Gone are the days of Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow. Additionally, each witch boasts special abilities: Evanora creates lightning, Glinda commands water and Theodora fashions fireballs. The ill-fated Wicked Witch of the East, Evanora, is played by a spectacularly devious Rachel Weisz, who does her best to corrupt Mila Kunis as naïve witch Theodora - who you likely know better as Dorothy’s nemesis, the Wicked Witch of the West. Glinda the Good Witch is played by Michelle Williams, who presides over a peaceful kingdom. In Oz the Great and Powerful, all three witches are alive and well. The entire premise of the 1939 Wizard of Oz film is built on Dorothy’s house crushing the Wicked Witch of the East - thereby incurring the wrath of the Wicked Witch of the West.
These fierce beasts are much larger (and much uglier) than the smirking blue-faced creatures from the original. Ferocious winged baboons, alternatively, play the wicked witch’s cronies and are scary enough to curtail zoo memberships. The furry little fella’s name is Finley, and although he initially thinks poorly of Oz, he ultimately becomes a truly loyal friend and helps the wizard become a better man. The bellhop-attire-bedecked monkey in this adaptation - voiced by hilarious Scrubs actor Zach Braff - actually accompanies Oz on his journey. And, may we say, yay! It simply wouldn’t be fitting without some version of iconic characters. It’s the flying baboons you have to watch out for. The film follows his journey from silver-tongued trickster to a far more benevolent being, and it ends just shy of Dorothy’s confrontation with the Wicked Witch of the West. Played by James Franco, the “wizard” starts off as a charlatan circus magician named Oscar Diggs whose hot air balloon gets hurled away from its circus perch in Kansas and into the Land of Oz (cue tornado!). The central character then is Oz, not Dorothy. Frank Baum’s beloved fantasy books and directed by Sam Raimi, illuminates the plight of the man behind the curtain. For starters, Oz The Great and Powerful isn’t a remake of The Wizard of Oz - it’s a prequel, so to speak.