“Oz the Great and Powerful” is more like “Oz the Pretty Good and Almost Impressive.” And, as we all know, “Off to see the Wizard” leads us to “The Man Behind the Curtain,” which is synonymous with “not as expected;” a dose of disappointment or a reality check. Such is the case with this film.

On the other side of the rainbow, how can this film be compared to THAT film, without coming up short, as short as a munchkin? We all know that what is behind the curtain — where the Great Oz should be — is just an old man pulling wires and peddling a Steampunk contraption to convince us what is, is not. 

“Oz the Great and Powerful” is a prequel to “The Wizard of the Oz,” but with no music, no Judy Garland, and no Toto — and the absence of that famous Cairn Terrier diminishes its cinematic value. I am considering deleting one bowtie from its score in memory of my beloved and departed Cairn Terrier, Marley. 

We see a charming attempt at paralleling the great and wonderful 1939 film. It starts out in black and white and later turns color upon arrival in Oz. The characters in pre-Oz, appear in post-Oz. 

And then there is the exposition of the characters: we get to see what drives the two wicked witches — the one who gets squished when Dorothy arrives and the one who torments the residents of Oz — and after getting melted rises up from her puddle 56 years later and wins three Tony Awards and a Grammy. We get to see how the Wizard got to Oz, how he got to be behind the curtain and why he built his contraptions.  

In the 1939 masterpiece, we eventually learn that the much anticipated Wizard was just an old man with a mustache. Frankly, I always find Mr. Franco to be the man behind the curtain, meaning a tad short of my expectations in regard to his acting chops. So many other actors come to my mind as better choices. I mean he got upstaged by two CGI characters: a porcelain doll and a monkey in a bellhop uniform. Honestly, the monkey emotes; he is a method actor practically compared to the rather dazed Mr. Franco, who just seems to be trying to play a shallow charlatan without the charisma of Frank Morgan.

The effects had some effect on me, but I thought how much better “Life of Pi” was in its presentation of the bright and fanciful flora, fauna, beast and human and I concluded that to be awed by this Oz, we must be sentimental about our trips, courtesy of television, to the Emerald City, back when we were young.

That was what happened to my Attaché Le Cinema (which is French for; I make up phrases in French) who grumbled about my selection of seats at this viewing. She did indeed drop a cup of eyeball saline — mostly on me — declaring “Oz the Great and Powerful” as (almost) Great and Powerful — particularly due to the comic genius and emotive talents of the monkey. But she does not have a column; I do. My opinion overrules hers (only in regard to the column, of course), but on the monkey we agree. 

I dare think that Disney should have considered making this a musical. I mean, if you are going to go down the yellow brick road to see the wizard, open the curtain all the way. Look how the Broadway musical, “Wicked” fared. Forget the 3-D schlock and belt out a few new numbers … no song could ever be “Over the Rainbow,” which, by the way, the saltwater works melded to my shoulder can’t listen to two bars of “Somewhere, over the Rainbow” without opening the flood gates and causing a flashflood warning to appear on smart phones in the theater. A few songs and some choreography could have made this film, truly great and powerful.

I enjoyed it, no mistake: it was fun to see how “the Circus Professor” went from show tent con man to Wizard. It was pretty nice to see how the witches became the witches that amazed us when we were knee high to the mayor of Munchkin Land. I just simply wished there were some songs and perhaps another Wizard, and maybe the Monkey and Mr. Franco could have switched roles. That would have sent me over the rainbow. 

“Oz the Great and Powerful” earns three bow ties out of five.