Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

libertysanders Back in the day when "The Wiz" had left theaters and could be seen on newly popular cable TV I watched about fifteen minutes of it one morning when I had a few minutes before departing for work.I was like the proverbial deer-in-headlights. I had never seen anything so awful. No, not awful...appalling. The music was trite, the acting was unspeakably bad. So bad in fact that for the first time that I could remember I actually felt sorry for the people who were performing it and wished that there was some way that I could comfort them and tell them that perhaps there was hope that their careers would somehow outlive it. Diana Ross? REALLY??? Was there NO ONE in Hollywood whose brains weren't addled by drugs who could veto such a decision???Didn't anyone actually SCREEN this thing before they released it?"Plan 9 From Outer Space" is an artistic masterpiece compared to this POS.

Lee Eisenberg I understand that Sidney Lumet's Motown-themed adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz" is one of those movies that people usually either love or hate. I suspect that a lot of people found it odd that he went from "Network" to a musical. As for me, I found "The Wiz" an OK movie. It's a fun movie, more than anything. I should say that it's a little harder to like the movie once you learn that it basically espouses Werner Erhard's shadowy EST movement by talking about understanding one's true self. On its own "The Wiz" is a good time. Diana Ross (as Dorothy) and Michael Jackson (as the scarecrow) get top billing, but I liked Richard Pryor's performance as the wizard the most.So that's it. I liked the movie. It does exactly what it intends to do.

dmanyc The first time I saw THE WIZ was when in first aired on TV back in the '80s. I was still a kid with a curfew, but luckily it was a Saturday, but at least I got to see it. I've seen the original THE WIZARD OF OZ more times than I can keep track, but this version always felt more relatable to be because I grew up in the Bronx in the '70s and '80s, and I remember those days of abandoned lots and practically every subway and building spray-painted with graffiti. But at least I was more mature and adventurous than this 24-year old Dorothy who lives like a teenager and has the emotional maturity of a preteen. Seriously, if her family was sheltering her, I can understand but apparently even her family want her to go out and experience life for a change. Just not in the middle of a Thanksgiving snowstorm in Harlem.I don't think Diana Ross was that bad, but I do feel that the role of Dorothy should've gone to someone much younger like a teenager. But then again, Judy Garland was also too old when she played Dorothy in 1939, and it didn't seem as drastic. To go from a young teenager to a 24 year old schoolteacher is a huge leap. Also, with all the beautiful costumes in the film, why give Dorothy the most bland lavender dress to wear? Even Judy looked cute in gingham.The thing that bothered me the most about the movie was the ending. After over two hours, you want the ending to be satisfying, especially after hearing the song "Home", but no, we just get Dorothy and Toto going back to their apartment. No seeing her family again. Nothing. Such a letdown.It's not a perfect adaptation, but you can tell there are fixable flaws to this still watchable film.

jennymel7 I chose to share this film with my daughters (ages 4 & 8) because in the midst of the Oz nostalgia, they needed to know it was first a story that could be interpreted many ways. While most reviews here are negative ranging from bad acting (to totally agree with watching Ms. Ross well up a few too many times), to racist (please keep in mind that this is an artistic adaptation of a book written in a time less educated than the ones we live in now and adapted in this format in a time period when black culture was establishing a sense of itself in the popular collective), this film is a delight. The music is exquisitely crafted, from disco anthems to blues-laden songs so catchy they become tunes you hum to yourself to yourself when you least expect it ("slide some oil" while cooking anyone?). Loved it and will watch over and over (although that will likely be my daughter's choice!)