Quick Overview

For sheer visual splendor, Oz the Great and Powerful is hard to beat. Even before the hot-air balloon of carnival magician Oscar “Oz” Diggs (James Franco) gets swept up in a tornado and hurled to the Technicolor land of Oz, the sepia tones of Kansas have a lush, almost velvety texture. Once Diggs arrives in Oz, he learns of a prophecy that he might be the wizard to free the land from the grips of a tyrannical witch–and from there, the movie juggles visual delights with a story that is regrettably half-baked. Some sequences and characters are skillfully realized (a little girl made of china is perfectly developed, both visually and narratively), while others seem propped up like cardboard cutouts. (Unavoidable comparisons to The Wizard of Oz, a masterpiece of vividly drawn characters, don’t help.) Franco doesn’t have the theatricality one might want for a carnival huckster, but fortunately his low-key performing style helps to ground the bright spectacle in human emotions. As witches wicked and good, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams all display charm and verve. The movie is flawed, but when Oz the Great and Powerful hits a right note, merging wonder and fear, dazzle and darkness, it’s easy to forgive the weaknesses.

Main Features:

Actors: James Franco, Michelle Williams
Format: Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles: French, Spanish, English
Dubbed: French, Spanish
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: June 11, 2013
Run Time: 130 minutes