Review of Oz the Great and Powerful

I recall towards the end of 'The Wizard Of Oz' the wizard explains to Dorothy that he is a good man, just a bad wizard. In the case of 'Oz, The Great And Powerful', the wizard is really not a good man. He is greedy. He will seduce anything in a skirt only to run away after 'scoring'. Granted, he makes up for it at the end but it doesn't feel genuine or heart-warming. For myself, this is not exactly what I expected as the prequel to the character made so memorable by Frank Morgan in 1939. Instead, we have James Franco somewhat lampooning his way through his lines. In fact, this is but one of the many downsides to this alleged prequel. None of the characters save for the Wicked Witch (of the West) seem to contain any hint of personality of their eventually older 1939 counterparts, though this witch is without her wart for some reason. I kept thinking throughout that to achieve any resemblance to the original witch would not have been that difficult. These 1939 characters are so branded in the mind that they would be easy to parody. Alas. Even Glinda lacks any of the Billie Burke's lovely cadence. Michelle Williams tends to sleep her way through her role frequently looking spaced-out. Mila Kunis does a good job though she is no Margaret Hamilton. The best character here is arguably the China Doll, and that was CGI (again). Yes, ho-hum, CGI rules the day in this movie, but it is not so flamboyant that it becomes overkill like too many other movies we know. It seems to support what is going on rather than overwhelm and astound. And where are the catchy songs?? No, this is not a musical. In fact, when the Munchkins start to deliver a song that might have actually been worthwhile it gets hushed up. No, this is not your grandmother's Wizard of Oz. It is an attempt to deliver a prologue to the 1939 classic. Story-wise, it appears to succeed, sort of, though I would have not liked to have known that the Wicked Witch's biggest problem is that the Wizard spurned her and she is bearing a grudge. That felt like an insult to my intelligence for some reason. Could it have not somehow been more clever than that? Soooo...this movie has none of the heart, none of the music, none of the compelling characters of the original. The acting is pedestrian...almost flippant. The script is razor thin on moral values. I guess I would have liked to have seen the Wizard glue all of China Doll's family back together - that would have saved the ending, IMO. Yet, if we are to judge this movie on its own, it isn't that bad. I did enjoy it mostly. So I gave it a 7. If compared to its 1939 predecessor, it would be a 5, but it was entertaining and the special effects are fanciful.