An excellent film but pales in comparison to the Baum book!

Rating: 7/10 (11 November 2007)

I finally watched "Wizard of Oz" last night, mostly motivated by the fact that I had just read the first two Oz books by L Frank Baum. I am always leery of anything made by Disney as they have a really annoying habit of changing the plot to suit themselves and this movie was no exception.
For example, the first 20 minutes of the movie is NOT in the book at all! The book starts with the house getting swept away by the tornado - so how come we have Judy Garland singing "Over the Rainbow" to her pet rat (sorry, dog)? Then we have that pointless steal the dog, Dorothy running away, Professor Marvel telling her her mother is ill....blah, blah. Get on with the story for Gods sake. Baum is probably turning in his grave by now.
And all the characters in Kansas appearing as characters in Oz! That is pure Disney invention! Again, NOT in the book! Sorry but I am a purist when it comes to book adaptations. I strongly feel that movie studios do not have the right to re-write books. Either follow the book or don't follow it at all.
When Dorothy finally gets to Oz, the movie starts to improve a great deal and things more or less follow the book (except all the singing which was obviously inserted for Garland's benefit).
Considering that this movie was made in 1939, you've got to accept in 2007 that things in the movie (such as special effects) are going to look very dated (I mean, it's obvious the witch is climbing down through a hole in the floor!!). Plus the backgrounds are so obviously fake (painted pieces of wood!). However, if you can get past all that, this is still an excellent movie to watch.
But nothing beats reading the original book.