Early in March I had the pleasure of
watching back-to-back weekend screenings of what I would classify as modern day
fairy tale movies. ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ came first, then ‘Oz the Great and
Powerful.
Jack is a twist on the often read bedtime story Jack and the Beanstalk where the single giant is replaced with a nation of enormous scraggly humanoids known as giants. They have managed to extend the fable of a poor farmer boy into an epic glitzy medieval war between a kingdom on the ground and the one in the clouds, oh yes a princess is involved. Jack is not without its flaws but on the whole it is wholesome, logical and at times fun.
Oz on the other hand is a prequel to the classic 1939 family-oriented fantasy adventure musical ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (and the book it was based on) which has spurned many sequels and reinterpretations. In this prequel we meet Oscar the magician who journeyed to Oz in a hot air balloon during a tornado super storm. Oscar would become the bogus wizard which Dorothy travelled to meet. We also meet up with the Glinda the good witch of the north, whose goodness is all too saccharine (read artificially sweet) for me. We also witness the initiation of the green skinned Wicked Witch of the West with an alternate storyline compared with the musical ‘Wicked’.
What strikes me as odd is that while both movies have a budget of around USD200mil, Jack is languishing in the box-office, a contender for flop of the year while Oz is close enough to break even. Oz has nowhere near the heartiness like Jack has. Oz, to me came across as incredibly childish and had me wincing the moment Oscar stepped into Oz. Larger than life flowers would greet Oscar like in Alice’s Wonderland. The Munchkin tribe have all the maturity of toddler targeted Saturday morning cartoon. And the biggest kicker: James Franco plays no one other than himself.
No one dies in Oz, so that presumably pursues an even younger target audience. Jack on the other hand has scary giants and a lot of death takes place. However the gory details are left out for good measure.
Overall, out of 10, I would give Jack a 7.5 and Oz a 3. Jack the Giant Slayer is a far better production. So if you have watched Oz and are over the age of 10 and have not watched Jack yet, you might prefer Jack over Oz.
Jack is a twist on the often read bedtime story Jack and the Beanstalk where the single giant is replaced with a nation of enormous scraggly humanoids known as giants. They have managed to extend the fable of a poor farmer boy into an epic glitzy medieval war between a kingdom on the ground and the one in the clouds, oh yes a princess is involved. Jack is not without its flaws but on the whole it is wholesome, logical and at times fun.
Oz on the other hand is a prequel to the classic 1939 family-oriented fantasy adventure musical ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (and the book it was based on) which has spurned many sequels and reinterpretations. In this prequel we meet Oscar the magician who journeyed to Oz in a hot air balloon during a tornado super storm. Oscar would become the bogus wizard which Dorothy travelled to meet. We also meet up with the Glinda the good witch of the north, whose goodness is all too saccharine (read artificially sweet) for me. We also witness the initiation of the green skinned Wicked Witch of the West with an alternate storyline compared with the musical ‘Wicked’.
What strikes me as odd is that while both movies have a budget of around USD200mil, Jack is languishing in the box-office, a contender for flop of the year while Oz is close enough to break even. Oz has nowhere near the heartiness like Jack has. Oz, to me came across as incredibly childish and had me wincing the moment Oscar stepped into Oz. Larger than life flowers would greet Oscar like in Alice’s Wonderland. The Munchkin tribe have all the maturity of toddler targeted Saturday morning cartoon. And the biggest kicker: James Franco plays no one other than himself.
No one dies in Oz, so that presumably pursues an even younger target audience. Jack on the other hand has scary giants and a lot of death takes place. However the gory details are left out for good measure.
Overall, out of 10, I would give Jack a 7.5 and Oz a 3. Jack the Giant Slayer is a far better production. So if you have watched Oz and are over the age of 10 and have not watched Jack yet, you might prefer Jack over Oz.
No comments:
Post a Comment