This is by no means a great movie and I would say a pointless movie as it doesn't really add anything to the highly superior Wizard of Oz. James Franco was completely miscast as the Wizard. He was out acted in every scene by the three witches played by Mila Kunis, Rachel Wiesz, and Michelle Williams. His character was rather bland and Franco didn't do anything to make the character more charming or more salesman-like as he needed to be. The screen play didn't do him any favors either as it gave him little to work with. On the other hand the three witches should have been the main focus of this movie. Their characters were far more interesting and would have served the movie much better if they had been the stars. The perspective of this movie should have been around them reacting to Oz, as the viewer would have been seeing everything through their perspective. Their perspective would have been much more interesting, than the bland Oz. Even seeing things through their eyes could have helped with a bland Oz.
Even the visuals of this movie seemed outdated as the CGI overkill was way over used, to the point where the original Oz's effects are masterpieces when compared the CGI on display here. The colors were too colorful. The sun light too bright and interfering. Everything had a stagey feel to it, much like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom movie where everything seemed like it was filmed for TV, versus the raw energy of Raider and the Holy Grail. That same feeling of fakery was persistent throughout every scene of this movie. I don't know if that was done on intention or not, as that sort of feeling would help this movie's visual pallet connect better with the original Oz. But personally I thought it hindered the movie more than helped it where as the original Oz that feeling never amounted to much. The story line was so engaging, the characters so much better developed that that stagey feel just didn't exist. But in this Oz the CGI dominated so much that it overpowered everything and the weak storyline and characters didn't help.
About the only thing this movie has going for it was Raimi is a competent director. With this movie he continued is visual feast of the eyes. I just wish he'd get some better screen plays to direct because when his screenplays are good, his movies turn out rather well: A Simple Plan, Spider Man 1 and 2. But then he's always had a knack for modest screenplays and his direction or fierce passion saving the day: Evil Dead 1 and 2, the Army of Darkness, and Darkman. But I would put this movie, overall, near the bottom of his movie list, as it just didn't engage on any level at all. The last thing I think about this movie is, "How cool would it have been if they had focused on the witches as the main characters? After all this is the same man who did some amazing things with crazy paranoia in Evil Dead and The Gift. Just think about how this movie could have turned out with the witches as the leads and the Evil Dead director unleashed?"
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