Category: Start with the Best

There is no movie like this week’s movie. It is an iconic classic that is also one of my favorite movies of all time. I could have written this review with out even watching it again, but it is my favorite movie, so I watched it for the hundredth time. This week’s movie is The Wizard of Oz.

Now I knew I loved this movie and that it is a great movie so I asked myself “what makes this movie great?” As soon as the movie started I realized the details and quality of the scenery. The farm had real chickens, pigs and horses. This is a farm that looks real, and growing up next to one I know what a real farm looks like.

A movie can have good scenery and still have the possibility of being a bad movie, though. That is, of course, not true for this movie. During this viewing I noticed the foreshadowing in the farm hands and the fact that Dorothy was a dreamer. She wanted to find her own life, so she ran away only to find that her life was with Aunty Em.

All through the movie I looked for weak parts, because I knew that the story line is great and the acting is superb. I wanted to learn something from this watching. What I found was that each and every scene was needed. I have watched some movies that add scenes for what appears to me to be time wasters. It is like some producers want a movie to match their time. This was not the case for this movie. Each scene was either setting up the movie, introducing characters or moving the characters along in their journey.

Another thing I saw in the viewing, that I hope I saw before, was that it was the journey that taught the characters about the things they were missing. Scarecrow wants a brain, but comes up with the plan to get Dorothy out of the Wicked Witch’s castle. Tin Man is searching for a heart but is the one that is usually crying or being emotional. Lion desires courage, however, he is the one will to lead the three men into the castle. Finally, Dorothy wants to go home and at the end of the journey when she thinks all is lost, she finds all she needs to do is open her eyes.

I was surprised to find two areas that stuck out as not high quality. The first one was the wires. While Scarecrow is on his pole there is one, I’m assuming to keep him up. A few times I saw a wire attached to Lion’s tail to make it move and stay raised. The other time was with the flying monkeys; as they take Toto away you can clearly see the rigging. The only part that took away from the movie was seeing the rigging, mostly because that was the most noticeable. The other area that was not high quality was the make up. I noticed edges and bald cap lines on some of the actors. I did not feel like the make up took away from the over all quality of this movie. It was just something I noticed.

Even after noticing the two weak areas, I love this movie. That is because it is not about the background, special effects, or technical side of it. This movie is about the story and characters that jump off the screen and ask you “what are you searching for?” Then no matter what you answer this movie tells you to search deep within yourself because what ever will make you happy is there. Whether you think you need to be smarter, braver, or more caring, you already have the tools inside you. It is the journey called life that will teach you how to use what you have to shine and become who you want to be.

For more information you can you to The Wizard of Oz on IMDB
If for some reason you do not own this movie yet, I suggest you buy this version.The Wizard of Oz (Three-Disc Collector’s Edition)
It has wonderful extras both on the DVDs and as hard copy photographs and publicity materials.
3 movies watched 325 to go.