Oz Great and Powerful

I watched Oz Great and Powerful last night and was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it. I was not expecting much and if I'm being honest really wasn't even giving it 100 percent of my attention for the first 30 or so minutes, but it caught my undivided attention and totally engaged me. I think one of the reasons I was so pleasantly surprised was that I really wasn't expecting to like it. I didn't even bother with it in the movies thinking it was going to be like Alice in Wonderland (which I was also surprised that I liked). It has become obvious to me that in the case of movies like Alice in Wonderland and Oz Great and Powerful that I am not excited about, if they exceed my low expectations they are remembered by me to be fantastic. On the other hand if I am really excited about a movie like Man of Steel and my expectations are high, then it is much more difficult for me to walk away from the movie experience satisfied. Unfortunately the later is most often the case. It is becoming increasingly rare for me to be excited about a movie and overwhelmed by the same movie after viewing. In fact in recent memory only one film comes to mind that I have been excited and overwhelmed, and that was Star Trek 2.
Oz Great and Powerful begins in Kansas with Oz who is a carnival magician and demonstrates his unscrupulous behavior by handing out cheap music boxes that were "His Grandmother's". In the first 15 minutes at least 3 of these boxes have been handed out, when the strong man of the carnival, who is the boyfriend/ husband of one of the ladies who receives a music box chases Oz away. Oz escapes by retreating to a hot air balloon promptly getting whisked away by a tornado to The Land of Oz. What follows is about 2 hours of fun building up to a point in time that would slightly pre-date Dorothy's arrival. You get to see the birth of The Wicked Witch of the West. You get to see the origination of The Wizard's scary smoke and mirrors machine. If you pay attention you will also catch many references to The Wizard of Oz movie.
I'm going to make a statement now that many people would disagree with. I don't care for James Franco. With the exception of 127 Hours, Spiderman and Rise of the Planet of the Apes his entire IMDB page is garbage. The movies of his that I like his characters would have been better if cast with a different actor. In fact I would even wager that in each case, James Franco was the second choice. I know for a fact Sam Raimi wanted Robert Downey Jr. originally, but settled for Franco. I still remember when Franco hosted the Oscar's a couple of years ago and just appeared completely disengaged. He is just  NOT as awesome as he thinks he is.
On the other hand is Michelle Williams. I used to not care for Michelle, but that all started changing after My Week with Marilyn. Ever since that movie I have started taking notice of her and have become a genuine fan. I think my dislike for her goes back to the smug character she played on Dawson's Creek. Yes I was a "Creek Geek", but for 1 it was filmed in NC and for 2 it came on either before or after Buffy the Vampire Slayer which is one of my top 25 shows in the last 10 years. So Michelle Williams- If you get a chance to read this- Keep up the good work, you are quickly moving up my list of favorite actresses.
Sam Raimi is a genius. There are few directors in the world that I will watch their movies without question and Sam Raimi is one of them. Evil Dead- Great. Darkman- Great. Spiderman- Great. He has a list of fantastic movies and I would say with Oz, he has added another to the list.