Top 100 Movie Review - The Wizard of Oz

 

Yes, I have watched the Wizard of Oz before, but that was when I was about 8 and can barely remember anything from it, especially from a cinematic standpoint. I found watching this again very interesting and funny at the same time. The contrast in how movies are made now, compared to back then is crazy. For example, all of the scenes that required a background seemed to me that the background was literally made from a large man-made background that was drawn onto whatever they were using. The storyline is very straightforward and the movie is fun to watch, however, musicals aren’t necessarily something that appeals to me. I found that it was easy to have a personal tie to the characters in the film, especially since they are all pretty sentimental and easy to like. 

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Regarding the audio, I could not even begin to tell you what they used, but the audio was probably decent at the time, however not now. It has your classic old background music behind nearly every scene. Using classic instruments (most likely no synthesizers) it was very intriguing seeing when they would use what sound effects. The audio from the actors wasn’t necessarily bad, however you can still tell it was from an older film. Regarding the aspects of when there was singing, like I said, wasn’t necessarily something that I like or prefer, but it definitely added to the fact that it was an older movie, and for that reason, I didn’t mind it. Something I was wondering about was definitely the sound effects, like when the wicked witch would appear. There would be a booming sound and it didn't sound like something I recognized, therefore I was left questioning it.

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Next, I wanted to talk about the actual graphics and film making. I already mentioned something that I found important and interesting, which was the background images, however, there is much more to talk about. One thing I noticed was that the Lion, Tin-man and Scarecrow were all extremely funny to me because of how human they look. I realize that this was on purpose, however I know that if the movie was made any time near now they would look much smoother and nicer. The graphics itself are very raw, especially when the witches would appear (yet again) I noticed how the appearance was not edited well at all and had a lot of flaws, the transitions were also very bad and it was interesting to me because I know that this cinema was very good for when it came out. This all just points to the progress we have made in the industry. 

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In conclusion, as I said already, I really enjoyed watching the movie. This is for sure a classic, and one of my mom's favorite movies of all time. I think I will definitely watch this again in my lifespan, just for good measure and would probably recommend that anyone watch this movie, solely based off the fact that it’s a classic. It isn’t very well made cinematically, but is well made in many other regards.