The Wizard of the Emerald City

T's time for me to share my impressions of the movie "The Wizard of the Emerald City: The Road of Yellow Brick." I want to say that the film is truly magical and exciting. The intrigue starts right from the beginning, and you really care about the characters during the movie.

Ekaterina Chervova did a wonderful job playing Ellie. At first, her character was a bit stubborn and argued a lot, but when she arrived in the magical land of the Whimsies, the adventures took over, and she began to change right before our eyes.

I was also really impressed by Svetlana Khodchenkova. It's unusual to see her in such a fierce role, but she fits perfectly, and I can't imagine anyone else playing the role of Bastinda.

I believe that you should definitely see this film in theaters because it's the most interesting and colorful fairy tale you can find right now.

"The Wizard of the Emerald City" (2025): A Disappointing Journey into Fantasy The film The Wizard of the Emerald City, which premiered in January 2025, sparked a wave of discontent among viewers. Expectations were high for this ambitious project, supported by the Russian Cinema Fund, but reality fell short, leaving audiences disappointed. Let's analyze what went wrong.

Budget and Execution One of the primary complaints from viewers is the film's visual component. Despite claims of a significant budget, the movie's graphics feel outdated and fail to meet modern standards. At times, the special effects resemble those seen in early 2000s films, when visual effects technology was still in its infancy.

Plot Structure The script feels fragmented and underdeveloped. The narrative unfolds superficially, lacking deep character development or emotional engagement. The most glaring issue is that the film ends halfway through the story, leaving audiences without a complete narrative arc. This abrupt cutoff is especially frustrating for viewers expecting a cohesive story.

Negative Role Model for Children: The Case of Ellie The portrayal of the main character, Ellie, deserves special attention. Instead of showcasing her as a strong and determined figure growing through her journey, the film presents her as a capricious and self-centered girl overly reliant on others' help. This approach risks promoting a negative behavioral model, especially for young viewers who might look to Ellie as a role model.

Ellie frequently acts like an immature character, seeking validation and direction from others rather than developing her own skills and decisions. Unlike the original story, where Ellie is portrayed as more independent and resolute, this adaptation undermines essential qualities such as self-reliance and responsibility.

Furthermore, the film endorses a troubling pattern of behavior in which betraying friends remains unpunished if it serves Ellie's goals. She makes choices that undermine trust and violate moral principles, but these actions are ultimately forgiven with mere weak apologies. This sends a dangerous message: that betraying trust and prioritizing personal goals over friendships carries no serious consequences. For a young audience, this is a deeply concerning takeaway.

Unexpected Ending and Marketing Missteps One of the most contentious aspects is the lack of prior disclosure that the film is only the first part of a larger story. The abrupt plot cutoff provoked widespread discontent since viewers were not informed about this format. Advertising materials and the film's description led audiences to expect a complete, standalone work, which some see as misleading.

Ethical and Legal Concerns From a legal perspective, the creators' actions could be interpreted as a violation of consumer rights. Russian law requires full and accurate disclosure of product or service information. If the omission of the film's sequel was intentional, it could be classified as unfair practice.

Positive Aspects It is worth noting that the film does have some strengths. The musical score effectively enhances the atmosphere, and certain visual elements are commendable. Additionally, despite its flaws, the project managed to draw attention to Russian cinema-albeit with a negative undertone.

Conclusion The Wizard of the Emerald City turned out to be a disappointing project that failed to meet audience expectations despite significant investments. Outdated visuals, inefficient budget use, an underwhelming script, and the lack of transparency regarding its format as "part one" all contribute to the overall sense of frustration. Negative elements, such as poor character portrayal and the promotion of selfish behavior, further exacerbate the film's shortcomings. The movie leaves viewers with a sense of incompleteness, and unless the creators address these issues moving forward, the project risks not only failure but also losing the audience's trust.

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.