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>My biggest gripes were:
>
>1. The characters accepting him as the foretold Wizard and the
>eventual doubt and realization that he was a fake, came
>without him having to prove himself either way.
He didn't have to prove himself. There was a prophesy and in this fairy land, prophesy is equal to fact. Notice how quickly word spread and how no one (who wasn't evil and threatened by his appearance, i.e. had motivation to) doubted him. His name was Oz, he came on the wind just as the prophecy said, what reason do they have to doubt? As for the times when he was doubted later, that all seemed completely justified. Glinda doubted him because she was smart, a shrewd politician and hand plenty of time to observe him. Evanora, as I mentioned had her own motives for not wanting him to be the wizard and for wanting people to doubt his legitimacy. And to this point:
>Even at the end when Finley and the
>others thought he left them high and dry, it felt forced, like
>Raimi suddenly remembered Oz was supposed to be shady and
>selfish, and squeezed in the "I told you he was a phony"
>moment.
There were only three characters (who weren't evil) to doubt him, Ginda (her reasons have been explained), Finley, who Oz told he wasn't the wizard, and Knuck who was so supremely and consistently pessimistic that I, at least, didn't find his disbelief forced. Now if the China Girl started having doubts, that would be a problem.
>Franco’s
>portrayal wasn’t conniving enough. His actions at the carnival
>before the tornado, gave no indication he was a immoral
>hustler…A PLAYER, yes, but not a hustler. A DICK (as described
>by some above), hell yes…But not a scheming fraud.
I'll agree that pre-tornado, he wasn't revealed to be anymore immoral than any other carnie. In fact, he had some obvious soft spots (Annie, the girl in the wheelchair). And while by-the-book character development might suggest that the totality of his immorality be established in act I, I see no problem with his willingness to exploit scaling with his opportunity to exploit.
>
>Despite his pretending to be the Wizard, I never felt he was
>truly untrustworthy.
And I'd argue we weren't supposed to. At virtually every point of the movie, we were privy to what was behind the curtain. I don't think that we, as the audience, were supposed to not trust him any more than we were to wonder how he made his magic. That is a part of how the story is told that is built for young children. Children can still be entertained if they know the way the story is going. In fact, it's comforting (which is why kids like having the same story read to them over and over or watch movies a million times). I actually appreciate the movie deciding to appeal to kids at this level rather than with perpetual motion and scatological humor.
>
>
>2. Theodora’s initial attachment to Oz and her subsequent
>transformation into the Green Goblin after his supposed
>betrayal, was too simplistic and kinda lazy.
>I know she was young, but the movie made her look like a
>starry-eyed 12-year-old kissing her Justin Bieber poster and
>dreaming of marrying him, then seeing him on Youtube kissing
>Selena Gomez, getting pissed, and Twitter dragging death
>threats to Gomez with her friends...
I kinda agree here. She is played like a tweenager and Mila Kunis (in those leather pants) clearly is not. I want to allow for the naivety of the character because of the children's story/fairy world that they live in, but I can't. I think a better way to go would have been to actually write the character as a teenager, have the way Oz treats her (he's nice, maybe even gives her a box and dances with her, but he doesn't romance her in his mind) leads to her crushing on him. So that when he actually tries to romance her older sister, that leaves her in the jealous position to be manipulated.
>When he first meets Theodora, what did he do that made her
>believe he was the wizard? The smoke trick with the lion? The
>bird trick with the flying monkey? Theodora was a witch.
>Evanora was a witch. Glinda was a witch. They could fly and
>shoot shit from their hands. They lived in a glowing green
>emerald castle. Glinda had a magic wand and made giant
>bubbles. And Theodora was impressed/convinced by HIS tricks?
>C’mon son…
Again, the prophecy is sufficient, no convincing is necessary. The onus is on anyone who wants to disprove his claim, not on him to prove it. That's established by the rules of the movie.
>
>I’m in the minority here, but I actually liked Kunis as the
>Wicked Witch. She was evil, without being over the top.
My only issue was with her voice. Once she turned green, there was something inconsistent about it. It needed to be more menacing and not just shrill.
>She
>was way more engaging once her evil side came out, much more
>than Rachel Weisz, who seemed bored. As did Michelle Williams.
I really enjoyed Michelle Williams as the shrewd, collected politician. I really felt the edge she was living on as a leader who maintains calm by example because she really doesn't have power otherwise (not that she'll use on her people anyway). She doesn't maintain control through power, that's what she needs Oz for. You really see it after the wicked witch leaves her city in chaos. She's trying to bring calm by being calm, but the witch has caused too much havoc. She turns to oz, but he's already on the next train to Clarksville. This is a point where I feel the movie cheated by cutting away. How was that chaos calmed?
>3. Why wasn't Oscar more bewildered at this new land he was
>in? He was attacked by whistling river fairies, met a talking
>monkey being attacked by a lion, was chased through a forest
>by a growling, clawed flying animal, AND was led to a glowing
>emerald city...
>
>His reaction? Nothing. smh
>
All I can say is that this is very consistent with the books. When folks arrive in Oz, they are fairly quick to accept it, even adults. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em have about a line each of disbelief before they accept they are in another land.
box
box
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Just looking out of the window
Watching the asphalt grow
Thinking how it all looks hand-me-down
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