sbweightman

A traditional Disney animated adventure which strays a bit too far from what made the original special. It was a lot more magical than spiritual with over the top montage sequences and death defying stunts but the songs were good and the animation was great. The story was as expected with a good if overtly happy ending but the villain lacked personality and the mid-act villain, whilst entertaining, didn't get any closure and felt a bit pointless. It was enjoyable and entertaining throughout with plenty of light hearted humor from the varied cast, even if it was a bit too childish at times.

Overall = 7/10.

The acting's great, the sets and choreography are spectacular, vibrant and full of colour and there are some great songs (in between them belting out notes for no reason), but it's hard to recommend when so much of it is left unfinished. The light plot fells drawn out, mainly focusing on the relationship between the two leads, with other characters barely used and other plot points never really explained. There's some good humour and attempts at defying traditional expectations but I never felt in awe or amazed at the magical world of Oz and the ending, whilst dramatic, felt rushed.

Overall = 6/10.

Entertainment at its finest, even if it is heavily in the shadow of its predecessor. Spectacular fight and action scenes, wickedly evil politics and a great concept of scale from the epic battles to the one on one combat bouts. It borrows heavily from the original in plot, characters and style, but there are more than enough differences to keep you engaged and the more African slant prevents it from being stale. The story wasn't as moving and overall the film will have less impact than the first, but the characters' motivations were clear, their acting performances were superb and the music was rousing.