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.

| Original Score: D+ | Oct 2, 2023

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

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 12, 2022

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

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 14, 2021

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

| Mar 17, 2021

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.

| Jan 14, 2021

The plot, the characters, the sets, and the special effects are unimaginative and uninspired, bringing nothing new to a world whose possibilities were literally endless.

| Original Score: 3/10 | Dec 4, 2020

Franco kinda sorta captures the swindler side of Oz quite convincingly, but he never manages to humanize the character.

| Original Score: 1.5/4.0 | Sep 19, 2020

Oz's journey to become The Man Behind The Curtain is a fun and surprisingly touching experience.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 27, 2020

Though slick and visibly appealing, this is empty, vapid, and could have been so much more.

| Original Score: C- | Jul 10, 2020

Sam Raimi wearily pays a tribute to all the adaptations of The Wizard of Oz, but at the same time leaves us floating in the air - with a flying broomstick - by showing a poor story, lacking in consistency. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jun 25, 2020

One wonders what L. Frank Baum would think of movies like Oz the Great and Powerful. He'd appreciate the technical innovations of modern cinema, most likely. But I doubt that he'd appreciate how his characters have been "updated."

| Mar 10, 2020

Yep. It's true. There's no place like Oz. We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz...Oz The Great And Powerful.

| Nov 27, 2019

This incarnation of Oz and its stars may be pretty to look at, but nearly every aspect of the production is empty-headed.

| Original Score: 2.2/5 | Nov 19, 2019

Weighing in at 130 minutes, Oz the Great and Powerful is as cumbersome and overwrought as its title.

| Aug 14, 2019

The studio that hinges on creating magical family entertainment seems to have forgotten that magic, contrary to popular belief, is not created by adhering to formula.

| Aug 8, 2019

There's not enough to make a new classic to match the old. This movie may be mildly diverting, but for that you'll have to keep looking somewhere over the rainbow. It ain't here.

| Jul 30, 2019

There's not an honest, human moment in the entire film.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 8, 2019

For every positive spin -- the visual flare, a really good supporting cast, interesting back stories - the film can't overcome its one fatal flaw. That flaw is James Franco... . He looks completely disinterested and out of place.

| Apr 10, 2019

Predictable, burdened with unfunny dialogue and stilted performances, and insulting to its audience and its source material, this Oz is anything but great.

| Feb 26, 2019

Tries mightily to determine precisely what kind of story it wants to be -- a romp or an adventure -- and doesn't quite land at either.

| Original Score: C- | Feb 9, 2019