10th Anniversary TLDR: Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
Oh, I see. Because I'm a monkey, I must love bananas, right? That is a vicious stereotype!
Plot: Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus illusionist and con-artist, is whisked from Kansas to the Land of Oz where the inhabitants assume he’s the great wizard of prophecy, there to save Oz from the clutches of evil.
Direction: Sam Raimi is best known for his horror films (the Evil Dead films, Drag Me to Hell) and for making the best superhero film ever made, but he's done everything from westerns to sports dramas to crime thrillers. He's doing work-for-hire work here and although he does manage to sneak in a few Raimi-isms, it's a bewildering entry in his filmography. What did he want out of this? Did he get it?
Screenplay: This is where it gets tricky. Screenwriter Mitchell Kapner (The Whole Nine and Ten Yards) and playwright David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole, Kimberly Akimbo) collaborate on a script that really has nothing wrong with it. The expanded Oz universe has been recycled and revisited plenty of times, so the concept is fine. The beats are there, the dialogue is serviceable, so you really can't complain about what's on the page. The question is: where did this go wrong? I just can't tell, but I can tell you that the whole thing just feels off.
Performances: James Franco? Yuck! Mila Kunis? Yuck! Rachel Weisz? Yes! Michelle Williams? Sure! Zach Braff as a monkey? The best part!
Cinematography: Peter Deming has done great work (Mulholland Drive, The Menu) and he also did this. To be fair, the green screen isn't his fault, but the entire film looks terrible and cheap.
Best moment: Anytime it feels like The Wizard of Oz.
Fun fact: Despite being both the world's biggest Wizard of Oz fan and a recovering theatre kid, I've never seen Wicked. That doesn't really have anything to do with this, but it hasn't given me a lot to work with.
Imaginary accolade: Runner-Up, Most Problematic Cast Featured in Feature Presentation's 10th Anniversary TLDR Series (it lost to The Lone Ranger)
Everything is too long. Is it too long? 130 minutes for a family film is a crime.
Rating: At least I finished it this time.
Credit: Plot synopsis from Letterboxd via TMDb.