After the Wizard Review

RYAN: Oz has never been hotter!  Wicked continues to sell out on Broadway, Disney just released^, at Comic Con, their first trailer for the new Oz prequel.  The animated, 3D musical Dorothy of Oz is set for next year; there was the successful Dorothy and the Witches of Oz earlier this year and also in the mix is this indie film – a simple, coming-of-age story called After the Wizard and it’s charming.

ERIN: It’s very sweet.  It’s trying to teach a lesson.  I felt like there were lessons to be learned in each scene, almost.  Lessons about life, people, the world.

ERIN: Yes and it was sweet.

RYAN: It’s a simple, straightforward film, basically about a girl at an orphanage in Kansas who believes she’s Dorothy.  And you sort of wonder throughout the film whether she actually is or if she’s just off her rocker, so to speak.  And instead of sending Dorothy to Oz, this film sees some friends from Oz visit America.

ERIN: It goes through what might be happening to Dorothy since returning from Oz and also what happens to the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion after the Wizard’s gone.

RYAN: I loved seeing the Oz characters.  The costumes and makeup are cool.  They’re urban and sort of a mix between what you’d see in a production of The Wiz and The Wizard of Oz.

ERIN: I liked the costumes.  I don’t have the vast referential knowledge of Oz that you have so I don’t have a preconceived notion.  But I liked their interpretation – simple and cute.

RYAN: I also really liked the score in this film.  It was one of the film’s stronger elements.

ERIN: I normally don’t notice the music in a movie but when you pointed it out, I was like, “Oh yeah.  I really do like the score.”

RYAN: And even though this film is not a musical, music is an integral part of Oz, since it looms so large in other successful Oz productions.

ERIN: I’m surprised they didn’t use Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

RYAN: I’m sure that would have cost more than they had.  This was a modest film but still really put in the effort to transport you.

ERIN: They did well with a modest budget.  Without giving too much away, there is a tornado scene that looked neat.

RYAN: That scene was great.  And I actually appreciated the script where the dialogue from the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman sounded a lot like how they spoke as written by L. Frank Baum.

ERIN: They did speak in a proper, simplistic way.

RYAN: That’s how Baum wrote them.  Some scenes were a little static, with people just sitting and talking.

ERIN: But what they’re talking about was poignant.

RYAN: And some of the acting was very natural but a couple actors were a little stiff. Ultimately, it’s a family film that will appeal mostly to kids.  There are many morals to the story and it’s cute.  And if you’re as Oz-obsessed as I am, it’s a fun movie to throw into your collection.