A magician finds himself transported to the magical land of Oz, where witches, flying monkeys and yellow brick roads exist. He is mistaken for the saviour of Oz and must decide whether or not to stay and be king, or leave and find his way home.

I love Sam Raimi, the man and his invented work with a camera are what made me want to get into filmmaking in the first place. So to see him handling big projects like this (and Spiderman) was a joy for me to see. Oz the Great & Powerful is a CGI heavy film that demands a creative eye behind the lens. After his work on big budget films like Spiderman, it seemed like an easy choice for Raimi to be the one behind Oz and for the most part, it works. The films shortcomings keep it from being really magical and memorable, like the original from 39, but Oz has enough whimsy to keep the kids entertained and the adults smiling.

The land of Oz is indeed magical, with vibrant colours around every corner, memorable spots like the poppy fields and the dark forest for us older viewers, but even in saying all that I can't help but feel how fake it all is. This film suffers from the same troubles that plagued Burton's Alice in Wonderland, the visuals, although great for the story, add no sense of realism to the image. I hate overly used CGI in films to the point of noticing the awkward placement of actors in front of the green screen. The first major offender of this is Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, none of the actors made me believe they were in the settings they were. Both Wonderland and Oz have this same feeling.

While I'm getting the negatives out of the way, I must say that what everyone is saying about Mila Kunis is true, she was miscast in this role. I think she was chosen more for her beauty and star power than her acting abilities, which is sad cause it looks like she really is trying here. The story for her character here is a sad one and the second half I think suffers a bit because the threat from her is not really present. I don't really know why I'm tip-toeing around the issue because those who know The Wizard of Oz, know that Dorothy kills one witch with her house and the other with water, leaving Glinda the good witch in a bubble as the saviour. Seeing the Kunis character go in the direction she does didn't really effect me as much as I wanted it to. Consider that the failure of the script more so than the actors. Not enough time is really given to her for her transformation to affect the viewer.

The film opens in black & white and and the transformation to colour had a smile on my face. Despite the "fakeness" of some of the scenes (not all) Raimi does a decent job of not letting the effects overpower the film. Raimi steers the film in the right direction, but it is James Franco's shoulders it has to rest on. He is the type of actor that comes off as not really caring. It works in some films like Pineapple Express and he does manage to turn in some great performances, look at 127 days or Freaks & Geeks for that. Unfortunately I don't know if he has enough charisma and power to command a film like this. At times it looked like he was in the role, other times it felt like he couldn't care. Maybe it's his acting style, I can't really put my finger on it, but clearly Raimi sees something in him because he has worked with him previously on the Spiderman films.

Where the acting does work, marvellously and in every scene is Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams. Two polar opposites that look like they actually enjoy the characters and the movie they are in. They elevate the material a bit to make the drama more tangible. Whereas without them I think the film would have fallen more flat. The drama and character choices didn't really bring me into the story. The film didn't feel like it took chances, or tried to have complex situations for the characters. It had mapped out beats, hit them and marched on.

It was nice seeing some nice Raimi touches in the final product. More than 25 years later and I still smile when I see Bruce Campbell getting hit in the face, knowing full well that it is Sam Raimi on the other end of the camera hitting him. Surprisingly, moments did indeed feel Evil Deadish to me, with the flying witches holding out their hands in a deadite possession form. But I digress. Oz is a good film, with weaknesses that bring it down. Raimi and two witches try their best to elevate some bland material and in the end we are left with a film that is neither great, nor memorable....just satisfactory enough.

I love anything to do with The Wizard of Oz. The story is a classic, and the 1939 Judy Garland film is for me one of the best films ever made. And I liked the idea of having a prequel to this story, and Oz the Great and Powerful had potential to be great in the right hands. I was kind of intrepid though as well because I heard a lot of bad things about it, and while it was not as bad as I'd heard it was a disappointment. And this was including me taking into account that it is a family movie and that any film should be judged on its own merits.

Oz the Great and Powerful does have a fair few things that redeem it. I loved the visuals, I thought on seeing the trailer that they looked amazing and on seeing the film itself I still stand by that. The colours are truly beautiful to look at and the cinematography and camera angles don't intrude too much and allow us to properly enjoy the visuals. The costumes and sets equally fanciful, Michelle Williams in particular looks radiant, while the CGI effects have moments where they are generic, but on the most part they're fine. Danny Elfman's score doesn't have the whimsical, poignant magic that his Edward Scissorhands score has for example, but it is both sparkling and rousing and you really feel a sense of fantasy and adventure when hearing it. When it comes to individual scenes, the highlight was the expertly done and thrilling tornado sequence, it looked great and didn't feel dragged out too long. And there are two performances that are good. Coming off the best was Rachel Weisz who is deliciously sassy and seductive. Michelle Williams occasionally comes across as a little too airy-fairy, but she also makes a good impression, being wondrous visually and being full of charm and benevolence.

James Franco and Mila Kunis did absolutely nothing for me though. Franco I've liked before in other films, the finest example being 127 Hours, but I did feel that in perhaps an attempt to be quirky that he wildly overdid his part, his smirking- almost like he was stoned- grated really fast. Kunis unfortunately is bland personified, granted she was not given much worthwhile to work with but I just could not buy her at all as a Wicked Witch and there is no expression at all in her eyes. The voice acting is serviceable but never much more than that. Franco and Kunis are not the only let downs to the film. The script, story and pacing were really big issues in this regard. The script tries to incorporate too many things all at once and instead of doing this successfully it comes across as muddled and stilted instead. The story starts off well, but quickly becomes contrived, paper-thin and rushed with next to none of the enchantment, sense of wonder and emotional resonance that the story and 1939 film have. Relationships are introduced quickly and end even quicker than that. The overall pacing was rushed, but the lack of any genuine excitement also eventually made the film a sludge as it tries to stretch a very thin plot longer than it needed to be. The characters also are ones that we never learn anything about and consequently I didn't properly care for a single one.

All in all, has its good points and things to enjoy but this Oz is not as great or as powerful as it had potential to be. Not bad, but disappointing all the same. 5/10 Bethany Cox

That the original WIZARD OF OZ is a classic is pretty much a given, I think. It's hard to dislike a film that's so full of memorable scenes and characters, and Sam Raimi is the guy behind this prequel that attempts to show us a few back stories about some of the characters in the 1930s film. It's a mixed bag as a film overall, but it does recapture some of the old Raimi magic, and overall it's a film that's hard to dislike.

Certainly in a world of lacklustre ALICE IN WONDERLAND and CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY adaptations, OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL really stands out. The transition from black and white to full colour is a glorious one and the enhanced colour palette of the film really works. The whole journey is a visual treat, with excellent CGI backdrops and the like that really bring Oz to life in a way that in some cases is even more breath-taking than in WIZARD.

The central characters and their storyline are a little weaker, but still more than watchable. I'm a bit ambivalent when it comes to James Franco but I can appreciate that he does a good and thorough job here as the roguish magician thrown into a decidedly unnatural adventure. His companions in Oz are very well animated and brimming with character. Sadly, the witch storyline isn't so good; Michelle Williams is surprisingly effective, but Mila Kunis is miscast and Rachel Weisz is just poor. Nonetheless, although OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL has its detractors, I think it's a lot of simple, old-fashioned fun.