The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Johnny Depp

THE GOOD
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003)

Mr Depp is a actor who I consider to be very talented. However, in an attempt to avoid becoming typecast as the generic good looking leading man Johnny Depp has thrown himself into a vast variation of film roles which, unfortunately for him, haven't always worked in his favour. That said, when he gets it right, he really gets it right. Film such as Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Ed Wood (1994) are great examples of this. His crowning jewel though is undoubtedly Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003). Depp brilliantly brings a now iconic character, Jack Sparrow, to life with his flawless performance in the first installment of this Disney epic. He's hilarious, handsome, and always lovable no matter what he does. Jack Sparrow is a brilliantly written character, but I genuinely couldn't see anyone else performing it with anywhere near the same class as Johnny Depp does. An outstanding performance in a really great film. It's a real shame they've completely overstretched what could have been a very respectable trilogy.


THE BAD
Dark Shadows (2012)

As I previously mentioned Depp's efforts to avoid becoming typecast have at times let to him appearing in poor films. This is not his only problem. His allegiance to Tim Burton, although admirable and at times outrageously successful, has led to him featuring in some shockingly bad movies. The worst of the lot - Dark Shadows (2012). A truly terrible piece of cinema. The jokes, if they can even be considered jokes, were terrible and awkward at the best of times, the script was boring rubbish, and the acting was disappointing to say the least. It featured the classic Tim Burton combination of Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, yet both massively under performed. Depp himself wasn't terrible, but he certainly wasn't good, and the film as a whole is just atrocious. He may have been suffering from a poor script and a director who spends too much time focusing on nostalgia and not enough time on originality, but this film is a rather large and unpleasant stain on Johnny Depp's film career.



THE UGLY
Sometimes it's easy to forget that almost every time we see a famous actor or actress they're made up to perfection. I'm not saying Johnny Depp is a bad looking, quite the opposite, he's a fantastic looking man. But I think we can all take a little bit of joy in seeing a celebrity looking ugly. So, here you go:

Oz The Great And Powerful

I don't think I'm alone in saying that The Wizard Of Oz (1939) is one of the films that are your bread and butter as a child. At least once every couple of months my mum or my sister would whack the video tape in and I'd sit on the floor, no more than a foot away from the telly, watching Dorothy make her way down the yellow brick road. I'm not going to claim that it was in any way my favourite film as a child, I always considered it slightly girly as a child, but it has always and will always hold a fond place in my heart purely because of the amount of times I watched it. So when word of Oz The Great And Powerful reached my ears, I was quite looking forward to seeing a modern take on a classic tale.

For those of you who don't know much about the film it tells the tale of how a small time circus magician came to be the wizard of Oz. After having his hot air balloon caught in the middle of a tornado Oscar Diggs, played by James Franco, is transported away to the magical land of Oz where he gets caught up in a power struggle between three witches and is forced to try and save the day.

This film has come into a lot of stick, despite being a big hit at the box office, but I actually thought it was pretty good. It's not going to define a generation of Disney films, nor is it going to displace the 1939 classic in the hearts of fans, but I can almost guarantee that if you will enjoy this film. You could hate the story, the acting, the characters, but I defy anyone to hate the fantastic world of Oz that Disney have managed to create. The visuals are stunningly beautiful. The animation was flawless and you could really immerse yourself into this epic imaginary realm.

As good as the scenery was the show undoubtedly stolen by the little China Girl and Finley, a lovable monkey voiced by Zach Braff. Fantastically animated and voiced, these two characters were brilliant from start to finish. Maybe it's because I'm a massive Scrubs geek, but I thought that Braff was the perfect voice for such a funny and lovable character as Finley. Both he and the China girl were a breath of fresh air in a film littered with far too many average characters.

Unfortunately there are certain parts of this film that are remarkably unexceptional, not least the performance of Mila Kunis. She's awful. I like Mila Kunis, who wouldn't? She's beautiful, funny, and thoroughly enjoyable in everything I've seen her in before Oz The Great And Powerful. I can't quite work out why this went so badly for her, because although she usually plays the pretty looking girl the guy falls in love with I was convinced she had enough acting ability to break her stereotypical role and play a villain. Unfortunately I was wrong. It just didn't suit her. Even before she turned into the wicked witch we all know, her lines seemed forced and unconvincing. Then once she'd been caked in green make up and squeezed into the tightest witches costume you're likely to find in a Disney film things just went from bad to worse. She was truly rubbish. My main gripe aside from Mila Kunis was a character called Knuck, played by Tony Cox. Knuck was unfunny and a truly pointless character whom I found incredibly annoying throughout the film.The rest of the cast did their bit. James Franco was decent but unremarkable, as were the other two witches.

Overall the film was decent. The story was interesting, most of the acting wasn't too bad, and the special effects were absolutely brilliant. It was miles better than the likes of Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland (2010) remake, but it was miles short of The Wizard Of Oz. I think a more apt title would have been: Oz The Good But Slightly Disappointing. That said I would recommend it if you're looking for something easy going, nice to look at, and funny in places.