OZ the Great and Powerful

You know what this movie needed? More charm and a different cast. Never has James Franco been more sadly miscast than in this movie. The problem is that we KNOW the Wizard- we've met him before at every Christmas season. We don't just SORT of know him, we reallllly know him. Just like we know Dorothy. And the wicked witch and Glinda, yada yada. These people are like our family- some are evil and some are sweet. So to drop Franco in here and have him act basically like he is NOT like the man we know as the wizard, well, we don't have to care about him, do we? The special effects are fun, but the movie suffers at times from very bad writing. I wanted to click my  heels together and repeat "there's no place like home" several times. But then I remembered- it was I who begged to see it asap; it was I who went online and bought the tickets; it was I who got all excited. I may have set my expectations a tad high - maybe no one could have done a better job. But alas- I have no one to berate but myself and Sam Raimi. Pitifully, the WRITING credits include L Frank Baum. Poor guy- he's not here to defend himself. He would not have come up with this poorly cast film. I'm sad. Go see it if you must.  I give it 2 stars because it is okay in a sentimental and technological way. It will not give you the warm fuzzies at all.