As an all-time lover of The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland, I wanted to see this movie, despite all the negative reviews. I took part in a school production of this and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to this. While the Wiz had its good moments, it was so disappointing. I found it too static, too misconceived and too mediocre for my tastes.
Starting with the good things, first and foremost Michael Jackson. He is surprisingly good as the Scarecrow, with just about the right amount of energy and innocence for the role. His vocal rendition of You Can Win was thoroughly enjoyable especially. Nipsy Russell and Ted Ross also do nice work as The Tin Man and Lion, and Lena Horne(R.I.P) is a lovely Glinda. Mabel King does well with what she has as Evillene, which admittedly isn't much, though I felt she died too easily. I will say I thoroughly enjoyed the songs, Ease On Down the Road is by far the catchiest and the most memorable.
However, I hated Diana Ross's Dorothy. I love Diana Ross, but she was not right for Dorothy at all, she is too old in my personal opinion that is, she has been in much better voice before as well and she fails to capture the cherubic innocence of Judy Garland coming off as haggard and whiny. Even worse was Richard Pryor's Wiz, I found him far too loud and cocky, it was as if Pryor hadn't realised he was playing "the wonderful yet mysterious Wizard of Oz", because if anything it felt like another one of his comedy skits. The story is good on the whole if somewhat rickety and flow-less in places, but then there are some pointless scenes; I am especially talking about the subway scenes, those scenes were completely unnecessary.
I had mixed feelings on the sets. Some are beautiful and expensive-looking but others especially the one in You Can Win looked like sets from Monty Python. Some costumes are nice, such as Lion's and Glinda's but the Winkies's are less successful. The dialogue is occasionally amusing, but it is also very inane as well, Sidney Lumet's direction is very heavy-handed here and the choreography is messy particularly in the Emerald City Ballet sequence and a Brand New Day. The camera work and lighting ranges from adequate to appalling with the lighting in The Munckin Scene too dim and the camera work very static in more than one place throughout the course of the movie. The movie is filmed sometimes at such a distance, you have difficulty empathising with any of the characters and their situations. The pacing is often off as well, as the film progresses the pacing becomes increasingly elephantine and pedestrian. And talk about an abrupt ending, completely unsatisfying and rushed. When it ended, I was like "that's it?"
Overall, had its good points, but The Wiz could have been much better with more focused direction, choreography, camera work etc. 4/10 Bethany Cox
Starting with the good things, first and foremost Michael Jackson. He is surprisingly good as the Scarecrow, with just about the right amount of energy and innocence for the role. His vocal rendition of You Can Win was thoroughly enjoyable especially. Nipsy Russell and Ted Ross also do nice work as The Tin Man and Lion, and Lena Horne(R.I.P) is a lovely Glinda. Mabel King does well with what she has as Evillene, which admittedly isn't much, though I felt she died too easily. I will say I thoroughly enjoyed the songs, Ease On Down the Road is by far the catchiest and the most memorable.
However, I hated Diana Ross's Dorothy. I love Diana Ross, but she was not right for Dorothy at all, she is too old in my personal opinion that is, she has been in much better voice before as well and she fails to capture the cherubic innocence of Judy Garland coming off as haggard and whiny. Even worse was Richard Pryor's Wiz, I found him far too loud and cocky, it was as if Pryor hadn't realised he was playing "the wonderful yet mysterious Wizard of Oz", because if anything it felt like another one of his comedy skits. The story is good on the whole if somewhat rickety and flow-less in places, but then there are some pointless scenes; I am especially talking about the subway scenes, those scenes were completely unnecessary.
I had mixed feelings on the sets. Some are beautiful and expensive-looking but others especially the one in You Can Win looked like sets from Monty Python. Some costumes are nice, such as Lion's and Glinda's but the Winkies's are less successful. The dialogue is occasionally amusing, but it is also very inane as well, Sidney Lumet's direction is very heavy-handed here and the choreography is messy particularly in the Emerald City Ballet sequence and a Brand New Day. The camera work and lighting ranges from adequate to appalling with the lighting in The Munckin Scene too dim and the camera work very static in more than one place throughout the course of the movie. The movie is filmed sometimes at such a distance, you have difficulty empathising with any of the characters and their situations. The pacing is often off as well, as the film progresses the pacing becomes increasingly elephantine and pedestrian. And talk about an abrupt ending, completely unsatisfying and rushed. When it ended, I was like "that's it?"
Overall, had its good points, but The Wiz could have been much better with more focused direction, choreography, camera work etc. 4/10 Bethany Cox