Speaking as somebody who both read L Frank Baum’s original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in his childhood and also watched the famous film adaptation, I have to say it’s one of the rare cases where the latter almost completely eclipses the former in my mind. That’s not to say I dislike the book, far from it, the Tin Man’s morbid backstory is fascinating, the Lion is more obviously courageous, and the famous ruby slippers “plot hole” doesn’t exist thanks to the presence of two good witches instead of the one that they were combined into in the cinema. However, despite all of this praise for the book, I still can’t say I actually enjoy it more than I do the film. Now, this is admittedly just a matter of personal opinion, but what I find interesting is WHY I prefer the latter. The short answer is visuals. While Wonderland is a full of fantastic sights, curiosity and befuddlement is what characterizes it, while, ironically enough, Oz is characterized by wonder and beauty. It of course has its dark moments, but Kansas is described as dull and grey while Oz is utterly beautiful and colorful. And, although the narration does an admirable job at describing this fantastic world, there’s a reason that the original posters for the Judy Garland film proudly boasted about being “IN TECHNICOLOR.” The work of the set designers and cinematographers was utterly incredible, a film from over eight decades ago still standing up visually, one of the most impressive achievements in film history. The GREEN hills of Oz, the YELLOW brick road, the EMERALD city, and the RUBY slippers (changed from silver because they looked much more impressive on screen), Oz is a land of color and imagery, and actually being able to see that color and that land, especially at a young age, is just something so enthralling that I can’t divorce the story as a whole from that adaptation.