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Title:
The Wizard of Oz
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“The Wizard of Oz” has always been an enigma of a movie to me. Here is what has got to be the most beloved family movie of all time, and I sometimes scratch my head wondering why. Why is this so popular? Why is this so good? How did they manage this? How does it manage to suck me into the film every time I see it? It’s certainly not a complex film. Growing up I nicknamed the movie as “The Movie With That Really Long Song.” I nicknamed this because a good thirty to forty minutes of the movie consists of the various characters meeting each other before going on to sing “We’re Off to See The Wizard” song that so many people love. Truth be told, the Wicked Witch of the West does very little now that I examine it more, and what attacks she does throw are fire based, and she seems to focus her energies on the Scarecrow.
Then we have the Munchkins, little midgets who wing about lollipops and flowers, a cast of characters that surely would be annoying as hell in any other movie. Yet everything seems to work in this film. I just don’t get it. This is a movie that from top to bottom seems made for toddlers, yet it hasn’t aged in over fifty years. What’s more, I seem to enjoy the story more now that I’m an adult, and yet the movie has no hidden jokes for adults or anything. There isn’t even a hidden meaning behind many of these scenes for adults to pick up on. The message has been, and always will be “there’s no place like home.” So what is it about “The Wizard of Oz,” in all it’s simplicity and naiveness, that manages to still entertain us so much after so many years? Even “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” feels hopelessly naive today.
Well, I don’t know. Truly I don’t. I personally feel “The Wizard of Oz” still works for me because it IS innocent and it IS naive! The songs are still perfect for this movie, and I admit to getting choked up whenever I hear a good rendition of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” and Judy Garland always did sing the song best. I guess I still like the characters. Seeing the Cowardly Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow are like seeing old friends again. And let’s face it, Dorothy has always been the nicest girl you could ever meet. The witch even remains a formidable villain, despite what she does and does not do. Then there’s the brilliant use of color, which has never looked better then ever. Despite the fact that every movie is in color these days, “The Wizard of Oz” reminds us that color was originally special because it was used carefully.
Even in a day and age where color is the standard, “The Wizard of Oz” continues to look unique and special in this regard. Though I acknowledge the brilliance that is “The Wizard of Oz,” I must confess that I still have difficulty pointing out just why this movie remains so special to me after so many years. Seeing it in the theater recently didn’t help much either, as the movie felt twice as good being watched on the big screen then on a TV. I guess this is one of those things we’ll just never be able to explain or articulate. I think I can sleep well knowing that.
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -
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