Masterpiece of Fantasy

Rating: 10/10 (15 February 2006)

This movie works on the multiple levels that great children's literature has. They're both there: the surface story of the girl that runs away from the bad place with her dog to find that beautiful land she's only dreamed of before, and the underlying theme of finding that she can go home and still have that dream in her heart.
So is Oz a real place? It was certainly real to Dorothy. Maybe Kansas isn't real? Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu dreamed a very vivid dream of being a butterfly. When he awoke, he asked, "Am I a man who dreams of being a butterfly, or a butterfly who dreams of being a man?" Maybe it was the same with Dorothy.
See the special 50th anniversary edition if you can. It has some interesting extras, like the amusing deleted "Jitterbug" scene (which was included in a play I participated in in college).
See it for Margaret Hamilton playing the Witch to the hilt. See it for the chance to remember Judy Garland as she was before her personal tragedies (seeing her sing "Over the Rainbow" on the Andy Williams Show was one of the most heart-wrenching experiences I have ever had, as her voice broke on "If happy little bluebirds fly above the rainbow-why, oh why can't I?"). See it for the discovery that "Oz never did give nothing' to the Tin Man that he didn't already have" (from "Tin Man" by America). See it just to have fun. But see it.