Wizard of Oz

Synopsis: After a tornado sweeps farm girl – Dorothy, to a mysterious land, she must find her way back home.

Unsurprisingly, Hollywood is planning to remake The Wizard of Oz in 3D this year. Also unsurprising – I haven’t seen the original. Let’s fix that, shall we?

For those who are curious (or just want a refresher on what this movie is about), here’s the new trailer for the 3D version:

Now there’s a shocker. The new trailer looks exactly like the old one.

The Wizard of Oz was a strange movie for me to grasp. Part movie, part musical. For me, it seemed as if the characters couldn’t make up their minds whether to sing the plotline to tell it through dialogue. Many of the songs were useless, only to showcase information that the audience already knew. Take for example the “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” song. Extremely repetitive, or is it just me?

My favorite line of the whole movie goes to Glinda, the Good Witch. When Dorothy lands in Oz, she encounters this “bubbly” character. Bad joke, I know. But Glinda asks Dorothy if she’s “a good witch or a bad witch” and then follows Dorothy’s reply with “only bad witches are ugly.” I’m surprised Dorothy didn’t bitch slap the witch right there; Glinda basically implied that she can’t tell if Dorothy is good looking or not. Ouch. Check out the clip of the scene below:

By the middle of the movie, I was in love with the Wicked Witch. Her character created so much unnecessary chaos, which kept me interested in the movie. Showing up randomly to throw a fireball at the movie’s heroes? Golden. She could’ve easily took the slippers from Dorothy before she reached the Emerald City, but decided not to in the name of evil. Ladies and gents, that’s true dedication to one’s craft.

Overall, The Wizard of Oz was a great classic. I enjoyed the pointless song and dance numbers as well as what critics today would call “cheesy acting.”  

But I want to know what you think. How would you react to Glinda’s “bad witch” question?