Ever since Star Wars: Episode 1 was announced, there has been a growing interest in prequels – the story of how a classic film or character came into being before the events of the original.

Hannibal Lecter, Superman (on TV), and the alien from Alien to name but a few have all featured in recent years. Now Hollywood has turned its attention to the Wizard of Oz.

It’s not the first prequel about the film to appear, as visitors to the West End or Broadway will attest – the musical Wicked focuses on the witches. Spiderman director, Sam Raimi, explores the Wizard himself.

Oscar (James Franco) or Oz to his friends, is a second rate magician in a travelling circus passing through Kansas. He is something of a callous ladies man, and is forced to leave the circus abruptly in a hot air balloon, while being chased by an aggrieved and well built husband of one his conquests.

The balloon is sucked into a hurricane, and he is transported to the mysterious land of Oz. The first person he meets is an innocent young witch, Theodora (Mila Kunis), who believes he is the Wizard fated to free the land of the terrible Wicked Witch.

Oz is happy to go along with the ruse, as it means he gets to be King and have lots of treasure. Theodora’s sister Evanora (Rachel Weisz) advises him that he has to kill the Wicked Witch before he is allowed to be King, but when he meets her she is revealed to be Glinda the Good (Michelle Williams).The question then remains as to who is really behind the evil goings on.

Oz is a visually stunning feast for the eyes, but falls short of being great mainly due to a distinct lack of drama and excitement. One of its biggest let downs is a potentially great twist – how the iconic Wicked Witch of the West comes into being – is given away too early and too cheaply, and once that’s over nothing really develops.

Another reason is that we know that they will all survive until Dorothy turns up a few years later, so the tension is less palpable. Franco is a bit underwhelming as the lead, but there is good support from the others, especially Kunis once her character has fully evolved, as it were.

Certainly one to watch but not as thrilling as it could have been.

7/10