Stylish fairy tale worlds, a flawed hero and three magical ladies: Before “Dance Of The Devil” director Sam Raimi made “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness,” he provided a fabulous witch dance in “The Fantastic World Of Oz. “
To put a prequel in front of one of the most quoted films in history is a huge gamble. But Sam Raimi took that risk: with The Fantastic World of Oz, he directed a Wizard of Oz prequel that doesn’t officially take place in the same canon as the classic, but equally doesn’t attempt a grim and gritty reinterpretation. Instead, his fairy tale adventure is idealistic, colourful, dreamy and optimistic – but also laced with teasing humour and highly enjoyable in showcasing the nastiness of good fairy tales.
At the box office, this fantasy spectacle almost reached the 500 million dollar mark and plans were made for several sequels. However, these were never fleshed out. Fortunately, “The Fantastic World of Oz” does not end on a cliffhanger, but can be enjoyed on its own. For example, this evening: “The Fantastic World of Oz” is showing tonight, 19 December 2022, from 8.15 pm on RTL II. Alternatively, you can find the film at Disney+:
We can only recommend you refresh your memory of “The Fantastic World of Oz” or take the opportunity to catch up with it. For although not only the sequel plans have been forgotten, but also the film itself, Raimi’s colourful fantasy tale is worth seeing: the author of this article ranks it among the better Disney bombast productions of the recent past – and “The Fantastic World of Oz” is in the official FILMSTARTS ranking of the best fantasy films of all time!
“THE FANTASTIC WORLD OF OZ”: A SWINDLER PLUNGES INTO HIS SECOND CHANCE
Illusionist Oscar Diggs (James Franco) works as a magician at a fair. Instead of being content with small tricks, he lies the blue of the sky to his gullible audience. Privately, his morally questionable shenanigans continue. When he gets caught in a hurricane one day, he vows to become a better person if he gets out of his predicament alive.
This is exactly what happens – albeit in a different way than Oscar expected: he suddenly finds himself in a radiantly beautiful, magical world. As soon as he sets foot on land, he ensnares the naive Theodora (Mila Kunis) and is sucked into a huge witch power struggle between Glinda (Michelle Williams) and Evanora (Rachel Weisz). Now he must prove he is a man of his word!
What follows is a clash of three Sam Raimi directorial sensibilities: “The Fantastic World of Oz” has the campy, positive Raimi inherent in Tobey Maguire’s mega-success “Spider-Man”. Repeatedly, the film-history raving Raimi appears, who for example guest-directed the Coen brothers cult “Hudsucker – The Big Jump”. For example, in the prologue dominated by old-school tricks or when Raimi stages the end of a car chase in such a way that it is reminiscent of silhouette animation. And Raimi is already practising here as an orchestrator of intoxicating CG floods of effects, as he would later master in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness”.
It’s certainly arguable that this journey into a magical land, told with fairytale-like warmth and a dash of drama as well as semi-concealed salaciousness, conquered 37th place in the FILMSTARTS fantasy ranking. Among others, “The Fantastic World of Oz” overtook the Oscar winner “Shape Of Water” by Guillermo del Toro, Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice”, the 80s cult “Willow”, which is currently being continued as a series on Disney+, and the Michael Ende adaptation “The Neverending Story”.
But that’s exactly what best-of lists are for: they want to stimulate discourse and inspire people to look at films that would otherwise have been overlooked. The author of these lines can understand, for example, that Raimi’s pretty fairytale journey has overtaken the films mentioned. But he is stunned, for example, that “The Fantastic World of Oz” was able to outdo the amiably fantastic comedy “My Friend Harvey” in the FILMSTARTS ranking! However, whichever way you look at it, the Disney mammoth project deserves more recognition than it is currently receiving.
For Raimi’s fantasy spectacle enchants with magnificent sets, picture-perfect costumes and fabulous worlds, such as a small porcelain town, sprawling poppy fields and an oversized treasure trove that would make even Scrooge McDuck hold his breath. These sights, complemented by stylised digital tricks, are accompanied by a wonderful score by “Nightmare Before Christmas” composer Danny Elfman. It mixes joyful lightness, playful theatrical drama and an old-fashioned sense of adventure to create a sound wallpaper that complements Raimi’s visual worlds very well.
In front of it, the striking cast performs with a lovely attitude somewhere between reverent homage to the cloud-dancing studio cinema of the 1930s and a gently modern perspective on its workings: Franco is convincing as a sleazy liar and womaniser who, in true Ebenezer Scrooge style, allows horror and lack of alternative to push him to improve his nature.
Weisz lends grandeur to her dazzlingly intriguing role. Williams gives Glinda a subliminally sarcastic innocence with depths. And Kunis charms brilliantly between fatal naivety and irrepressibly impetuous frustration. Whether you watch “The Wizard of Oz” as a sequel or an alternative future Oscar, or leave Raimi’s Witch Dance to its own devices – that’s up to you to decide, depending on your mood of the day!
