Oz the Great and Powerful

[dreamflower02]

This afternoon our son treated us to a movie and then took us to dinner at a local Chinese buffet.

I thought I'd post some of my thoughts about the movie; behind the first cut, some non-spoilery general impressions...

Comments

[baranduin]

Wizard of Oz used to be my favorite movie too :-)

[dreamflower02]

From the first time to the last time it was annually broadcast on network TV I never missed seeing it. And I still watch it often.

And it was robbed in 1939--it was a *much* better movie than Gone with the Wind!

[claudia603]

what a sweet thing your son did for you!

Heh, I used to love Wizard of Oz, too! I mean, I still do -- just haven't seen it in a good long time. Back in the day, I associated it with it coming on in the spring (maybe Easter?) every year when I was a kid.

[dreamflower02]

It was sweet of him! He's a good kid.

It's such a wonderful movie, all about a quest and friendship...*grin*

[shirebound]

Oh, it sounds good! I'm glad the wizard's character growth is satisfying.

[dreamflower02]

It is. He goes from being a charming rogue to being a hero in a very believable way.

[cairistiona7]

I'm glad you liked it. I can't say that the original The Wizard of Oz is very high on my favorites list (other than loving Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"), but since I've heard mixed reviews of this one, I've wondered how it'd be viewed by the die-hard Oz fans.

[dreamflower02]

I love both the books and the original movie. I've not cared for some of the other film adaptations (sequels and such), but I liked all the books Baum wrote and most of the ones written later.

I've also read traditionally published fanfic of Oz, not only the ubiquitous Wicked which was an interesting subversion of the original (and I liked that book in some ways but not in others) but also a couple of other books: Philip Jose Farmer's A Barnstormer in Oz was one I read and enjoyed years ago.

This movie was very much a fanfic (in a good way), a loving tribute to the original movie, but also serving as a "gapfiller" in explaining the presence of the Wizard in Oz.

Let me put it this way: if it had been written as prose and posted online as straight up fanfic, I would have enjoyed reading it very much, and would have left a nice comment for the author.

[dreamflower02]

So have I. I can still recall seeing on TV for the first time when I was about 5, and being terrified of the Witch and the tornado, and loving Oz and the Munchkins and especially the Scarecrow!

The new movie was a lot of fun!