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We're off to see the prequel




Oz: The Great and Powerful (PG)
Running time 130 minutes
Rating:**
Everyone, even children of the Facebook/Twitter/iPhone generation, has heard of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, who helped a little girl from Kansas defeat the wicked witch and give freedom and happiness to Munchkins and everyone else in the land.
We remember the cowardly Lion, the Tin Man without a heart, and the Scarecrow made of straw – not to mention the comedy dog Toto.
It’s been a family favourite on television and at the cinema for more than half a century and with its glorious colour, great songs, and shameless overacting, it’s high in the list of cinematic greats.
So who in their right mind would want to produce a prequel to the classic film that tells how the Wizard managed to find his way to Oz in the first place?
The answer is Disney of course, always keen to develop a genre to its full economic potential, as they say in the business, and this time has come up with Oz: The Great and Powerful.
James Franco, last seen sawing his arm off with a blunt knife in 127 Hours, takes the title role, playing the young Wizard conning his way round Kansas (magical place, Kansas) before a tornado (windy place, Kansas) whisks him away to Oz.
Here he meets the Wicked Witch of the East, Evanora (Rachel Weisz), Wicked Witch of the West, Theodora (Mila Kunis) and Good Witch of the North, Glinda (Michelle Williams).
He has great difficulty working out which Witches are a Bit Wicked (Theodora) and Totally Wicked (Evanora), but we can all tell a Good Witch (Glinda) straight away by her nice clean white clothes.
The Wizard, faced with genuine magic, has to resort to tricks and bluff to get by and save the people, largely because he wants to get his tricksy hands on the gold in the Oz Treasury.
The film has all the wonderful colour and visual treats of the original and on that score is more than up to the mark. The story, by closely following the hints and clues in the original, stays safe and sound.
However, it is in the acting department that the cracks appear. Franco is suitably sleazy as a conman magician, but the witches are just not up to the job, while the background characters fail to fill in the gaps. Even a great director such as Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) can’t rescue it.
It’s a disappointment, but one that was always on the cards, when you try and recapture the magic of a another world and another time.



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