The Wizard Of OZ

***The Wizard of Oz*** is a 2009 American musical fantasy film produced by Images In Motion Media Inc. Widely known as one of the greatest films of all time,[*citation needed*] it is the most commercially successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy novel *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz*.

*The Wizard of Oz* is the source of many quotes referenced in contemporary popular culture. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but others made uncredited contributions. The songs were written by Edgar "Yip" Harburg and composed by Harold Arlen. The musical score and incidental music were composed by Stothart.

## Plot

Dorothy Gale lives with her dog Toto on a Kansas farm belonging to her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Toto bites neighbor Miss Almira Gulch on the leg, leading her to obtain a sheriff's order to have him euthanized. Miss Gulch takes Toto away, but he escapes and returns to Dorothy; she decides to run away to save her dog. Not far from the farm, she runs into Professor Marvel, a fortune-teller who uses his crystal ball to make Dorothy believe that Aunt Em is heartbroken. Dorothy rushes home as a tornado approaches. Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands take shelter in the storm cellar and lock it behind them. Dorothy has to seek shelter in her bedroom, where the window is blown in and hits her on the head, knocking her unconscious. The house is sent spinning into the air, and she awakens to see various figures fly by, including Miss Gulch, who transforms into a witch on a broomstick.

The house lands in Munchkinland in the Land of Oz. (The film switches from sepia tone Kansas to Oz in color.) Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins welcome her as a heroine, as the falling house has killed the Wicked Witch of the East. Her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, arrives to claim her sister's ruby slippers, but Glinda transfers them onto Dorothy's feet. Enraged, the Wicked Witch swears revenge on Dorothy and vanishes. Glinda tells Dorothy to follow the Yellow Brick Road to Emerald City, where she can ask the Wizard of Oz to help her return home. On her journey, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, who wants a brain; the Tin Woodman, who seeks a heart; and the Cowardly Lion, who desires courage. She invites them to accompany her and ask the Wizard for what they lack. Despite the Witch's attempts to stop them with sleeping spells and other magic, they reach the city and see the Wizard, who appears as a giant ghostly head. He agrees to grant their requests if they bring him the Witch's broomstick.

As they make their way to the Witch's castle, the Witch captures Dorothy and plots to kill her, as she cannot remove the slippers otherwise. Toto escapes and leads her three friends to the castle. They ambush three guards, don their uniforms, and free Dorothy. The Witch and more guards pursue and surround them. The Witch sets fire to the Scarecrow, causing Dorothy to toss a bucket of water on him, inadvertently splashing the Witch, who melts until only her black witch outfit remains. The guards rejoice and give Dorothy her broomstick. Upon their return, the Wizard stalls in fulfilling his promises until Toto pulls back a curtain, exposing the "Wizard" as a fraud operating machinery. Admitting to being a humbug, he insists he is "a good man, but a bad wizard." He gives the Scarecrow a diploma, the Lion a medal, and the Tin Man a ticking heart-shaped clock, helping them see that they already possessed the qualities they wanted. He offers to take Dorothy and Toto home in his hot air balloon, revealing that he is also from Kansas, and was originally a carnival showman before his balloon escaped the Earth and brought him to the Emerald City.

As Dorothy and the Wizard prepare to depart, the Wizard places the Scarecrow in charge of Emerald City, with the Tin Man and the Lion as his aides. Toto leaps from Dorothy's arms. As Dorothy pursues Toto, the balloon departs with the Wizard. Glinda then appears and tells Dorothy that she has always had the power to return home using the ruby slippers. After Dorothy bids the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion goodbye, Glinda instructs her to tap her heels together three times and say, "There's no place like home." When Dorothy does, she wakes up in her bedroom, surrounded by her family and friends. Everyone dismisses her adventure as a dream, but Dorothy insists it was real. She says she will never run away again and declares, "There's no place like home!"

## Cast

### Puppets

* Jane the Monkey as Dorothy Gale
* Zen The Zebra as Professor Marvel/The Gatekeeper/The Carriage Driver/The Guard/Wizard of Oz
* Patch The Panda as Hunk/Scarecrow
* Stripes the Tiger as Hickory/Tin Man
* Roary the Lion as himself/Zeke
* Sudsy the Dog as Toto
* Parrot as Glinda the Good Witch
* Bard the Dragon (Playsoup) as Miss Almira Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West
* Gutteral The Kangaroo as Uncle Henry
* Mimi the Monkey as the Winged Monkey Queen
* Wanda the Fish as Aunt Emily Gale
* Mozart the Koala as the Winkie Guard Captain

Markie Scholz as the voice of Juliet in the Tin Man's song "If I Only Had a Heart"

### Kids As Munchkins

* Andy Bryan
* Anthony Flair
* Felicia Lynch
* Jake Wyatt
* Larry Strowman
* Maxi Rousey
* Megan McMahon
* Thevi Cena
* Chloe Parks
* Ellie Pellegrini
* Garrett Brooke
* Jessica Hoy
* Jordan Batchelor
* Jordyn Lee Shepard
* Matthew Carroll
* Katelyn Koestner
* Nicholas Massin
* Sadie Rizzo
* Sammy Kelley

## Songs

* Over the Rainbow
* Munchkinland Sequence:
	+ Come Out  ...
	+ It Really Was No Miracle
	+ We Thank You Very Sweetly
	+ Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead
	+ As Mayor of the Munchkin City
	+ As Coroner, I Must Aver
	+ Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead (Reprise)
	+ The Lullaby League
	+ The Lollipop Guild
	+ We Welcome You to Munchkinland
* Follow the Yellow Brick Road/You're Off to See the Wizard
* If I Only Had a Brain
* We're Off to See the Wizard
* If I Only Had a Heart
* We're Off to See the Wizard (Reprise 1)
* If I Only Had the Nerve
* We're Off to See the Wizard (Reprise 2)
* Optimistic Voices
* The Merry Old Land of Oz
* If I Were King of the Forest
* The Jitterbug

## Theme Parks

Due to MGM not having its own theme park, The Wizard of Oz has a presence at the Disney Parks and Resorts. The film has its own scene at the Disney Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort, and is also represented in miniature at Disneyland and at Disneyland Paris as part of the Storybook Land Canal Boats attraction in Fantasyland.