The (almost) Great and Powerful

Oz: The Great and Powerful: 74 years after one of the most iconic films to ever hit the silver screen, a prequel is released with 74 years of more advanced graphics and special effects. Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) directs the first part of the yellow brick road that nobody knew or really cared about until now when news got out that James Franco is the reason for all this magic. The story begins with our star, Oz, working as a sideshow magician at a carnival in turn-of-the-century Kansas. He is a man of skewed morals with the good looks that can bring even munchkins down to another level. Without giving away too much, there is a chain of events that leads him into Oz the same way Dorothy got there and he meets up with a witch named Theodora (Mila Kunis) and along with a furry companion they head to the Emerald City accompanied with computer generated effects Judy Garland could not even dream of, let alone, want.
      The cool thing about prequels is that everybody watches them for are the "ohh, okay" moments that tie together details and open ends from the movie that took place in its future. The Wizard of Oz was one of those movies that was nearly perfect to begin with and did not really have the untied ends that needed closure. This film was packed with references left and right, sure, but one should expect a little bit more out of feature that links itself to a movie with memorabilia in the Smithsonian and pretty much declared a national institution. There were some comedic one-liners that were charming and then there were others that stretched a bit much for a punchline. Theodora's sister, Evanora (Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardner) was seductive and vile which, one could say, stole the show. James Franco and Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn), Glinda, were stopped short of their true potential to unleash the acting we've seen in previous films of theirs. Thank you for the references that you did add though, Mr. Raimi--Next time--go a little further on the details and less on the green screen. To Oz? To Oz!  6.4/10