Where to watch
Available at home
A circus magician must prove he's the great wizard of Oz to three skeptical witches.
Trailer
Why watch this film?
Disney’s fantastical adventure Oz the Great and Powerful, from the director of the Spider-Man trilogy, follows Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics. When Diggs is hurled away to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot — until he meets three witches (Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams), who aren’t convinced he’s the great wizard everyone’s expecting. Reluctantly drawn into epic problems facing Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it’s too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity — and even some wizardry — Oscar transforms himself into the great wizard and a better man as well.
"While the Wizard is the title character, most adaptations only briefly touch on him. Oz: the Great and Powerful is an origin story for the character, created by Disney and directed by Sam Raimi (of the Spider-Man trilogy). The plot follows Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a mediocre magician swept away by a tornado to Oz, where a prophecy foretells his arrival as a hero to save the land from darkness, despite having no real powers. The film was conceived as a prequel to the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, one among many other films inspired by it, but with different ideas than that of Wicked, for example."