Minnie's Wizard Of Dizz (review)

So yesterday I went to purchase Oz: The Great And Powerful for my wife.  She wanted to watch it on some sketchy streaming site, and I'm very comfortable with dropping twenty-two bucks on the Blu-Ray.  Sitting next to it on the shelf was Minnie's Wizard Of Dizz, and since I'm actually quite a fan of all things Oz, I had to pick it up.  It certainly doesn't hurt that Ryleigh, my two-year-old daughter, loves the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  The DVD comes with a couple extra episodes of that show, and some shorts of Minnie's Bow-Tique.  All of this was sixteen bucks.

I'll get you my pretty!

The Good:  It's all here.  It's another tribute to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and all of the famous characters are re-imagined with the regulars from Mickey's Clubhouse.  Since we already know the story, it's easy for us adults to watch with our kids.  And to them, it's a special episode of a show they already like.  I especially liked Goofy as the Scarecrow.  What a perfect casting choice for the group member without a brain.  I'm not so sure how Donald is the Lion, but I guess he had to fit in there somewhere.

Honestly though, I laughed out loud at the "Chipmunchkins".  How clever.

The Bad:  There's really nothing new here.  Everyone from The Muppets to the Super Friends have re-imagined the Wizard of Oz, and most of the time it's heavily influenced from the Judy Garland movie.  I wish more homages gave more credit to the original Baum novel.  Not that I'm expecting a Disney character to start talking about how they want to eat babies like the original Cowardly Lion, but I'd give my kingdom to see a pair of silver slippers. 

The Verdict:  If you love the Wizard Of Oz and want to share it with your kids, this is a great starting point.  At any age, your kid might be able to watch the classic Judy Garland movie with all it's singing and dancing, but chances are your child isn't quite ready for the far superior Return To Oz (also by Disney), so this little Minnie Mouse movie is actually a great, condensed version of the story to see if your kid is interested in traveling to the far away land of Oz.