My Review of "The Wizard of Oz"

The Wizard of Oz brings me nice memories of when I was a kid and used to watch this on TV because it was on all the time. I remembered liking this movie back in the day but was kind of worried about my reaction to it today. Just don't have anything blatantly offensive please! I'm happy to report that I still had a good time watching it. I even got to watch the movie in 3D!

Yeah you read that right. I got a 3D disk version of the movie and for the most part the 3D didn't pop out as much as I thought it would. Still there are subtle details that I noticed and it was neat to see some of the things pop out. This is a movie that came out in 1939 after all.

It really shows that it came out in 1939. The way that they speak, the wardrobe, the choreography and singing are a dead give away. You know something is good when all of these things back in 1939 can still be appreciated today.

If you know how the story goes. I don't know where you've been all these years. Basically it's about this girl Dorothy that has an incident with a neighbor by the name of Miss Gulch. Dorothy's dog Toto had bit Miss Gulch and Miss Gulch wasn't having any of that. She marches to Dorothy's place and takes Toto to be euthanized.

Fortunately for Toto he found a way to escape. He then runs back into the arms of Dorothy. Fearing that Miss Gulch would come back Dorothy decides to leave home to save Toto. On her little excursion she encounters a charlatan psychic that convinces her to go back home.

On her way home Dorothy tries to find her family but they're hiding away in a bunker because of a tornado. Dorothy gets knocked out by a window because of the violent winds.

She then goes into this psychedelic world with magic and all sorts of imaginative characters. All she wants to do is come back home and on her adventure trying to find home she befriends three cartoonish characters; a scarecrow looking for a brain, a tin-man looking for a heart and a cowardly lion looking for a heart. The three friends rendez-vous down a yellow brick road to find a mysterious wizard to grant them what they want.

The movie is most definitely a musical. With the quality of the makeup, costumes and the stage sets it really feels like I was watching a high production live Broadway musical. These songs they were singing were definitely old with old fashion methods of singing but they still work today. They're still as catchy as ever. It is very different to hear them roll their r's while they sang certain songs. Their voices were very clean and distinct. Something that I think we kind of lost over the years. They pronounce every syllable very well.

Since the movie is now in high definition it's easy to see all of the details in the sets, costumes and makeup. You can see all the work that they put into the production of the characters. Making this movie even today would have cost so much money since all of the characters are really detailed costumes. Even the extra's had pretty complicated costumes. Some of the set pieces looked pretty grandiose as well.

The choreography was really impressive. I can't imagine how many takes they did with some of those dance numbers that they did. There was a ballerina number that made me wonder what the child labor laws were back in those days. One of the most impressive dancers was the scarecrow. I was really impressed with the way his character moved. It really embodied what a scarecrow would look like.

The acting is very different from today. Again this was 1939 so obviously there are going to be things that we're not used to. I particularly liked the cartoon like mannerisms of the cowardly lion. This character was still a hoot today. I couldn't stop laughing at his antics and the way he delivered his lines.

This movie is still a solid movie after all these years. Watching this movie today reminded me how much this influence this movie has had on pop culture and in the movies we see today. Many of the movie formulas that I see today have some resemblance to The Wizard of Oz. I can't state how important this film has been in this world. It's influence can be felt everywhere.

Overall, this movie was still a blast to watch today. I have a different sense of appreciation for this film after seeing it now after all these years. It really is a great piece of cinema history. I have to give this movie a 10 out of 10. It was able to entertain me as a kid and as an adult. If you haven't seen this movie yet then I don't know what to say but go see it!