OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL (Rated PG)

The director of the “Spider-Man” trilogy and “The Evil Dead,” among other titles in an eclectic resume, turned his sights to a cinematic prequel of L. Frank Baum’s book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

Sam Raimi also directed his baseball homage, “For Love of the Game,” starring Kevin Costner, and the supernatural thriller, “Drag Me to Hell.” His filmmaking talents are abundant and diverse.

If the grand Broadway musical “Wicked” can become a popular hit, why not tinker with “The Wizard of Oz” legend to be reinvented as the backstory of how the Wizard arrived in the Emerald City?

Raimi’s “Oz the Great and Powerful” is the story of how the wizard came to be the wizard. It’s the tale of a smalltime carnival magician, a charlatan and sly con artist, who arrived in a magical, fantastic world.

Based on an imaginative screenplay by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire, Raimi’s colorful invention follows Oscar Diggs (James Franco), an amoral circus huckster with dubious ethics.

The setting is the black-and-white world of 1905 Kansas, where Franco’s fast-talking Oscar fools gullible audiences with cheap tricks and low-grade sleight-of-hand, aided by his frantic assistant Frank (Zach Braff).

Oscar also employs his seductive wiles to woo beautiful young women, but his tryst with Annie (Michelle Williams) causes him to stir the wrath of a jealous circus strongman.

Fleeing in a hot air balloon, Oscar is soon caught up in a fierce tornado sweeping the dusty plains, and as a result, he’s whisked away to the Technicolor world of the Land of Oz.

Greeted like a conquering hero, Oscar is assumed to be the great wizard that is eagerly anticipated by the fearful inhabitants of the Land of Oz. For his part, Oscar thinks he’s hit the jackpot of fame and fortune.

Instead of meeting up with the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, Oscar finds his new companions are the talking winged monkey Finley (voiced by Zach Braff) and China Girl, the porcelain doll, (voiced by Joey King).

His protean charm and evident reputation as a seducer of women is immediately put to the test in the Land of Oz, where no less than three beautiful witches compete for his attention.

Oscar’s first encounter is with the youngest of the trio, a beguiling but emotionally naïve Theodora (Mila Kunis), who bats her big brown eyes ever so seductively that Oscar is quickly smitten by her beauty.

Having doubts about Oscar’s intentions, Theodora’s older sister Evanora (Rachel Weisz) is a schemer who can play both sides of the moral divide with great ease.

At first, Evanora seems convincing as somebody just looking out for the welfare of the Emerald City and its citizens, but shifts into a dark wicked mode when she feels threatened by the roguish stranger.

Then there’s Glinda, the Good Witch (also Michelle Williams), a beautiful creature whose motives, at the outset, are cloaked in mystery.

Oscar is naturally drawn to Glinda because she’s the alter ego to Annie, his love interest that he left behind in Kansas when he made his desperate escape in the hot-air balloon.

The role of Oscar requires James Franco to come across as alternately slimy huckster and sincere savior of an oppressed people. Franco does not appear completely up to the task to play this duality.

This shortcoming is something of a problem for a story that focuses so intently on Oscar’s transformation from selfish con man to the gallant, altruistic Wizard of Oz.
 
A lot of effort was also put into generating suspense about the identity of the Wicked Witch of the West, but the savvy viewer may pick up the telltale signs long before the magical revelation.

In the end, with little surprise, Oscar summons the courage and will to organize a motley bunch of tinkerers, farmers and Munchkins to reclaim Emerald City from the evil machinations of the witches.

The ruby red slippers, iconic songs and even Toto are missing here because the 1939 original version “The Wizard of Oz” is copyrighted intellectual property to which Disney has no claim or legal right to use.

“Oz the Great and Powerful,” facing certain creative and artistic limitations, does the best that it can with the source material that is usable.

At the very least, this Disney version, which uses its 3D to great effect in limited but vital scenes, is a visual spectacle that is satisfying for the family audience.  

“Oz the Great and Powerful,” though not the great film one would have hoped for, is still powerful enough in its wondrous beauty to deliver the goods in a satisfactory manner.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.