Oz is a fun fantasy film that never takes itself too seriously. It's kind of hard to find a true fantasy film in the movie landscape today that seems littered with comic book adaptations. Oz turns out to be a perfect companion piece to the original. The film even opens in black and white and a 4:3 aspect ratio. It's not until the film turns to color and the large black bars on the side of the screen disappear and open to the world of Oz that we realize how confined the old format of film really was. As a film-goer, we really are fortunate to be living in an age where technology really has pushed the boundaries of imagination. 

That being said, it's hard to equal the impact of the original film where the similar trick was used with far more impact. This is mainly because people hadn't seen anything like it before. Today, even small films can be jam packed with tons of great visuals and special effects. 

Oz never tries to retell the story of The Wizard of Oz, instead it strives to reintroduce us to the world. For the most part, it's a resounding success. It's hard to believe that it's been 75 years since audiences have been back to Oz. Like the title of the movie suggests, the film really is an origin story about Oz, the mysterious Wizard. He plays a very small part in the original film, but he's the whole reason for the quest. Oz is played with adequate smarm and sleeze by James Franco. Oz isn't portrayed as some savior or a magical being, he's portrayed exactly for what he is - a con man. 

I actually really enjoy Franco's work, but I feel that he's kind of mailing this performance in at times. Some of his acting feels wooden and the delivery of some of his lines suggests that he might have thought he was staring in what would turn out to be a cinematic dud and a future Hollywood punchline. The fact of the matter is that Oz the Great and Powerful is not a bad film by any means. It's not great and it's not going change the film industry or the way we watch movies in anyway, but it's a more than enjoyable film to watch. Sure, there are some cheesy things here and there, but that's to be expected. The original has it's fair share of cheese as well. 

True Oz fanatics will feast upon all the Easter eggs and nods to the original, but you don't even have to have seen the original to enjoy this film. Some of the bigger twists are pulled off nicely here and the finale is extremely satisfying in a number of ways. 

I saw Oz in 3D. I don't normally like 3D, but I thought the films visuals would lend itself to a good experience. My movie theater has an all day bargain Tuesday for 5 bucks and they bump up the 3D ticket to 7, so I didn't think it was too bad. The scenes with tons of special effects were really good in 3D. Very bright and colorful, but I ran into the same problem as I always do with 3D films. Whenever there is a scene with dialogue, you forget you are watching a 3D movie. The reason for this is our brain is used to processing images in 3D. It's how we live our every day lives. For some of these more mundane scenes, it's easy for our brains to look at the screen and process it as nothing out of the ordinary. I don't regret seeing it in 3D, but it's not essential.