This prequel to The Wizard of Oz features the right mix of bubbly family fun and dark fantasy adventure, with director Sam Raimi’s madcap energy and innovative filmmaking ensuring Oz the Great and Powerful is not a dreary Tim Burton-esque clone.

Granted there are times during Oz the Great and Powerful when deja-vu takes us back to Burton’s CGI snooze fest Alice in Wonderland, especially when Danny Elfman’s whiz-bang score plays over sequences of shiny green screen landscapes. It’s no surprise since that movie made a gnormous amount at the box office (something Disney would no doubt hope to repeat here).

Yet while visual cues are similar, Raimi does enough in Oz the Great and Powerful to surpass Burton’s Alice in Wonderland by leaps and bounds.

The film begins in tribute to The Wizard of Oz with the opening scenes in black and white and set in Kansas. A travelling circus features amongst its attractions Oscar “Oz” Diggs (James Franco), an illusionist, huckster and womaniser who is whisked away to the magical land of Oz, where he falsely assumes the role of its saviour only to find it brings him more trouble than he bargained for.

While Franco turns in a solidly animated turn as a charming con-man with little scruples, he is constantly out-shun by Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis and Michelle Williams – who play the three witches Evanora, Theodora and Glinda (respectfully) all vying for power in Oz – with each actress bringing different components to this trinity: Weisz as ice, Kunis as Fire and Williams projecting an earnest goodness.

Good too are the portrayals of the digital creations, one a cheeky flying monkey excellently voiced by Scrubs star Zack Braff, and the other a cute as (glass) buttons China Girl voiced by Joey King.

The biggest star however is Raimi. While Oz the Great and Powerful is by no means a classic in the making, it is a largely entertaining piece of eye candy that benefits by having a director who brings energy, humour and emotion to what could have been a soulless exercise.        

This is a fantasy adventure that’s stylish, energetic, touching and at times darkly scary, reminding of a time when live action family films weren’t afraid to get a little grizzly amongst the glitter. While Judy Garland sang “Over the Rainbow” this is Raimi taking us to the dark side of the rainbow and parents be warned: your wee ones will get nightmares of the winged-baboon variety.