If it were just down to the last twenty minutes or so, this might have been quite good. Sadly, though, we must watch the first hundred to get there, and they are not so good. "Diggs" (James Franco) is a jobbing, pretty unpleasant, magician doing the provincial shows when he and his balloon get caught up in a storm and next thing, he is in an unknown land where pretty soon he befriends a winged ape, a porcelain doll and is on the path to great riches in the "Emerald City". Upon arrival, acclaiming himself this great wizard, he meets three sisters who are a darned sight better with their wands - and he is soon a pawn in their game for control over "Oz". Can he thwart their machinations and save the city from their scheme? There is a narrative here - it's about "Diggs" discovering his inner decency, but it all just takes an age to get anywhere. Franco is adequate, but no better, and there three witches - Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis and the nice one we recall from the original film "Glinda" (Michelle Williams) are oddly sterile with their efforts. Too much greenscreen, perhaps? Nobody seems to be at the races here. The dialogue is bland and barring a few fun expressions and observations from his put-upon sidekick "Frank" (Zach Braff) it just doesn't ever seem to catch fire. It does look good, the monochrome to colour effects work quite well, but otherwise I was rather underwhelmed by most of this.

Overdone movie for children, with tiring tricks thought for 3D but a poor animation that becomes boring for its colorfulness. If you are a kid, you may enjoy, if you are an adult, better pass ...

I think I have never seen a movie with such (over)saturated and vibrant colors. Well, that is apart from the first few minutes which are in black and white as some tribute to the “original” Wizard of Oz movie. Surprisingly enough it works quite well. The sceneries and landscapes are beautiful to watch in just the right fairy-tale style that you would expect from the land of Oz.

The story is pretty much a prequel to the original Wizard of Oz story. Something which does not really intrude too much for most part of the movie but becomes painfully obvious in the last couple of scenes. As for the general story it is pretty much okay. It pleased the kids for sure and I would say that is the main goal of this movie. For adults well, as I said it is okay but not really much more.

The lead character can be infuriating at times with his “dubious ethics” as the blurb words it. Unfortunately he never really manages to convey that likable rascal attitude that one would have hoped for. He somehow just stays a rather bland character with “dubious ethics”. I think this goes for most of the other main characters as well. Except for the dubious ethics of course which for the other characters are either plain good or totally and without a doubt bad ones.

On the whole I would say that the movie was okay but never really reached any higher than that. For a kid it was probably somewhat better than okay. I did enjoy the movie although this was mostly for the unusual and vibrant colorization and the lovely scenery.

Synopsis: Oscar, also known as the great and powerful Oz, is a magician with a traveling circus whose act hasn't been doing very well lately. When he lands himself in trouble with the circus' strongman, he hops into a hot air balloon to make an escape...only for a storm to take him to the land of Oz, where it was prophesied that a great wizard who bears the name of the land will save them from utter disaster. There, the magician meets three witches, two of which turn out to be evil, and want to rule the land of Oz with an iron fist. However, Glinda, the good witch, wants Oz saved, and she believes Oscar can do it. However, the so-called "wizard" is merely a master of illusion, not a sorcerer. Will he be able to rescue his namesake land from the clutches of the two evil witches?

The Good: I love a good, clean-cut, fantasy/action story, and this is definitely one. The special effects were amazing; the characters either easily likable or utterly despicable; the action sequences were on point; all in all, a fun adventure that brings L. Frank Baum's fictional land into modern cinema.

The Bad: While minor, some content concerns did exist, namely the low-cut wardrobes of the witches, including Glinda. There's also magic present, but, anything that deals with the land of Oz would have that, right? Occasional name-calling and misuses of God's name pops up, and there are a few scary moments. However, this film does not betray its "PG" rating.

Conclusion: I've mentioned more than once that I've always been more partial to Disney's live-action productions; while the House of Mouse has done some animated marvels, especially with Pixar, I've always preferred the non-cartoon ones. So, something like this is right up my alley...and that made me enjoy it all the more. Maybe this isn't Disney as you've come to expect it, but this is how I like my Mickey Mouse productions.

Score: 4.5/5

I thought this would be a dumb movie, but I was wrong. Pretty good movie and very funny. He's a magician who the people of Oz thinks he's powerful. He trys to con them all into thinking he has special powers.