Oz the Great and Powerful Review

It's been over 70 years since we've seen the Land of Oz; but now we're back in this magical world with the new movie, "Oz the Great and Powerful." Now before we start I need to get a very important thing across, this is not a remake of the 1939 movie we all know and love. This is the prequel, it shows what happens before Dorothy puts on the ruby slippers. The movie stars Oscar Diggs, a carnie magician and a con-man. After attempting to flee from a disgruntled coworker in a hot air balloon Oscar is wisped away in a tornado and is taken to the Land of Oz. After arriving he is greeted by Theodora the good witch, one of three sisters and daughter of the late king. Theodora believes that Oscar is the wizard from a prophecy who is supposed to take his rightful place on the throne. Oscar learns that one of Theodora's sisters poisoned their father to take power, but she was vanquished. After making their way to the Emerald City Oscar meets the third sister Evanora, who explains that he can only become king if he defeats the wicked witch. So Oscar sets off to defeat her, but he soon learns that everything is not as it appears. Now the question that you might be wondering, is it as good as the 1939 Wizard of Oz? Short answer, no. Long answer, it's not even on the same playing field. Oz Great and Powerful is OK but it won't be remembered by the end of the year. Many people have compared this to the Alice in Wonderland that came out a few years ago; I can assure you that this movie is better. I may sound harsh but there were several things about this movie I enjoyed. I thought there were some very funny lines, the movies visuals are beautiful, and I enjoyed many of the new characters. The acting and writing aren't bad but they're nothing special. The movie is also unknowingly silly. They'll try and make something very serious but it comes out ridiculous. Another thing that bothered me is how Theodora becomes the Wicked Witch of the West (this isn't really a spoiler since the WWW was known to be Theodora). The way they did it seemed kind of lazy and half assed. But above all else I wished this movie had more references to the original movie, or even use the original score. Unfortunately MGM still owns the rights to the original movie, so this one was very limited in what they could do. Oz the Great and Powerful is an alright movie, I didn't love it but I didn't hate it. If you really want to see it I would recommend it as a dollar movie. But above all else it is nice to return to Oz. 3/5