"No movie ever can, or will, replace 1939’s The Wizard Of Oz, but taken on its own terms, this eye-filling fantasy is an entertaining riff on how the Wizard of that immortal film found his way to Oz. Like the stage musical Wicked, it assumes that its audience knows the story told in The Wizard of Oz. … The production pays homage to the 1939 movie by opening in black & white, in the old-fashioned Academy screen ratio, then expanding and turning into vivid color once the magician named Oz (short for Oscar) arrives in the faraway land that bears his name. I was a bit skeptical about the casting of James Franco in this role, as a small-time carnival magician, but he is thoroughly engaging as a struggling con man and charmer. … Is this an Oz for the ages? That’s not for me to predict, but I do think it gives audiences of 2013 a satisfying big-screen experience. It doesn’t eclipse The Wizard of Oz, but it fills the bill as a modern-day companion piece."