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Post by Bungle on Mar 19, 2013 18:43:56 GMT
Well, it's not bad, and definitely picks up in the second half. But it's a curious piece. It's hampered by the fact that it desperately wants to be a pastiche, or proper prequel, of the 1939 film but as it's Disney rather than MGM/WB all it can do is hint for the most part. This is much more annoying than if it had genuinely done something new (like, say, the brilliant commercial failure Return to Oz - so you can see their thinking). But it's all teasing and no gratification. Regarding the antagonist: The idea that a woman will go mad if a spurned is stupid and old fashioned. You might have got away with that in the 30s but not today. I certainly think that her lack of redemption was very strange - OK, so they want to link to the 1939 film (in spirit at least) by allowing her to live, but by having her sister go all ugly and certainly not seem the type to wear silver/ruby slippers they've already dispensed with that. Much better to have had them be previous witches of the East and West, I'd have said. It means that her story seems oddly unresolved. I was in LA in September last year and was chatting with someone who was heading back to the UK to do reshoots for the ending of the film - I wonder if her fate changed after previews?
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pops
Jane Asher
Posts: 227
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Post by pops on Mar 19, 2013 23:17:44 GMT
I haven't seen it, just wanted to chip in that I love Return to Oz. It was my favourite film when I was seven - I even got the tie-in book - but in retrospect, I can see why it flopped. The market for a Wizard of Oz sequel that starts with Dorothy having electroshock therapy, and then gets darker, must be pretty slim.
Isn't there a film version of Wicked in the works as well? How many Oz prequels do we need?
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Paul
Jane Asher
Posts: 114
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Post by Paul on Mar 21, 2013 22:46:21 GMT
I made the mistake of seeing it in 3D (because it was the most convenient time) - the colours looked so much brighter without my glasses on. James Franco is so nice to look at, I can overlook his flaws as an actor. A silly question but was the wicked green witch actually Mila Kunis or just CGI? It didn't look anything like her, and looked more like Malin Ackerman at times. I've seen Wicked, which merged their story much better with Dorothy, and Oz confused me with the ending, with Rachel Weisz turning into the old crone. The flying monkeys were pretty scary though, and I liked the the black sassy munchkin, although he had more sass in Bad Santa.
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Paul
Jane Asher
Posts: 114
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Post by Paul on Mar 21, 2013 22:46:42 GMT
I made the mistake of seeing it in 3D (because it was the most convenient time) - the colours looked so much brighter without my glasses on. James Franco is so nice to look at, I can overlook his flaws as an actor. A silly question but was the wicked green witch actually Mila Kunis or just CGI? It didn't look anything like her, and looked more like Malin Ackerman at times. I've seen Wicked, which merged their story much better with Dorothy, and Oz confused me with the ending, with Rachel Weisz turning into the old crone. The flying monkeys were pretty scary though, and I liked the the black sassy munchkin, although he had more sass in Bad Santa.
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Post by Rad on Mar 22, 2013 17:44:13 GMT
I think It was a Gollum-ified version of Kunis
The first half was awful, trying to be a pastiche of the original and just being horribly OTT. It did improve though and it looked very good - not sure whether I'd recommend it - if you have an unlimited card then it's worth giving it a shot.
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