen in over 70 years, even if the modern technology used to achieve it is often less than satisfying.
- Edwin Davies @ A Mighty Fine Blog
- Excerpt: After such a strong opening, Oz, the film, loses almost all its momentum as it has to go through the necessary steps to get Oz, the man, started on his quest. This makes for an ungainly stop-start structure which makes the whole first half feel like one long prelude and frustrates Raimi’s natural ability as a storyteller, one which is dependent on maintaining as much forward motion as possible.
- [New – 9/19] | Carlos del Río @ El rincón de Carlos del Río [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Es una película hecha de retazos geniales en un conjunto que no tiene mucho sentido.
- Jim Dixon @ Examiner.com
- Excerpt: “Oz the Great and Powerful” is a fantasy grand slam, a lavish, epic fantasy that pulls you into its imagined world so convincingly you’ll think you arrived by tornado. This movie also boasts some of the best 3D since “Avatar,” and people who don’t pony up the extra money for the 3D really will be losing out.
- Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: Fair or not, we have a distinct understanding of what Oz is and what it represents, and Oz the Great and Powerful barely reflects that construct.
- Dustin Freeley @ Movies About Gladiators.com
- Kimberly Gadette @ doddle
- Excerpt: Perhaps the witches are to blame for putting a spell on the filmmakers — because for all of the film’s technical wizardry, the story and characters are as flat as a Kansas plain.
- Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: An homage to the tone and feel of the 1939 original film, it’s a spirited, family-friendly adventure that’s filled with wonder – despite miscast James Franco.
- Vadym Grygoriev @ kinoblog.com [Ukrainian]
- MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Exactly what you expect it to be. Unless you were expecting some Sam Raimi nutso.
- Benjamin Kramer @ The Voracious Filmgoer
- Glenn Lovell @ CinemaDope.com
- Excerpt: Disney’s prequel is full of wondrous effects. It deserves a sequel.
- Wesley Lovell @ Cinema Sight
- Excerpt: Never content to let a classic lie, the next-worst thing to remaking a film is making a pseudo-prequel. Oz the Great and Powerful proves that commercialism doesn’t care what greats it diminishes as long as it makes a quick buck.
- Joe Lozito @ Big Picture Big Sound
- Excerpt: Making a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz” takes courage and brains. This one’s got a little of both, but most of all it has heart.
- Dan Lybarger @ KCActive.com
- Excerpt: Oz the Great and Powerful should probably have been titled Oz the so-so and Kind of Entertaining or Oz, At Least It’s Better than The Wonderful Land of Oz.
- Piers Marchant @ Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
- Excerpt: Rejoice as a group of talented actors stand before a green screen and emote at themselves!
- Jason McKiernan @ Next Projection
- Excerpt: Rather than deepen our understanding of the source material, this film removes its brain cells and replaces them with candy-coated CGI.
- Brent McKnight @ Beyond Hollywood
- Excerpt: Though visually appealing, “Oz the Great and Powerful” is empty, vapid, and could have been so much more.
- Ryan McNeil @ The Matinee
- Excerpt: At face value, the film is middling and perhaps even “passable”. However, When compared to the characters and worlds we’ve come to know and love, the film feels completely false.
- Nell Minow @ The Movie Mom
- Simon Miraudo @ Quickflix
- Darren Mooney @ the m0vie blog
- Excerpt: Sometimes it’s enough to be merely good.
- Frank Ochieng @ Yahoo! Voices Movies
- Excerpt: As a family entertainment, Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful is the stunning feast for the eyes visually and should be digested as smoothly as cotton candy on a summer day at the amusement park. No one can argue with director Sam Raimi’s take on the festive and legendary Land of Oz where magical memories and childhood reminiscences are recalled and revered.
- R. Kurt Osenlund @ SouthPhillyReview.com
- Paulo Peralta @ CinEuphoria [Portuguese]
- Jason Pirodsky @ Expats.cz
- Excerpt: I appreciated returning to the world of Baum’s novels and the 1939 film, even if meant wading through a lot of CGI gobbledygook to get to the good stuff. Mostly, however, it was those first few minutes that won me over.
- James Plath @ Family Home Theater
- Excerpt: While the pacing and the visuals captivate, it’s really James Franco’s performance as the Wizard and an abundance of allusions to the 1939 classic that make it fun.
- Tiago Ramos @ Split Screen [Portuguese]
- Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: Does it equal that 1939 classic? Certainly not, but it still entertains.
- Marcio Sallem @ Em Cartaz [Portuguese]
- Tom Santilli @ Examiner.com
- Excerpt: Oz the Great and Powerful is about a good of a job as one could have ever hoped for, excelling in its imagination of character but falling short in its execution of plot. How great it is though, to see a re-make/re-visit done with such respect for what has come before.
- Amir Siregar @ Flick Magazine [Indonesian]
- Frank Swietek @ One Guys Opinion
- Excerpt: Splashy and colorful [but] sluggish, derivative and in the end rather tedious.
- Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: An exquisite China doll character almost steals the show in this colorful Wizard of Oz prequel.
- Phil Villarreal @ COEDMagazine.com
- Excerpt: As awful as the movie is, at least there is one truth that it gets just right. Witches be crazy.
- Andrew Wyatt @ Look/Listen (St. Louis Magazine)
- Excerpt: There’s no point in mincing words: Oz is an obnoxious boondoggle of a film, appallingly misconceived and executed on every level.
