United States of America

FantasyAdventureFamily

WitchMagicCircusHopeIllusionMagic trickWizardBased on young adult novel

Sam Raimi

James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Bill Cobbs

Mitchell Kapner, David Lindsay-Abaire

Roth Films, Walt Disney Pictures

Taglines: In Oz, nothing is what it seems.

Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus illusionist and con-artist, is whisked from Kansas to the Land of Oz where the inhabitants assume he's the great wizard of prophecy, there to save Oz from the clutches of evil.

Reviews:

Author: Geronimo1967
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.