Oz the Great and Powerful is an Ambitious Pre-Boot (Review)

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So many versions have come out since the musical fantasy “The Wizard of Oz” first hit the big screen in 1939. That very first movie adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz became one of the most popular films of all time, still captivating audiences 80 years since its release. As British-Indian novelist and essayist Salman Rushdie explains, “The Wizard of Oz” is more than a fantasy film: “It’s a story whose driving force is the inadequacy of adults, in which the weakness of grown-ups forces the characters to take control of their own destinies.”

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One of the most recent and well-known adaptations of The Wizard of Oz is the 2013 fantastical adventure “Oz the Great and Powerful.” The origin movie, directed by Sam Raimi, is set 20 years before the events of the original story and introduces us to Oscar Diggs (James Franco). A magician and con artist in a traveling circus, Diggs gets into trouble at the circus and escapes in a hot air balloon, only to get sucked into a tornado — keeping true to the original storyline — and lands himself in the mysterious Land of Oz.

There, he meets the witch Theodora (Mila Kunis), who starts believing that he is the wizard prophesied to defeat the Wicked Witch and restore order in the Land of Oz. Oscar knows he’s no wizard, but his desire to be a rich king stops him from telling Theodora the truth. He then crosses paths with Glinda (Michelle Williams) and Evanora (Rachel Weisz), and along with an unlikely band of accomplices, start their journey to defeat the Wicked Witch. However, they do not truly know who she is and just what she’s capable of.

Although the movie was entertaining, with its mesmerizing special effects and musical score, there was something about it that didn’t quite deliver. It’s one of those movies that ostensibly fall short despite having a star-studded lineup. Williams wasn’t convincing as Glinda, unlike Billie Burke in the original film. Her archnemesis, the Wicked Witches of the West and East, weren’t as intimidating as the original cast, either. You sympathize with Theodora for falling in love with the wrong man, triggering her transformation to the Wicked Witch of the East, but the love triangle just made it weird and it made the characters and their storylines ring a little shallow.

But then again, it is a fantasy movie created for a less mature audience, so viewers shouldn’t expect it to be as dark as the original. That said, it has its good points, too. How Franco’s character evolves from an uncaring, self-centered man to a selfless hero made the movie quite endearing. And although the movie has one witch too many, it gave a great view of what Oz was like before Dorothy dropped her house on the Wicked Witch of the East.

Overall though, it’s not an adaptation we highly recommend, unlike the cute canine drama “My Dog Skip,” based on an autobiographical novel of the same name. But if you’re looking for something light after a horrible day at work, “Oz the Great and Powerful” would be a good choice. The franchise has truly stood the test of time, with the story being told through countless other means like musical plays and video games. Arguably the most celebrated among these recent iterations is the hit Broadway musical Wicked, based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West — which itself is a retelling of the original. In the world of gaming, Slingo has a number of titles reminiscent of Dorothy and the gang’s adventures in the Land of Oz, such as the Book of Oz, which takes you back to the Wizard, and The Wizard of Oz Emerald City, where you can revisit the capital city from the Land of Oz. There are other versions you may not have heard of, such as “The Wiz,” a 1978 movie featuring legends like Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, or the dystopian novel Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Page — both very much worth looking into.