“Oz the Great and Powerful” is an intriguing and fascinating movie, at least for the first 10 minutes.

The rest of the 2 hours is pretty much a colorful train wreck.
The Wizard of Oz has been my favorite movie since I was in kindergarten, so I went into the theater really excited to see how modern movie magic would pay tribute to the original.

Some of the classic details were there, such as Glinda’s pink bubbles, the yellow brick road and even a nod to the horse of a different color.
What wasn’t present in this movie was a well-chosen cast.

There is a part in the movie when a shocked character asks, “This is the wizard?” and though I’m a huge James Franco fan, I couldn’t help but think the same thing. The same goes for Mila Kunis’s character, the wicked witched Theodora.

These two characters are pivotal to the movie, but they lacked so much depth.

I understand this was primarily targeted to little kids, and the extra-cheesy dialogue of the scenes made that pretty obvious, but the reason the original stood the test of time is because it never talked-down to it’s audience.

It wasn’t just a great children’s film. It was great film overall.
This film just didn’t cut it. It was, at best, an average children’s movie. There are some easy laughs and some heartfelt deeper moments for good measure, but the majority of cheesy moments just overwhelmed the more promising parts.
The only two reasons I would see this movie again are for the visuals and score.

There is no denying that this movie is nice to look at.

The costumes, colors and detail of every scene is pretty spectacular. Even the spiders are pretty, and if you weren’t scared of flying monkeys before, you will be now.

There’s a part where Oz falls down a waterfall, and watching it makes you feel as if you’re going down the waterfall yourself.
The heroes of this movie were hands down, Danny Elfman and Michelle Williams. Elfman, who’s done the soundtrack for Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and Big Fish, completely nailed the feel of this movie.

As his circus-themed music began with the opening credits, I was in love.
Williams also knocked it out of the park with her role as Glinda.

She was the only actress who I actually believed deserved to be a part of this film, and I couldn’t imagine  anyone else doing as well, honoring Billie Burke’s legacy.
Even with Elfman’s score, Glinda’s charm and the dazzling emerald city, this movie is likely to be forgotten in a couple decades like the last time someone tried to recreate the magic of The Wizard of Oz.
If you see this movie expecting to witness a classic, be prepared to sit though two hours and seven minutes of disappointment.