- “Because I'm a monkey, I must love bananas, right? That is a vicious stereotype.”
- ―Finley to Oscar Doggs
Finley is the tritagonist from the 2013 Disney film Oz the Great and Powerful. He is a flying monkey with a blue bellhop suit that befriends Oscar Diggs and accompanies him on his journey.
Background[]
Personality[]
Despite being a monkey, Finley is intelligent, proper, and quite vocal of his opinions. He is often the voice of reason, as evident when he tries to get Oscar to admit he is not a wizard than let his pride get the better of him. Finley also has a sense of honor, such as when he said he owed a life-debt to Oscar and continued to carry this on much to his dismay and to Oscar's benefit. Though he tries to act civilized, he still carries his animal instincts and tendencies, once admitting that he loves bananas even though he was insulted by the stereotypical response to one like himself. He also does care about his friends even if they annoy him. Finley also shows to be cowardly and frightened, as he was greatly afraid of the lion and extremely nervous that Oscar would be revealed as a fraud which would mean a death sentence for both of them, to the point of a nervous breakdown.
Physical appearance[]
Finley is a small brown monkey. He wears a blue bellhop suit with golden lining and buttons with a small satchel around it. He has wings with gray and brown feathers on his back that allow him to fly. He also has brown-hazel eyes.
Role in the film[]
Finley first appears tangled up in vines along the Yellow Brick Road, having been tied there by the winged baboons. Oscar and Theodora travel by and notice his situation. Oscar offers to help free him from vines, but Finley reveals the real danger to be the lion that lives in the woods. It attacks, but Oscar scares it away, which causes Finley to state he now owes a life debt to Oscar and refuses to leave his side. At first unwilling to take Finley with him, Oscar is convinced by Theodora because she thinks he's "cute".
Oscar has Finley drag around his bag for the rest of the journey to the Emerald City which Finley begrudgingly does. To have an alibi, Oscar reveals to Finley the truth that he's not a wizard. Finley immediately panics but is forced to play along with the masquerade because of his debt. Accompanying Oscar on his quest to kill the Wicked Witch of the East, Finley notices smoke coming from nearby China Town, and decides to investigate it, much to Oscar's protest on trying to continue finding the witch. The duo venture there to find the town completely destroyed, with the sole survivor being a young china girl whose legs are broken. Finley watches Oscar repair the legs with glue, and the girl eventually goads Oscar to take her with them.
Approaching a cemetery in a dark, haunting wood, the trio spotted a cloaked figure whom they presume is the Witch. Finley distracts the figure, while Oz sneaks over to the wand, takes it, and is about to break it in two when a soothing voice stops him. The hooded figure unveils herself, revealing a beautiful face beneath it and introduces herself as Glinda and explains that the true Wicked Witch is Evanora, who is back at the Emerald City. Suddenly, the Winkie guards and baboons attack, forcing the group to run. Eventually cornering them to a cliff, Finley flies downward along with the others to trick the baboons into leaving. The others then levitate safely thanks to Glinda's bubbles, while Finley simply flew with them back to Glinda's city and resistance.
When Oscar formulates the plan to get into Emerald City, Finley for his part hides in the carriage delivering him, Oscar, and the Tinkerer into the city. When Oscar tells them he will stay behind to make sure the others are safe, Finley expresses fear to this and asks him not to but is unsuccessful. Once he was positioned in the citys square, he witnesses the apparent demise of Oscar hovering above in his hot air balloon. Greatly saddened by his friend's death, Finley weeps until a guard tells him to stop. Finley looks up to him and realizes it is Oscar, and the crash is a part of his much larger trick. Finley regroups with him in the nearby carriage and helps operate the machine within it to produce an illusion of Oscar as a giant, threatening head which scares the witches away. After the battle, Oscar becomes ruler of the Emerald City and invites Finley into a briefing with the others. As his gift from Oscar, Finley receives his hat, and is proclaimed an official friend of the great Oz. He is last seen watching Oscar and Glinda kiss behind the curtain as the film ends.
Trivia[]
- Just as China Girl is a counterpart to the girl in the wheelchair and Glinda is counterpart to Annie, Finley is counterpart to Oscar's beleaguered assistant Frank, as Oscar called Frank "a trained monkey."
- In both The Wizard of Oz and the books, flying monkeys are the minions of the Wicked Witch of the West but in Oz the Great and Powerful, Finley does not appear to be part of this affair and seems to be independent. However, in the books, flying monkeys only served the Witch because she held a talisman known as the Golden Cap, which compels the flying monkeys to obey whoever wears it. Whether or not there is a connection to this is unknown.
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