Poll: The Wizard of Oz: Overrated?
- Thread starter imaloony
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I loved it when I was a kid but don't remember much of it now, apart from those scary wheeler things...they gave me nightmares!
It was extremely relevant when it came out, mind blowing infact. Thats what it gets credit for.
I think its enjoyable in a creepy sort of way.
I think its enjoyable in a creepy sort of way.
You seem to harp about the ending a lot(I really can't comment on the acting since I haven't seen it since I was like 6 or something). Is there any part that you really have a problem with? I don't think a bad ending ruins a movie it just doesn't help my opinion(good endings make good movies better though. The ending is sort of like extra credit). It just feels like the movie tripped at the finish line. I will say this though: "it was all a dream" wasn't as played out at the time of OZ was filmed so it wasn't the bad ending it is now.imaloony said:
A political commentary on silver in the gold standard and the varies parties surrounding it at the time of writing?imaloony said:
I loved it as a kid; I dislike it now. It'll only be fondly remembered if you watch it very early and very often in your childhood. I don't believe it's overrated but I do believe that over the past 71 years, many, many films have come out, a large sum of which are better and a few are much better.
I'm sure it was more impressive in the days when color in film was new and exciting. Also, as the post above me says, the story was extremely relevant to the times. The entire book is pretty much political commentary. Political commentary has an extremely short shelf life. Have you read the communist manifesto? Most of it is boring, dry reflections on European politics.
Yeah, I do harp on the ending. That's because it was bad. No, the ending is not extra credit, the ending is very important. It can help decide if the movie has closure, and it does add or subtract a lot to the movie. Let me give you an example.crudus said:
In Cars, the ending is totally unexpected. I never saw it coming, it it boosted that movie from an okay movie to a great movie. If it had just gone with the standard ending, it would have just been an okay movie at best.
Another example is National Treasure 2. The ending made no fucking sense at all. How does finding this treasure clear your ancestor's name? But anyways, that ending put that movies from an Okay movie to a poor movie.
See what I mean? The ending is VERY important. It is not just extra credit, it is a very important part of the movie. Or, to use an analogy, if you build a bridge and make it perfectly for the first 90% of the length and then make it with crappy materials and do a crappy job for the last 10%, the bridge will still break.
Oh, and while it wasn't widely used back then, it's still a very lazy ending. Basically, it's just what the author uses when he has no other ideas and no way to end the story. As I said, it's just lazy as fuck.
Good lord you need to get perspective. Next thing we know you'll be reviewing the first "talkies" and complaining about their lack of writing direction. The Wizard of Oz is and has remained a historical landmark for films that is enjoyed primarily by children, and enjoyed as a link to ones childhood. I can sit and complain about the sloppy transitions and over the top acting and the author's shortcomings.imaloony said:
However, you don't have the context. The original short was never written as a fantasy, but as a social commentary of the events of the time. The author then adapted it to become a proper series of -children's- books. For children.
He was not a talented writer, he was not the likes of the great american novelist, he was a guy trying to make ends meet during a time when that was tough. But the books managed to connect with children, and the movie did too. So no, it's not a masterpiece of cinema, it was a technological breakthrough for movies that prompted many, many parents to take their children to see, and when those children grew up, they had their children see it, and so on.
It's not "overrated". It's rated by children.
There wasn't really an answer that fits how I feel. I don't think of it as the greatest movie ever, or even one of the greatest. What it is is a good movie that is obviously a product of its time. Sure, it seems over the top to contemporary viewers, but I think that's because movies back then weren't trying to be as realistic as possible, they were more like stage productions being filmed.
I agree with the poster who brought up the trope "Seinfeld is unfunny". I read that trope and realized how true that is about a lot of things. If we compare "Wizard of Oz" to other movies around that time rather than movies of all time, we might see it as a little more groundbreaking.
I agree with the poster who brought up the trope "Seinfeld is unfunny". I read that trope and realized how true that is about a lot of things. If we compare "Wizard of Oz" to other movies around that time rather than movies of all time, we might see it as a little more groundbreaking.
No actually. I never said I didn't like the movie. It's a great movie, I just don't think it's as good as literally everyone else says. I suppose if you want me to nit-pick it, I could do it, but these two issues make me question it's position as one of the greatest movies of all time. Yeah, it's mostly about the experience if you really want to go there, but even then, the acting kinda hurt the experience for me personally, and the ending hit the cynical side of me pretty hard.crudus said:
Also, I'd prefer if you treated me like an intelligent human rather than some dumb dog you're trying to housebreak. No, I didn't directly answer you question, but if I had any other major problems with the movie, I probably would have said so in the first post, don't you think?