REVIEWS & GAMES
★ avoid ★★ hire ★★★ own
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL ★★
This colourful fantasy adventure is actually an origin story for the mighty Wizard of Oz himself. Oscar Diggs (James Franco), known as “Oz” to his few friends, hacks out a living as a small-time con artist and stage magician in Kansas until he gets caught in a tornado and is transported to a world full of real magic. To make matters worse, the people of this world believe he’s some kind of prophesied saviour who is expected to put his life on the line to break up a violent power struggle between three witch siblings — in return for kingship and a mountain of gold, of course. Unfortunately, the story follows the typical Disney formula and offers no surprises — the cowardly protagonist undergoes a journey of self-discovery and eventually becomes the hero everyone believes he is. It’s cute, but even kids will call every plot point before it happens. — Matthew Vice
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
★★★ / / ★★
For lovers of those sparkly vampire movies, here’s another romantic tale of star-crossed lovers whose crisis involves a supernatural twist. Our hero, Ethan, is a teenager living in a town that seems stuck in the ’50s. But he has big dreams of getting out. Then he falls for Lena, the mysterious and beautiful new girl at school who, gosh darnit, happens to be descended from a long line of witches. She’s a nice girl at heart but, double gosh darnit, she’s also under some sort of curse, which means that on her 16th birthday, her “true nature” will emerge — and nobody knows if she’ll be a Glenda Goodwitch or “go dark”. Wow. And you thought your first love was complicated. As the central characters do a lot of sighing and stomping of feet, it’s Lena’s relatives (Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson and Emmy Rossum) who elevate the film above a dull adolescent melodrama — but only just. Three stars if you’re a teenage girl. Two for everybody else. — Elizabeth Sleith
DORA’S RESCUE IN MERMAID KINGDOM ★★★
Pick out 10 toddlers from a playground and at least three of them will know Nickelodeon’s Dora The Explorer . If they don’t yet, merchandise envy will quickly cure their ignorance. Lunch boxes, water bottles and backpacks stamped with a happy, button-eyed, bob-cut Latino girl seems to lend some junglegym cred these days. Dora’s latest DVD offering serves to feed this frenzy, hence your need to purchase to retain cool-parent-numero-uno status. It’s entertainment for kids, with a smattering of the Spanish language education that we so desperately need in this country. But if you get this, not only will you have to explain why a monkey doesn’t really talk but also that mermaids don’t exist, shattering wide-eyed wonder forever. Be prepared. — Keith Tamkei
GIANA SISTERS: TWISTED DREAMS ★★★
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PC Players control a girl named Giana (pictured), who has to travel across a magical dream world to rescue her sister, who has been kidnapped by an obese dragon.
It’s a retro-style platforming game with some interesting features. For starters, Giana can transform between a cute, blonde-haired, teddy-bear-hugging version of herself and a red-haired, punk version to access different powers she’ll need to navigate the world and defeat her enemies. The world also shifts between a fairytale wonderland and a Tim Burton-ish vision of hell when you do this and it’s amazing to watch.
And to top it all off, the music alone is almost reason enough to play it. A light-hearted, orchestral fairytale score plays when cute Giana is running around, but it morphs into a squealing, punk-metal score when she transforms into punk Giana — the same music, just with different instruments. This isn’t just a fun game, it’s a work of art. — Matthew Vice