Kids today.

Rating: 10/10 (16 November 2008)

Kids today are weak, they play video games from the couch and cry when mommy doesn't buy the right kind of sugar cereal. The fact that "The Wizard of Oz" sits so low on the IMDb top 250 list is a testament to the young, immature users that have clearly flooded the gates here on this website. The fact that it has been beaten by such works as "Memento" and "The Dark Knight" is laughable.
I watched this last night for the first time in years. I had forgotten how well this film was done; arguably the most visually stunning of our time. The way Dorothy's whole world is black and white and then she enters Oz, full of color. To think that this came out back in 1939 is a trip. I can't imagine the first people to see this film. They must have been completely blown away. You just can't amaze like that anymore. All you can do as a viewer is try to put yourself back there and if you can do that, you can appreciate this film and all its glory.
I had forgotten how scary some of the sequences are here. I think it was smart that they lightened the story a bit for the big screen and made it more for kids. It's plenty dark and grimy for my tastes. Those flying monkeys haunted my sleep when I was a kid and who can forget the melting wicked witch of the West? Or her sister's feet shriveling up when the ruby slippers disappear? Or the evil trees in the forest, grabbing the apple back from Dorothy? Made in a time when kids played outside, got bruises, black eyes, worked at age 14 and lived in the midst of World Wars, "The Wizard of Oz" is certainly a wild, undeniably groundbreaking and brilliant film. I recommend seeing this one again so you can remember what real, beautiful film making is all about.
10 out of 10, kids.