5 Best Wizard Of Oz Movies, Ranked

L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy tale "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," and to a lesser extent his other "Oz" novels, have become a cultural building block that's been revisited time and time again. 

The vibrant world of Oz has been fertile ground for many different approaches and adaptations. Across many decades, various "Wizard of Oz"-adjacent films have been made with the filmmaking technologies of their respective eras, and they were all made to exist in very different cultural landscapes. Because of this, the movies are often radically different from each other, even when they feature the same characters.

For the same reasons, it can also be difficult to discern which of the movies are superior to the others at a glance. But we're here to help you make the best choices in your own cinematic journeys to the land of Oz. In this article, we'll rank the five best "Wizard of Oz" movies from worst to best.

The "Wicked" movies are impressive and all, but let's not forget the other big adaptation of an Oz-themed Broadway musica, Sidney Lumet's "The Wizard of Oz" reimagining from 1978, "The Wiz." The movie reimagines the events of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" in an urban musical fantasy setting where Dorothy (Diana Ross — yes, that Diana Ross) is a Harlem schoolteacher instead of a Kansas kid. 

This is the one where Richard Pryor plays the Wizard character, and Michael Jackson (yes, that Michael Jackson) is the Scarecrow. Joel "Batman & Robin" Schumacher wrote the script. If you think that all seems like a lot and maybe there's no way on Earth that "The Wiz" is good, the critics would agree with you ... but the film's four Academy Award nominations would also like a word. 

"The Wiz" is very openly a musical adaptation, and like any good fantasy, it wears its heart on its sleeve. Its scenes might not always land, but its best moments will remind the viewer that magic might just be real after all.

Walter Murch's "Return to Oz" is, for want of a better term, the closest thing any Oz-adjacent story has ever been to a full-on horror movie. No one's singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" here, and in fact, the very existence of rainbows seems dubious. Fairuza Balk's Dorothy Gale is constantly in deep distress, and the asylum she's initially held captive in has staff that bear a suspicious resemblance to the terrifying antagonists that have taken hold of the Land of Oz. 

From its deeply disturbing atmosphere to its utterly frightful villain game, "Return to Oz" is dark fantasy with heavy emphasis on the word "dark." The set and character designs rarely cease to threaten or disappoint. The creepy Wheelers, the head-changing Mombi (Jean Marsh), and the chilling Nome King (Nicol Williamson) are all-timer baddies, and sticking them in the same movie together is approaching overkill. "Return to Oz" works as a perfect antidote to anyone who feels that the "Wicked" era of the "Oz" franchise is too sugar-frosted. 

/Film's Rafael Motamayor has written about the way "Return to Oz" haunted our nightmares back in the day, and frankly, I remember a few of those nightmares even today. I actually saw "Return to Oz" before "The Wizard of Oz," so I continue to have a soft spot for its existential terror. Still, in all honesty, the movie has no place in top three — especially since it's not based on "The Wizard of Oz," but its sequels "The Land of Oz" and "Ozma of Oz." 

At /Film, we've been of two minds about whether Jon M. Chu's "Wicked: For Good" is a good thing. Cases have been made in favor of the decision to split "Wicked" into two parts, and concerns have been expressed about "Wicked: For Good" ultimately confirming everyone's worst fears by splitting the story in two. Reviews and ratings don't help much, either: Critics consider it inferior to the first "Wicked" (66% on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences love the sequel (93%). Still, I found "Wicked: For Good" to be a perfectly entertaining movie. Elphaba "Wicked Witch of the West" Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) is now the magical land's primary animal rights activist — and therefore a villain, because Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) are orchestrating a PR campaign against her. 

If "Wicked" remixes and reimagines L. Frank Baum's lore, "Wicked: For Good" puts it in the blender. The second part of the musical-inspired duology reimagines the events of the classic "The Wizard of Oz" tale, and brings the quartet of Dorothy Gale (Bethany Weaver), The Scarecrow (Jonathan Bailey), Tin Man (Ethan Slater), and the Cowardly Lion (Colman Domingo) on their inevitable collision course with the Wicked Witch. Without exactly spoiling how it ends, what happens may surprise you.

Few people — even the classic characters — are what they seem in "Wicked: For Good," and it's up to your personal preference whether this is a good thing. Still, like the musical on which it's based, "Wicked: For Good" definitely isn't afraid of taking bold swings.

From a hit musical to a hit movie, "Wicked" tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West — or Elphaba Thropp, as she's originally known in this version of the story — and her destined frenemy Glinda "The Good" Upland. The big selling point of the story is that "Wicked" turns much of "The Wizard of Oz" lore on its head, focusing on the story's big villain and presenting her as the misunderstood protagonist. 

"Wicked" has been going strong as a musical since 2003, but as the cursed "Cats" movie (remember that one?) proved in 2019, turning a hit musical into a good movie is far from an easy task. Yet, "Wicked" succeeded. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are both great, and adding Jeff Goldblum as the wizard was a brilliant decision. Combine great casting with amazing production values and slick execution, and "Wicked" manages to be the bombastic musical adaptation it could be. And hey, let's face it: "Defying Gravity" is the best "Oz"-related song this side of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."  

Who could ever have expected anything else at the number one spot? Victor Fleming's 1939 masterpiece "The Wizard of Oz" is an extraordinary piece of filmmaking that will live forever. Cinematically speaking, the transition from the black-and-white Kansas to the technicolor wonders of the Land of Oz when Judy Garland's Dorothy Gale arrives is on "The Jazz Singer" level of early-cinema peaks. In fact, just about every scene in the movie is a classic.

Of course, there's a flip side to the movie's quality. The making of "The Wizard of Oz" was a famously arduous process. Among other hurdles, Wicked Witch actor Margaret Hamilton was burned by a fire stunt gone wrong, and both she and Scarecrow actor Ray Bolger suffered from their makeup. Original Tin Man actor Buddy Ebsen was hospitalized with aluminum poisoning, and the studio promptly cast Jack Haley in his stead. While the end product is one of the finest films of all time, it's also a movie that couldn't (and shouldn't) ever be made today — at least the way it was back then.