Oz the Great and Powerful!!!!

Oz the Great and Powerful.

Oz the Great and Powerful sees the return of director Sam Raimi after a short hiatus from mainstream film making after his Spiderman franchise was cancelled and re-booted with a different director. But that's in the past and what he has created here is what is described as a prequel to the original 'Wizard of Oz' film released in 1939.

Starting out just like the original 'Wizard Of Oz' in black and white you see a carnival setting in Kansas as Oscar "Oz" Diggs (James Franco) and his associate Frank (Zach Braff) are performing a magic act. Soon enough Oscar is in trouble and ends up flying away in a hot air balloon, heading for the centre of a tornado he's blown around and around and eventually ends up in a colourful land,OZ.

Stranded in a whole new world Oscar meets the first witch of the film Theodora (Mila Kunis), she believes him to be the great wizard who has come to take the throne in the land of Oz. As he ventures to the great emerald city Theodora slowly falls for Oz, reaching the city at last he meets the second witch Evanora (Rachel Weisz). While he speaks to Evanora he is told that the wicked witch lies west of the Emerald City and he has to break her wand to rid her of her powers. As he picks up two companions along his travels, a flying monkey Finley (voice by Zach Braff) and China Girl (voice by Joey King) he eventually comes face to face with the third witch Glinda (Michelle Williams). 

As Oz meets Glinda he finds out what is really happening in Oz and who is really the evil witch of the three of them. Oz must then work with the the people of Oz to rid the land of the Wicked Witch and become the great wizard that he is destined to become. But will he succeed in his adventure and will the land of Oz finally be free of the Wicked Witch?

Overall it has to be said in my opinion that the film is visually absolutely stunning, the special effects used to create the vast visuals of the land of Oz and the Emerald City are stunning and make it feel fresh and interesting. The storyline of the film is good but at points you can easily work out what will happen next and especially if you've seen the 1939 you can work out how Oz makes his final presence made to the people of Oz.

As far as the actors go James Franco I feel is just a little bit too sleezy he comes across as a creepy, sleezy over the top magician but to me James took it that bit "too" far. Mila Kunis in the first half of the film is great and brings an innocence to the character of Theodora, then in the second half she turns into an over the top character with the same formulaeic traits you'd expect from a witch. Rachel Weisz stands out as she portrays Evanora perfectly and is able to convey two sides to her character well. Michelle Williams as Glinda brings a bright bubbly character to the story and she does well to portray her innocence and kindness to everything in Oz.

As a stand alone film you can see what attracts people to it as it has the visuals, the well known actors and it's set in the land of Oz loved by many people. It's an ok prequel to the original 'Wizrd of Oz' film and clears up the storyline of how the wizard became to be in the land of Oz. For me as an older movie goer I found it didn't sit quite well with me which is a shame as it could have wowed me but it didn't. A great kids film that no doubt will have kids and fans of Oz flocking to the cinema to see this film. 

6/10.