OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL will be the first big screen return to the Yellow Brick Road since 1985’s cult classic, RETURN TO OZ. But, Sam Raimi‘s vision will be by far the biggest budgeted take on the L. Frank Baum series since the original musical starring Judy Garland. Disney is obviously hoping to parlay this into a new franchise and they could not have chosen a better director to envision the magical world of Oz.
This new clip from the movie is almost entirely dialogue free and follows James Franco‘s Oscar Diggs (aka Oz) as he travels by bubble. We brought you another part of this same scene the other day, but this segment shows us a lot more of the landscape of Oz.
Oz looks to be a fully realized world for the first time here and we get to see what L. Frank Baum likely pictured when he wrote about his fantasy novels a hundred years ago. Hopefully this world feels a little more tangible and a little less video gamey in the final product. I still think there is way too much CGI in this movie and it feels a lot like Tim Burton‘s lackluster ALICE IN WONDERLAND, but I have faith that Raimi will deliver on the goods in the end. I hope.
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, starring James Franco, Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Zach Braff, and Joey King will open on March 8th.