Source: Yahoo! Movies | Posted By: Dan Geer
A film that I have been cautiously optimistic about is director Sam Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful, starring James Franco as Oscar Diggs, a small-time magician with “dubious ethics” who gets whisked away in a hot air balloon from his dusty Kansas home to the Land of Oz, where he becomes the wonderful Wizard we all know from the original 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. Based on what we see in the trailers for the film, this could end up being an enjoyable, family-friendly fantasy film (say that ten times fast), or a visual disaster like Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. After all, the film is from the producers of Burton’s 2010 film, and one of his production designers also worked on Oz.
However, this new featurette, which discusses the costumes and makeup of the film, really shows us that it has the potential to succeed where Alice in Wonderland failed. It simply conveys a sense of confidence in the material and world being created here, and shows us that, through a healthy combination of practical sets and CGI (a technique Burton could have used more of with Alice), we may just have a movie worthy of author L. Frank Baum’s classic Wizard of Oz series, and maybe even the original 1939 film. Hit the jump to check out the featurette!
Official Synopsis:
When Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot – fame and fortune are his for the taking – that is until he meets three witches, Theodora, Evanora and Glinda, who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity – and even a bit of wizardry – Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.
