Oz the Great and Powerful

The crux of the matter here lies with the source material. To wit: are we seeing a faithful representation of Baum’s work, or is this a Disneyfied version of the extended world of Oz? Having only read one of the Oz works--that one--I can’t say for sure; maybe the weaknesses are Baum’s and not those of the Disney people or director Sam Raimi. Even with a certain obviousness to the story--it’s a tale that practically wallows in stereotypes--you can still get a good, old-fashioned movie-viewing experience out of this film. It all depends on how high your critical threshold is; demanding types, stay away, but those more open will probably have a decent time.