OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL

Nothing can compare, of course, to THE WIZARD OF OZ film of 1939 with Judy Garland and that magnificent cast, but, despite all the bad press OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL received, this 2013 prequel to the story filmed in '39 is actually a lot of fun.

James Franco, as the young con artist "Oz" who gets mistaken for the wizard the people of Oz are hoping for, is kind of the poor man's George Clooney. Handsome and charming, but always with a self-aware twinkle in his eye and a willingness to take a prat fall when called for. Not to mention great acting chops.

His smile and self-deprecating venality is enough to carry this flick, but he's aided by a great cast, including an animated little girl made of china, a flying monkey bellboy sidekick, and three actresses playing the two bad witches and the one good one (Glinda): Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams.

Now that I've seen it on the small screen, I wish I'd gone to see it on the big one. It's a colorful, pleasant, sweet entertainment with some special effects that the big screen would have heightened. But even on a laptop, it's enough fun to provide an entertaining little escape for two hours. And yes criticisms can be made (the Munchkins weren't half as fun as the original ones, etc.) but that's been done already. It diverted my attention from more serious matters for the duration of it's story. That's often enough after a challenging week in the real world.