Oz the Great and Powerful just rubs me the wrong way, and I doubt it has anything to do with the intentions of the people behind it. There’s a part of me that, despite how hard I try to just judge the concept on its own merits, is put off by this re-folding of Oz story. Dorothy defeats a formidable female foe at the behest of a benevolent, if somewhat cryptic (seriously, Glinda, we couldn’t just explain the shoes at the get go and let her choose?) female figure of power. It’s not like Wicked isn’t already a hit broadway production, so I’m a little leery of a movie that plucks the only male character of power (and let’s remember that it was a power based on illusion and deceit, however well-meaning) from the story of The Wizard of Oz movie and reforms the setting to be about a bunch of powerful women begging him to solve their problem and telling him he’s a fabled hero.
That said, I don’t expect anyone to agree with me, trailers are not the full measure of plot, the movie still has a bunch of great actresses in it, it looks like it’ll be a delight to the eyes at the very least, and I’m stupidly happy to see the porcelain people from the book get their due in a movie adaptation. What do you guys think?
