El Maravilloso Mago de Oz

I don't know English text via Google translator.

A short review by an ordinary Russian viewer who watched this film in a cinema during the New Year holidays with a child.

Entrance: I am a movie buff: I have more than 2000 films watched in my profile here.

I have never written reviews.

I have not read "The Wizard of Oz" (the Russian adaptation is called "The Wizard of the Emerald City") and have not watched films in this universe before. All this passed me by, going to the cinema I did not want to watch this film at all because all this is designed for children.

Review: After watching I liked it, yes, the film is for children, but in general I was surprised by how it was filmed that the film is Russian - I thought such graphics are only in Hollywood. I do not watch fairy tales, but here "I had to" I think you understand me. Only the next day after watching it, when I went to give it 7 points on IMDB, I found out that this film was Russian - imagine how surprised I was at that moment and even read the story that it turns out there is such a book...

The film has good music, graphics, there is a scale, the style is reminiscent of Hollywood fairy tales, yes, the character of Ellie is naive, but what do you expect from a child? And the book is old, although the script was adapted for our time, but you need to understand that children acted differently in the past, imagine that Ellie does not live in a big city, but in some backwater, so she has her own manner of acting.

I can safely recommend watching it with children 6-10 years old.

You're hooked the entire time, waiting for Elli to finally meet the Wizard of Oz, and then they hit you with a lame "To be continued." There's nothing memorable about the movie, because it's all just a setup to make you watch the second part which does not exist yet.

On the bright side, the graphics look good, and the acting is decent for Russian cinematography. In fact, I'd rate it much higher than Domovyonok Kuzya because of the acting, graphics, and plot are a bit better. However, the movie is unfinished.

Modern movies about Soviet tales are the same: phones are bad, then something happens, and the kid ends up in a magic land. Modern things, like iPhones, feel out of place and a bit forced.

The movie just cuts off in the middle, devaluing everything that was shown before. After the end, there was a feeling that you were cruelly scammed because there was no proper ending.

After reading the "original" "The wizard of the Emerald City" by Volkov (which is an adaptation of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"), my daughter was very eager to see this movie. She kind of liked it, though the movie is a little dark and scary. Graphics is really good and the yellow brick road scenery is very beautiful. The mix of jokes based on the cross between magical land and the modern life is funny. I also liked that the authors decided to rework a bit the classical story and to add some characters from the second Volkov's book about "Urfin Juice and the wooden solders": the Urfin Juice himself and the crow Kaggi-Kar (though here it is not a crow, but some other tropical bird species). On the other hand Witch of the Violet land Bastinda (Wicked Witch of the West) got an important role during the whole movie, and not just in the second part as in the book.

The biggest disappointment is that the movie is split in two parts and finishes when the friends come to the Emerald city. Nevertheless, we decided that it is worthy adaptation (of the adaptation 😊) are impatiently waiting for the second part.

The Wizard Of Oz has had quite a few adaptations, and most of them are not as well-known as the classic 1939 adaptation and its prequel directed by Sam Raimi. It seems that thanks to the success of Wicked, interest in Dorothy's adventures in the land of Oz has been revived. This adaptation is based on the Russian version of the original novel, which has certain differences from the original novel. Since it is a fairly well-known version in Russia, the film used this version of the manuscript for the script. It does not have many of the elements that made the 1939 film so iconic, but the truth is that this film turns out to be superior to the classic version. Here they gave a coherent justification for why the tornado transports Dorothy to the land of Oz. We have a version of Dorothy that belongs to the more contemporary era, but has that tender innocence and naivety of the original Dorothy. Toto was given dialogues and that is a very good contribution. The Scarecrow has a very adorable design that fits his personality and is better compared to the costume from the classic movie. The Tin Man is faithful to the original description and has an amazing robotic design that gives him a steampunk style. This character has a past about a forbidden love that motivates his desire to have a heart. The Cowardly Lion resembles what Disney did with The Lion King and the truth is that it is a design that surpasses its classic counterpart. Because there was no necessary technology, the lion had to be played by an actor in a costume in the original movie and then in the sequel they used an anachronistic one. This hyper-realistic CGI lion is better compared to its background. They knew how to maintain its personality so that instead of looking ridiculous, it looks cute and adorable. The Wicked Witch of the West has a different look than her classic version, but it is a good update. By telling only half of the story, that gave the opportunity to give a broader development to the plot by extending it and also extending the lore of this fantastic world. As Sam Raimi did with his prequel, this film explores more of the magic of the world of Oz. The classic film couldn't offer much due to limited resources, but they managed to make a good film. Thanks to digital technology, the wonderful world of Oz could now be better realized and the film is visually beautiful. It's not easy when dealing with a tale that was made popular by the MGM-produced film, but The Wizard Of Oz needed a new update so that new generations could enjoy this magical world in its full splendor. So this film is the update that the classic needed and they managed to do a magnificent job that makes this one of the best films in Russian cinema. Using the same formula as Dune, It and Les Trois Mousquetaires, this first part of the new adaptation of The Wizard Of Oz is an excellent introduction to a much more potential version of the story. My final rating for this film is 10/10.

I'm a big fan of The Wizard of Oz (1939) and I have watched every version of this story in various forms. I hadn't heard about this movie until today, so I decided to watch it and I had fun with it.

Positives for The Wizard of the Emerald City (2025): It's always interesting for me to see different iterations of a story I know from different filmmakers. The acting from the cast is very good. The production value with the movies sets and costumes look good. I liked the more modernized update to this story. The pacing is pretty good for this first movie. And finally, the movie ends on a note that has me interested in the sequel.

Negatives for The Wizard of the Emerald City (2025): The dubbing for these characters is hilarious to watch and it took me out of the movie in almost every scene. Also, the next movie doesn't come out until 2027 and that feelings too long for this story.

Overall, The Wizard of the Emerald City (2025) is a good modern iteration of The Wizard of Oz story and I do look forward to watching the sequel.