{"id":1432,"date":"2013-03-22T13:56:12","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T17:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=1432"},"modified":"2013-03-24T06:33:10","modified_gmt":"2013-03-24T10:33:10","slug":"thumbs-down-oz-the-great-and-powerful-sic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/03\/thumbs-down-oz-the-great-and-powerful-sic\/","title":{"rendered":"Thumbs Down: Oz the Great and Powerful (sic)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oz the Great and Powerful<\/em>, which is in theaters now, is a modern prequel to the original Wizard of Oz<\/a> by Frank Baum<\/a>. The original book, published in 1900, was the first of what turned out to be nearly 20 books Baum wrote about Oz<\/a>. The events in this movie are modern inventions that attempt to explain how The Wizard arrived in Oz before Dorothy. The characters are taken from the original book although several were not in the 1939 movie (also based on the 1900 original), such as the delightful China Girl. The story is plausible enough that even hardcore fans of the series shouldn’t have any problems with this modern take.<\/p>\n

The movie’s trailers were thrilling and made the film a must see for us. Sadly, the movie is extremely disappointing. The movie’s pacing is horrible: early scenes in Kansas (a black and white homage to the 1939 movie) and arrival in Oz are too long, and the camera lingers over the—admittedly stunning—graphics far too much. All of us were bored before the movie was half over.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio Oct. 14 2012<\/span><\/a><\/div>

But the poor pacing is minor compared to the stiff and unappealing performances by the cast. James Franco as Oz is especially wooden and unappetizing. Unlike the oft-quoted 1939 movie which was filled with memorable and wonderful characters, this version is remarkable for having almost none. For a movie based on a book for children, this is astonishing. Even the Munchkins are forgettable.<\/p>\n

While the human cast is woeful, the animated one is superb. The China Girl and the Flying Monkey, Finley,  are wonderfully realized, and easily hold their own with the charmers from the 1939 version. Indeed, the China Girl might be one of the best animated characters of all time.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Stephen Pentak at Bonfoey<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Final verdict: 6, not awful but extremely disappointing.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oz the Great and Powerful, which is in theaters now, is a modern prequel to the original Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum. The original book, published in 1900, was the first of what turned out to be nearly 20 books Baum wrote about Oz. The events in this movie are modern inventions that attempt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[138,46,87,1],"tags":[277,60],"class_list":["post-1432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies","category-reviews","category-thumbs-up-down","category-uncategorized","tag-movies","tag-reviews-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5091,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/05\/movie-review-nightcrawler\/","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":0},"title":"Movie review: Nightcrawler","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"May 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"For an artist, Nightcrawler is a fascinating movie. Nightcrawler, released in 2014 and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is about a bottom feeder, Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal), who discovers the world of crime scene photo-journalism. Bloom, armed with an internet account and google, is an autodidact who envisions himself an entrepreneur. As the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "aesthetics"","block_context":{"text":"aesthetics","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/aesthetics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":946,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/in-the-studio-1-27-13\/","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":1},"title":"In the Studio 1.27.13","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"January 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Lake Erie finally froze this week.\u00a0\u00a0 When the Lake freezes, a giant marker highlights 'winter' and shouts WINTER.\u00a0 Often, after many storms, the snow and ice are thrown into huge mountains that reach amazing height and transform the Lake into a silent, alien world. I took this shot from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Studio Corner"","block_context":{"text":"Studio Corner","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/studio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Frozen Lake Erie Seen From the Studio 2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/winter2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/winter2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/winter2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5773,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2016\/02\/book-review-heorot-series-vol-1-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":2},"title":"Book review: Heorot Series vol. 1 & 2","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I listened to the two books in the Heorot series, The Legacy of Heorot, and Beowulf's Children on my Audible app. The books were written by the team of Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steve Barnes. \u00a0The first book was written in 1987, the second in 1995. Although I go\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"51VHVMntd9L._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/51VHVMntd9L._SX326_BO1204203200_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":466,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2012\/12\/thumbs-up-bonnard-thumbs-sidewaysvuillard\/","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":3},"title":"Thumbs-up: Bonnard; Thumbs-sideways:Vuillard","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"December 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Vuillard Have you dated someone whose online profile scored highly, only to be\u00a0disappointed\u00a0upon\u00a0meeting her\/him? \u00a0I've never used an online dating service (my wife has strong opinions on this subject), but my relationship with Vuillard feels like a\u00a0disappointing\u00a0blind date. \u00a0At different times I've studied him closely. \u00a0He has a beguiling profile\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Vuillard: White Room","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/the-white-room.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/the-white-room.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/the-white-room.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9461,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2021\/04\/grumpy-review-perdido-street-station\/","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":4},"title":"Grumpy review: Perdido Street Station","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"April 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I'll cut to the chase: Perdido Street Station by China Mieville is one of the worst books I've ever actually finished. Perdido Street Station is a fantasy novel that also straddles the sci-fi and steampunk genres. The story is set in an indeterminate time and place that teems with Bosch-like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/slake.jpg?fit=474%2C368&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1085,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/thumbs-up-neel-thumbs-up-also-pearlstein\/","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":5},"title":"Thumbs-up: Neel, Thumbs-up (also): Pearlstein","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"February 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"By happenstance or cunning plan, The Cleveland Museum of Art has two large paintings hanging next to each other by artists of whom I am fond-- Alice Neel and Philip Pearlstein. Juxtaposed this way, the relative merits of each can be studied. Except for a long detour in the Picasso\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alice Neel's Jackie Curtis and Rita Redd","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/neel.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/neel.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/neel.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Gw6F-n6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}