My family took a trip to the land of Oz this weekend.  I was highly optimistic about this film.  I am a huge Sam Raimi fan and I really wanted to see what he planned to do with this storyline.  We saw the 2D version of the film, and from that vantage I could easily tell it was made for 3D.  The story was good, but not great.  Perhaps I am too jaded as an old fan of the Dorothy classic.  After all, The Wizard of Oz is a fantasy epic in all its glory.  Also, I had the pleasure of seeing the play Wicked on stage and that musical and back story was a brilliant adaptation for Oz.  I know the book was much darker, but the musical lightened it up and made it fun.

I found that the story here for Oz was superficial.  It needed something more, but I couldn't put my finger on it.  I know that Robert Downey, Jr was originally supposed to play the Wizard and I think he may have been the best choice.  James Franco did well with the con-man side, but when it came to how he truly cared for the people of Oz and Glenda, it didn't come through.  Michelle Williams did play a very enchanting Glenda, but in this version she was the Good Witch of the South... I was always under the impression she was the Good Witch of the North.  The other two witch sisters played by Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis were ok as the "Wicked" witches, but I did like the back story of how the Wicked Witch of the West came to be (Mila Kunis).  It was very Disney-like.

All in all, I give this a rating of 6 out of 10.  For kids, they will like it, albeit a few scary parts for them.  It seems set up for a remake of Dorothy's adventure, but will really need to step up for all us fans of the classic film.