Starring: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, Abigail Spencer, Joey King
Director: Sam Raimi
Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Release Date: June 11, 2013
Run Time: 130 minutes
3D: 4 out of 5 stars
Extras: N/A
Overall Score: 3 out of 5 stars
Disclaimer: This review is focusing solely on the 3D release and not on the film itself. If you are looking for more of film review, check out our review for the 2D Blu-ray combo pack here. When I think about “Oz The Great and Powerful”, I think of a really beautiful and visual 3D experience. Disney decided to stray from their usual 5-disc massive Blu-ray combo packs and release the 3D Blu-ray for this film individual from the rest. That means that if you purchase this Blu-ray, you will be no standard 2D Blu-ray or DVD of the film, like usual. That is ok for me since if I am going to watch this film it really would need to be in 3D anyway but I think that this is a really poor choice that Disney has made. To make matters worse, they are then giving you the option to “upgrade” and purchase a 2D Blu-ray for $5.99. Also this 3D Blu-ray isn’t even any cheaper than the 2D Blu-ray combo pack. According to Amazon, they are the exactly the same price.
Now that all of that is out of the way. The film looks absolutely stunning on this 3D Blu-ray. The 3D is some of the best that I have seen recently and literally jumps off the screen. The colors are extremely vibrant and beautiful, especially with the switch from black and white to color after the opening 20 minutes. I think that this move really benefited the film since you are watching it on a 4:3 scale and then it is blown up to 2.40:1 and turned into glorious HD color. As much as I loved the audio track just as much. Disney delivered a very sharp DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 Near Field Audio Mix track! The sound is quite amazing from the twister swinging through Kansas to the flying monkeys flying past your head. My only issue is that the Blu-ray defaults a really basic Dolby Surround 2.0 track, which is mind boggling. What is going on here? Why not the best track on the Blu-ray?
Official Premise: Disney’s fantastical adventure Oz The Great And Powerful, from the director of the Spider-Man trilogy, follows Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics. When Diggs is hurled away to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot — until he meets three witches (Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams), who aren’t convinced he’s the great wizard everyone’s expecting. Reluctantly drawn into epic problems facing Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it’s too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity — and even some wizardry — Oscar transforms himself into the great wizard and a better man as well.
I should also point out that even though this 3D Blu-ray release doesn’t come with the 2D Blu-ray or DVD, it does at least come with a digital copy. Finally Disney woke up and smelled the roses with their digital copy releases and joined the rest of the world with cloud streaming. Plus now they don’t have to produce the extra digital copy DVD for each release. So they are not joining board with Ultraviolet service but you can now redeem with Disney Movie Rewards and will be able to view the film online via your tablets, smartphones, TV etc. So at least that is a plus and I hope that then plan on doing that going forward for the rest of their new releases. Lastly to continue to add salt to the wound, there are no special features on this release. So if you want those you would either need to purchase the 2D Blu-ray combo pack or upgrade to the 2D Blu-ray. Let’s hope that this is the last release that Disney decided to do this to.
