YMMV / Oz the Great and Powerful

• Accidental Aesop:
  • Do not toy around with people's feelings. Oscar ends up in several dangerous situations that could have been avoided if he wasn't such a careless womanizer.
  • Women who have lived sheltered lives — be wary of men who appear charming. Do not take Because You Were Nice to Me as a sign of love.
• Adaptation Displacement: Exploited. Oz is legally a prequel to the books, but intends to be a prequel to the film. This even extends to the movie's title. "Oz, the Great and Powerful" is the moniker the Wizard uses in the 1939 film; in the book, he styles himself as Oz, the Great and Terrible. Not to mention that the Wicked Witch of the West is portrayed with green skin, which she only had in the 1939 movie (in the book, she was just a withered old woman with an eyepatch).^note Evanora's true form is in fact modelled after the description of the Witch in the book, as the Witch of the East is never seen. Also, Glinda is the "Good Witch of the South" in this film, like she is in the book, and unlike the original film, where she's the "Good Witch of the North".
• Adorkable: Oscar. His anxiety in regards to actually doing his wizardly duties makes him more charming as a character.
• Awesome Music: It's Danny Elfman, after all.
• Broken Base: Initially, Mila Kunis as Theodora, considering who she's really playing. Her performance was panned at the time, for Chewing the Scenery and not being able to follow Margaret Hamilton. Plus, the idea that the Wicked Witch of the West is nothing more than a teenager who got dumped by her crush did not go over well with fans of the original. But over time, her performance was widely defended in that she still manages to make the character work even with the hamminess. They also point out that the original Wicked Witch was quite hammy herself in the original film.
• Catharsis Factor: Glinda finally fighting back against Evanora, showing that Good Is Not Soft and she will pay for what she did to Glinda's father. She also banishes her and Theodora from the Emerald City permanently with a powerful spell.
  Evanora: What's the matter Glinda? Out of bubbles?
  Glinda: Don't need 'em. Bubbles are just for show.
• Critical Backlash: While not panned, there was a strong negative attitude towards the movie, partly because it was a prequel to one of the most beloved fantasy films of all time and partly because that film already had a wildly successful prequel considered far superior to this one. But as the years have gone by, more defenders of the film have popped up. It also got compared more favourably against Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return and Pan — a fantasy film that attempted to do the same for Peter Pan — which got a bigger critical trashing.
• Cry for the Devil: This film causes The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz to receive this treatment.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Alright, show of hands who has read fanfiction involving Theodora getting redemption, even though the film shows that this is literally a physical impossibility? Hilariously enough, Mila Kunis does wear leather pants in this movie.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Joey King as the China Girl is often cited by critics as the best character in the movie.
  • Rachel Weisz's wildly against type performance as Evanora is beloved too, for Evil Is Cool and the fact that she's clearly having a ball in the role.
• Fanon:
  • It's widely agreed that Oscar and Theodora had sex in the field after the campfire scene. The movie only implies it with a dreamy shot tilting up to the sky, but some fans like to theorise that it was Theodora losing her virginity. She loves him after that moment and it would explain why she expects him to marry her.
  • There is also a fan theory that Theodora's goodness was not completely extinguished upon eating the apple, and she will end up becoming the mother of Princess Ozma. In the books, Ozma's father was the ruler before the Wizard came to power, and that could be who Glinda's father is meant to be in this continuity. Ozma's mother never factors into the story, giving a way in for Fix Fics.
  • Fans like to theorise that Evanora created the Ruby Slippers after her pendant was destroyed to make it harder for her power to be nullified.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In this film, James Franco's character charms a young woman into falling for him with disastrous consequences. Franco later admitted to sleeping with his students while teaching film classes and was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.
• He Really Can Act: Mila Kunis's transformation and subsequent performance as the Wicked Witch of the East has been praised as one of the best aspects of the film, with even her hammiest moments stealing the scene whenever she appears.
• Ho Yay: Some see it between Evanora and Glinda, and also Theodora and Glinda. They both seem obsessed with caressing Glinda's face and calling it pretty out of... jealousy. Yeah, jealousy. Sure.
• It Was His Sled: Theodora and Evanora are the Wicked Witches of the West and East respectively. What was supposed to be a twist is now seen as the only reason why this movie stays on people's radars, mostly because how unexpected Mila Kunis is as a famous villain of pop culture.
• Jerkass Woobie: You will want to reach through and hug Theodora...but after seeing Evanora corrupt her, you wouldn't be too unjustified in keeping your distance.
• Just Here for Godzilla: The performances of Joey King as China Girl (an effective Woobie who many called the best character), Rachel Weisz as Evanora (who's having such a good time as the villain that she's Love to Hate) and Michelle Williams as Glinda (a pretty layered female lead who proves herself to be Silk Hiding Steel) are considered by some to be the best reasons to watch the film.
• Magnificent Bastard: Oscar Diggs, aka "The Great and Powerful Oz", was a magician and con artist at a travelling circus before being transported to the World of Oz. There, he learns that he is destined to save the land and become their new king, after the previous one was killed. While initially in it for the wealth and power, he proves himself to be empathetic and good at heart when he saves Finley from a lion and repairs China Girl's legs with glue. Upon learning that Evanora killed the king and framed Glinda for it, he comes up with the plan to defeat her and the forces of Emerald City, deciding that illusion is the best approach. He tricks Evanora into sending her flying baboon army over the poppy fields, causing them to sleep, and fakes his death so that he can "reincarnate" into his "true form": a giant head in the sky that shoots fireworks from his mouth. After the witch is defeated, he provides his allies with gifts and uses a mini projection system to watch over the people of Oz while they believe that he is dead.
• Moral Event Horizon: If Evanora hasn't already crossed this with the murder of Glinda's father, she crosses it when she tricks Theodora into losing her heart and all her goodness, and becoming a witch more wicked than she is. Even she realized after this act that she had taken her quest for power too far and that there was no turning back.
• Narm:
  • LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO MEEEEEE! Said by Evanora after Glinda shatters her magic amulet, revealing her true appearance.
  • Much of what Theodora says after her Face–Heel Turn comes off as ridiculous due to her Chewing the Scenery.
  • Graham Norton had this reaction to the campfire scene when the clip was shown on his show. Specifically, Theodora Shaking Her Hair Loose. He burst out laughing, as the scene out of context made it appear as though Oscar had never seen hair before.
• Narm Charm:
  • Again, Theodora. It's rare that a performance can be so hilarious and terrifying at the same time, but Mila Kunis manages to pull it off. She does fill the pointed hat of one of the greatest Large Ham roles in cinema.
  • Oscar's performance as "The Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz" is such over the top scenery chewing that it would plunge headlong into Narm territory if it also didn't happen to be his truly epic victorious Moment of Awesome against the wicked witches with Rule of Cool on his side.
• Never Live It Down: A lot of the complaints say that Theodora became the Wicked Witch of the West because she was a Woman Scorned. While there is some truth to that, she becomes so because her sister corrupted her.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Some thought China Town was thought up for this movie — it was in the original book.
  • An attempt at bringing the Oz franchise back to the tone and spirit of the books, while also borrowing some familiar adaptation changes from the 1939 film? Return to Oz did that too (although it went even Darker and Edgier than this).^note Among the adaptation changes they took from the MGM film were having the slippers be ruby instead of silver, and giving Oz characters human counterparts in Kansas.
  • Two sisters in Oz, one good and one evil, and one being corrupted into evil by the other had been done in Tin Man. That one had a happier ending for the sisters however.
• Retroactive Recognition: Abigail Spencer was one of Oscar’s love conquests before (or perhaps during?) her adventures of time-traveling.
• Signature Scene:
  • Oz's balloon being sucked into the tornado.
  • Oz and Finley meeting the Little China Girl.
• So Okay, It's Average: Has some genuinely good scenes, Little China Girl is simply precious, and some good humor. But other things such as the performances of the two leads and Theodora's character arc bring it down to average for some viewers.
• Special Effects Failure: Theodora's evil cackle is obviously another woman's voice being ADR'd over Mila Kunis.
• Spiritual Adaptation: Like Frozen and Maleficent, the film is a cinematic adaptation of Wicked as an origin story for one of the most important characters in the Oz mythos and the Wicked Witch of the West is a major character in both stories as we get to see her Face–Heel Turn transformation into the Big Bad of the original Wizard of Oz novel.
• Strangled by the Red String: Oscar and Theodora. A major part of the movie's plot revolves around her falling in love with him, and then turning evil after she thinks he's betrayed her. But this falls short when you realize that Oscar and Theodora have only known each other for a day or two before he leaves the Emerald City and they don't see each other again until after her Face–Heel Turn. Despite this, she's already talking about how she'll be his queen and they'll rule Oz together, and completely breaks down when she thinks he's cheating on her. It's also not entirely clear how far their relationship went to begin with and whether they actually slept together or not, which can make Theodora come off as a Clingy Jealous Girl or a Stalker with a Crush. Evanora in-universe views them as this and exploits it to make Theodora do her Face–Heel Turn.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Many agree that Theodora's turn to the dark side was far too rushed and could have benefited from more development.
  • One of the most promising things about this film was the prospect of getting to see both Wicked Witches in action at the same time, since the Wicked Witch of the East was a Posthumous Character in the original. ^note  "Remember how much the Wicked Witch terrified you in the original? Now there are two of them!" But since most of Theodora's story is dominated by her Origin Story, while Evanora is largely a Hidden Villain who spends most of the film hiding the fact that she's evil, there's barely any time for either of them to be Wicked Witches by the time it becomes clear who they are. As a result, they never really live up to their potential as a Big Bad Duumvirate.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: In the original film, the Wicked Witch of the East is first introduced as the tyrannical ruler of Munchkinland, which is only freed from her rule after Dorothy's house crushes her. It would have been pretty intriguing to see what Munchkinland was like under her rule, and it would have allowed the filmmakers to put a dark and dystopic spin on a famously bright and happy setting. But her rule of Munchkinland never even comes up (Evanora and her sister are both introduced residing in the Emerald City), implying that she didn't conquer it until after the events of this film.
• Tough Act to Follow: A three-fer.
  • The Wizard of Oz is one of the most beloved movies of all time, so this one positioning itself as a prequel was already in a tight spot. Especially decades after it came out, with none of the original cast or crew still alive. Although ironically that brings us to...
  • Return to Oz was another attempt at bringing the Oz franchise Truer to the Text and honoring the aesthetics of the first film (while also featuring none of the original cast). It too was tepidly received, but it has since become an underrated Cult Classic among 80s kids.
  • Wicked was an unofficial prequel to the first film, and both it and its musical adaptation (which are two separate entities mind you) have huge fan bases. Indeed, one of the entries on the movie's IMDB FAQ page was asking if Elphaba was going to feature. FYI — Elphaba is only the name for the Wicked Witch in that continuity.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: To a number of viewers, Theodora even after her Face–Heel Turn was a Designated Villain more deserving of sympathy than the "good guys", and could not realistically become such an iconic villain as The Wicked Witch of the West. Oscar begins to realize this near the end of the film, where he tries to convince Theodora to pull a Heel–Face Turn sometime in the future; it doesn't work.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Oz is simply stunning to look at. With such advances in CGI, it's impressive to see Oz recreated in such a beautiful way.
• The Woobie:
  • Headstrong as China Girl is, your paternal/maternal instincts kick in when she's onscreen.
  • The girl in the wheelchair who China Girl is based on. It's heartbreaking to see her belief in magic crushed after Oz reveals to her that he can't help her walk again.
  • Frank, Oz's assistant back in Kansas. He's devoted to Oz despite Oz being an outright Jerkass to him. And then he watches Oz get sucked into the tornado and we never hear from him again.
  • Glinda. Between having her father killed, being framed for his murder, and getting tortured by the wicked witches in the climax of the movie, she's been through a lot.
  • Theodora. A kindhearted, young, innocent girl who only remained neutral to keep peace between two feuding witches and in Oz. She's tricked into becoming evil against her own will by her own sister, who exploits her passionate love for the hero. She clearly is under the influence of magic while evil, and yet the people of Oz hate her, unaware of all this.

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