Ozu no mahôtsukai (1982)

Directors:

Fumihiko Takayama
John Danylkiw

Writers:

Yoshimitsu Banno (writer)
L. Frank Baum (novel)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Musical | Fantasy

Plot:

Animated version of the classic story of a young farmgirl who is transported to the magic land of Oz. |

Plot Keywords:

Anime | Child | Based On Novel | Kids And Family

Cast

Aileen Quinn	...	Dorothy Gale (voice)
Lorne Greene	...	The Wizard (voice)
John Stocker	...	The Tin Woodman (US version) (voice)
Billy Van	...	The Scarecrow (US version) (voice)
Thick Wilson	...	The Cowardly Lion (US version) (voice)
Elizabeth Hanna	...	The Wicked Witch / The Good Witch of the North / Jellia Jamb (voice)
Wendy Thatcher	...	Glinda, the Good Witch of the South (U.S. version) (voice)

Also Known As:

The Wizard of Oz (USA)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Company:

Alan Enterprises

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kumo kai no meikyû (1993)

Soundtrack:

It's a Wizard of a Day

Childhood favorites

I've seen this movie dubbed in Swedish and subtitled in Finnish so I don't know how wonderful Aileen Quinn is as Dorothy. I watched this movie probably at least over 10 times when i was about 4-7 years old. The first times someone had to read me the subtitles but i guess I learned them from memory after few watchings. I saw Return to Oz (1985) when I was 7 or 8, and I loved that too, and still do. When I was about 12 or something I saw Wizard of Oz from the 20s, and only after all these I saw the Judy Garland's one, which is one of my favorite movies by now.

So... As a great movie experience, of course the Fleming's 1939 flick is the one to watch, but you got the storyline in here too, and even more accurately. Plus I like the animation in this even if it isn't so polished and superb. Then I love the own kind of synths in the music, and always when I hear same kind of synths anywhere (for example some car commercials has it, chill-out music or 80s Pink Floyd), it brings this movie to my mind. But this is not a musical, there's no Somewhere over the Rainbow.

I still think this is a good children's movie, so I recommend this of course to all the children, but then to all the people who love the 80s animation and nostalgia. Not the best in this "genre" but worth watching. You can never top Silver Fang, Alfred J. Kwak, Willy Fog: Around the world in 80 days, Nick Knatterton and Il était une fois...-series but you can see fair efforts like this too.

In Finland this movie was distributed by Omaxi, which had these video series and pretty interesting films actually. The company was live and kicking through the 80s and the early 90s, but then it disappeared. Some people still treat those Omaxi cassettes as treasures, and they kind of have this cult status. Other animated movies in this series that i got, is a version of Jack London's Call of the Wild and the great great Genshi Shounen Ryu.