The Wizard of Oz: Critic Reviews

Remains the weirdest, scariest, kookiest, most haunting and indelible kid-flick-that's- really-for-adults ever made in Hollywood.

A delightful piece of wonder-working which had the youngsters' eyes shining and brought a quietly amused gleam to the wiser ones of the oldsters.

It's a movie that speaks of Hollywood's unacknowledged fascination with the exotic, the mad, the unreal.

Its underlying story penetrates straight to the deepest insecurities of childhood, stirs them and then reassures them.

I don't find the film light or joyful in the least -- an air of primal menace hangs about it, which may be why I love it.

There's an audience for Oz wherever there's a projection machine and a screen.

One of only a handful of films that nearly everyone is familiar with.

Warner Home Video's DVD invites you to watch the movie a dozen more times on top of the many dozens of times you've already seen it.

Lavish in sets, adult in humor, it is a Broadway spectacle translated into make-believe.

Decades after it was made, this fable retains its emotional power and visual enchantment, an amazing achievement considering different directors worked on it.

Even decades later, one of the best family films ever made.

A head trip of a family film.

The moment Judy Garland starts singing in that barnyard, we're all six years old again, with nothing left to do but join her.

It's more than a movie; it's an American rite of passage. [Blu-ray]

The movie--well, you know the movie. You know how great Judy Garland is as Dorothy, how memorable the rest of the cast is, how terrific Victor Fleming's direction is, and that the film's themes of the importance of home have helped it to resonate througho

If through some incredible chance you haven't [seen it], all I can say is: do so immediately. Make this the very next movie you watch. Literally.

More than a movie classic, it's an essential part of the popular culture...

The songs and magic are still fresh, even if it isn't quite knowing enough, perhaps, for today's young audiences.

The greatest children's movie of all time. Probably.

Enjoy it as both a magical fairytale and a delirious camp classic.

I'll see you on the dark side of the moon...and your little dog, too!

...a thoroughly American fairy tale that wholly endorses the ethic of consumerism.

Oz simply lays bare primal emotions, exposes our childhood anxieties about abandonment and powerlessness and brings to light the tension between the repressive comforts of home and the liberating terrors of the unknown marking all our adult lives.

One of the greatest films made ... in any genre.

The key to The Wizard of Oz is its pure, simple theme: Dorothy's desire to get back home, to safety, to comfort, to family and to love.