Rainbow

I had such high expectations of this movie. The trailer was delicious, the first scene was done brilliantly, and the first 25 minutes really promised and interesting story. Unfortunately, the stimulating introductory montage was never again to be seen, the story fell apart and we were left with a blob that once maybe knew where it was going but it forgot - probably due to substance abuse. Hence, it dissolved into nothing in particular and definitely nothing peculiar. The movie was absolutely anticlimactic in all possible senses: it just failed to deliver and conclude. I would suggest an unfortunate skip.

In this modern day Spanish retelling of 'The Wizard of Oz' Dora is a teenage girl who lives with her father. One day she decides to find her mother. She sets off with her dog, Toto, and soon finds her grandmother and great aunt. The meeting doesn't go well and she ends up on the run, accused of murder! She is still determined to find her mother; along the way she meets a man chained up in a junkyard, a suicidal older gentleman and a gay man; clearly standing in for the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion respectively. As they travel they face various dangers and Dora learns more about her family.

I thought this film was a lot of fun. While it plays with the themes and characters of 'The Wizard of Oz' it never really feels as though it is trying to be a remake and most of the more fantastical elements are removed. Dora Postigo is a delight as Dora; our fire-engine red haired Dorothy. The rest of the cast are sold too; I especially liked Carmen Maura as Coco Cabrera; Dora's wealthy great aunt who is clearly modelled on the Wicked Witch of the West. The film looks great with vibrant colours and a somewhat trippy feel. It also uses music really well without being a musical. At times it may have got a little messy and could probably have done with being a little shorter but I'm still really glad I chose to watch it. I'd certainly recommend giving it a go.

These comments are based on watching the film in Spanish with English subtitles.

Film to be honest very particular, with a plot that does not make the slightest sense but nevertheless very entertaining. Many scenes in the film don't make any real sense and some things even seem to be randomly placed there without any commitment. The whole film is comparable to a boat carried by the current as neither the protagonist nor the secondary characters seem to make their own and sensible decisions, they all seem to be dragged by the plot in an almost unconscious way. Another terrible flaw lies in the useless exploitation of the protagonist's magical powers that are thrown away without any sense and float without meaning in the general chaos of the film.

I don't understand why this was touted as a reimagined Wizard of Oz? While it tries really hard to make connections to the original story - there is absolutely NOTHING in this that makes it worth sitting through the almost two hour long movie. Additionally, by making that connection - expectations are raised on which this movie fails to deliver.

The story feels cobbled together haphazardly. The director seems to have been confused because the end product feels like he didn't know if he was making a movie or a tele-novella.

The writing is sub-par and the production feels low budget.

This is very disappointing because I read a few articles about the making of this movie, all of which had me hoping for something wonderful, exotic, with a fresh spin on a classic tale. Sadly, it is a tremendous letdown.

Always a slight problem with the Wizard of Oz is the fact that Dorothy wants so much to go back Kansas, a place the book describes as monotonous and colorless and where a girl laughing at her dog is enough to give her aunt a shock.

In the book it's largely explained by just how young Dorothy is. Unlike in most film versions, the book Dorothy is perhaps 7 or 8, maybe even younger looking at the Denslow drawings, and when she gets to Oz she is left entirely to take care of herself. She wants to go home where she's safe and everyone loves her. In the MGM movie, they have a different idea. They make Dorothy older and have her run away from home. Through the course of her adventures in Oz, Dorothy is meant to learn a lesson about the value of home and family, that perhaps she feels most strongly when she's locked up in the Witch's castle crying for her aunt. But after that part is over, her yearning for Kansas is brought into question by audience, and when Glinda tells Dorothy, what she was supposed to have learned from her experiences mildly offends the more skeptical members of the audience.

The moral of the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, is to believe in yourself and you can handle the misfortunes life throws at you, this is not only Dorothy's story, but it is repeated in the stories of each of her friends who learn to believe in the very qualities they believe themselves to be missing. The moral of the movie, The Wizard of Oz, is "There is no place like home." And this movie, Rainbow really flies with that idea. In this movie, Dora runs away from home and to another life and another family, and learns that family is the people who love her. Moreso than in the '39 movie, we feel this with Dora, and I think a large part of that is that in the '39 movie, it's forgotten about for long sections of singing and jokes and merriment, but it this film Dora's quest is always at the forefront. The important characters, the Wizard, The Witches, Glinda, and Aunt Em/Uncle Henry have a stronger connection to Dorothy and each other, and that allows for all the smaller adventures to no longer stand alone but to exist as part of one cohesive narrative.

Additionally, the roles of the characters are well-cast, the cinematography, editing, and music are all delightful. The movie just has a cool factor that makes you feel like it's part of the 21st century.

I suppose I gave the story only 9 out of 10 for a small reason, and that is that with all the extra focus on Dorothy, there's much less time for her friends. They are well cast, and instantly recognizable, but you don't really get to see them learning too much alongside Dorothy. That's okay, this movie doesn't have to be everything. But maybe it could have been if it had been a miniseries instead of a film.