Oz the Great and Powerful

Make no mistake, Oz the Great & Powerful a beautiful film... But any true weight of vacancy rests in the script itself - and no feats of acting could have fundamentally changed this trap.

With flying monkeys, Yellow Brick Road and sequin-spangled witches all faithfully reproduced, it's impossible to see this as a standalone film, given it looks like an HD colouring book version of the original movie.

The twister that comes to whirl Oscar into Oz is so preordained you could find its departure information and flight time from an airport travel board.

This eye-filling fantasy is an entertaining riff on how the Wizard of that immortal film found his way to Oz.

An imaginative mix of live-action and CGI that pays homage to the iconic images and timeless sense of wonder in the classic The Wizard of Oz without being too deferential.

How refreshing it is to enjoy something we never knew we wanted.

Today, Oz the Great and Powerful boasts collective and equal distaste among audiences and critics alike, which suggests that there’s something to be resisted within the film.

The result isn’t bad and incites the intermittent chuckle, but it ultimately fails to fill The Wizard of Oz’s shoes.

When it comes to modernizing the world of a beloved old classic, just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

...relentlessly dull, ill-conceived, and poorly motivated...