Oz: The Great and Powerful
3D Blu-ray | Blu-ray | DVD | Instant Video
Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire
Starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, and Zach Braff
Walt Disney Studios
Rated PG | Running Time: 130 Minutes
Release Date: June 11, 2013

If you keep up with my reviews, you know that I wrote up a review of the last time I saw this movie, which happened to be in real IMAX 3D, and you can find that review here.

A quick recap of the story, Oz (James Franco, This is the End), finds himself in the land of Oz, where he goes on a journey to prove himself, with some help from a few witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis, Family Guy), Evanora (Rachel Weisz, The Mummy), and of course we can’t forget about Glinda, (Michelle Williams, Dawson’s Creek), who I thought was one of the highlights as far as acting is concerned. And yes Dorothy, cause this is a Sam Raimi (Spider-Man Trilogy) film, be on the lookout for a familiar chin, Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) has a cameo appearance.

My feelings were mixed about the movie, but the one thing I did like was the visuals, which I was curious to see how well that would translate on a 3D TV. Well let’s just say that it looked good on the TV, but not nearly in the same scope as it was on a huge IMAX screen. One of my fellow reviewers wrote up a review of the other release, which included a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital copy, and you can check out his review here. Now the reason I am linking you to that review, is because the 3D release is a bare bones edition, with only the digital copy included as a special feature. But while I was doing a little digging around about this release, and you want to get the whole experience, both 3D and 2D, buy the Blu-ray/DVD/Digital edition and there should be an insert inside that you can buy the 3D version for $6. I am not sure why they did this, as Disney is usually pretty good about bundling all versions into one combo pack, but perhaps they are just trying to squeeze a few more dollars out the consumer. And the digital copy is pretty self explanatory, used to be able to watch the movie on numerous devices, but of course it’s the 2D version, still a few years away from 3D capable phones, I think.

But looking past that, I would say this would be a nice movie to buy for family movie night, as the visuals are amazing and there are some nods to the original movie, and you will most likely want to watch it after seeing this, just to see what you may have missed.

To really test out the 3D, the opening credit scene, along with the transition into Oz, and of course the big finale/battle, should really test out your system, and parts you can use to show off your 3D TV to people.

Trailer