A highly charming, heartwarming, imaginative and entertaining film.

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 2010)

Out of all the films I admire and love, "The Wizard of Oz", 1939, is the film I love the most, with all my heart. I grew up with annual showings of the film each year, during the 1970's, as many other people did. This helped make the film such a beloved classic.
After watching "The Wizard of Oz", 1939, many times on TV during the 1970's, I finally viewed it in a 1998 theatrical re-release. Though it was not in the sepia tone of the original film, I appreciated the visual imagination of the film much more than before.
The 2005 restored and remastered version is definitely more impressive than the 1998 version. Lovingly restored, frame by frame, to it's original sepia tone and Technicolor. The original mono audio track is cleaned up and expanded to Dolby 5.1 Surround. The film looks and sounds better than ever. The film restoration is the best I've ever seen for a 1930's film. The quality of this 2005 restoration is claimed to be better than many of the theater prints of the film back in 1939, which were copies of copies.
"The Wizard of Oz" is based on one of Frank L. Baum's series of "Oz" books, first published in 1900. The original book, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", is widely regarded as one of the best children's' books of the 20th century.
Most everyone familiar with movies, is at least somewhat familiar with the story of Dorothy and Kansas, which was changed, in it's film adaption. Dorothy is whisked away from her farm home in Kansas by a tornado into the magical land of Oz, befriends a scarecrow, lion and tin man, as she seeks out the Wizard of Oz, all the time pursued by the Wicked Witch of the West, for her precious ruby slippers. Dorothy's fantasy journey, from the original book, was here changed to a dream. It was thought movie audiences of the time would be reluctant to accept an all out fantasy. Dorothy's slippers were changed from silver, in the original book to red ruby, which could be shown off better in Technicolor.
Judy Garland was just 16 at the time of filming, four years older than the character of Dorothy in the original book. I love Garland's acting performance in this film, as much as I love the film as a whole. This is her first big acting role in a Hollywood feature length film, and she does a terrific job. Her acting performance in "The Wizard of Oz", is genuinely charming, sweet and sincere. Judy Garland is definitely the big acting highlight of the film. Much credit goes to director Victor Fleming, for getting such a good acting performance from Judy Garland and from the cast in general. At the time the film was released, actors under the age of 18, could not be nominated for an Academy Award for acting. During 1940, Judy Garland won a "mini" Academy Award for "Outstanding Performance by a Juvenile Actor", for her work in "Babes in Arms" and "The Wizard of Oz", both released in 1939. In my opinion, her acting performance deserved a Best Actress in a Leading Role Academy Award nomination. The voting rules were different back then. An actor under the age of 18 could not be nominated in the usual two categories of Best Lead Actor/Actress or Best Supporting Actor/Actress.
Nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, the film won for Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow" and Best Original Music Score. I completely agree with The American Film Institutes' choice of "Over the Rainbow", as the greatest movie song ever. The Record Industry Association of America (RIAA), voted it: Song of the Century. A very famous, beloved and charming song, indeed. The film deserved to be nominated for Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Makeup (if the category existed at that time) and Best Costume Design.
Victor Fleming was already nominated for Best Director for "Gone With the Wind" of the same year. Actually, Fleming had much more to do directing "The Wizard of Oz", than "Gone With the Wind", where he was one of four directors. Fleming directed all of the Oz sequences in "The Wizard of Oz", which is most of the film.
Art direction, cinematography, sound and visual effects are all excellent. The famous tornado scene, was done long before computer graphics were possible, and yet, looks great. The famous transition from sepia toned black and white to Technicolor, was a movie first and one of the many inspired imaginative decisions made for the film.
There's a lot to admire and be charmed by, in the film. The story is timeless because it's universal: the importance of home, discovering oneself, intelligence, heart and courage. The film contains a number of famous and memorable quotes, the most famous being: "We're not in Kansas anymore". "I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too" is a favorite line of mine from the film. The ending of the film has three memorable lines: "Hearts will never be practical, until they can be made unbreakable", "A person's heart is judged not by how much they have loved, but by how much they have been loved by others" and "There's no place like home".