SINGAPORE — We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz. Because, because, because ... of three very obvious reasons. Yes, Sam Raimi’s highly anticipated fantasy-adventure looks set to re-imagine the origins of L Frank Baum’s beloved character like never before. As these latest movie stills show, Disney’s prequel to The Wizard Of Oz story looks more in the vein of Tim Burton’s 2010 Alice In Wonderland than that 1939 Judy Garland venture. Which means you’ll get wild colours that pop and ridiculously madcap creatures all wrapped up in wickedly sprawling 3D.

Genevieve Loh

1 The Wizard: The wonderfully weird James Franco is Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, who is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant land of Oz, where fame and fortune are his for the taking. He thinks he has hit the jackpot. Until he meets ...

2 The Witches: Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams play the witches Theodora, Evanora and Glinda, respectively. These lovely ladies are not convinced Oscar is the great wizard everyone has been expecting. What with all the epic problems facing Oz and its inhabitants. But who’s good? And who’s evil? Oscar must find out before it’s too late.

3 The Yellow Brick Road: All the way to the Emerald City, and putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity, and even a bit of wizardry, Oscar must somehow transform himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard Of Oz but, perhaps, into a better man as well.

Oz The Great And Powerful opens in Singapore in March, 2013.