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The Wizard of the Emerald City, Part I
Волшебник Изумрудного города. Дорога из жёлтого кирпича
2025 104 min Russia 6+
★6.6
Fantasy, Family, Adventure
Director: Igor Voloshin
🎭 Based on
«The Wizard of the Emerald City»
byAlexander Volkov
Trailers
Description
Ellie lives in a distant city. One day, the evil witch Gingema conjured a hurricane that took Ellie and her dog Totoshka to the country of the Munchkins. To return home, Ellie and her friends the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion will set off along the yellow brick road to the Emerald City in search of the Wizard who will grant their cherished wishes.
Budget:
$9.1M
Worldwide:
$42.24M
Starring
Yuri Kolokolnikov
Actor
Svetlana Khodchenkova
Actor
Sofya Lebedeva
Actor
Awards
Nika Awards 2026
— Best Production Design
Key opinion
The adaptation of 'The Wizard of the Emerald City' is polarized between those who admire its technical craftsmanship and those who find it emotionally hollow. While the film is widely praised for its high production values and visual spectacle, it is frequently criticized for shallow characterization and a reliance on modern tropes that clash with the source material.
| Production | The production design, including costumes, makeup, and CGI, achieves a high technical standard that effectively realizes the fantasy setting. | |
| Screenplay | Opinions on the screenplay are divided: supporters appreciate the contemporary update of Ellie’s character and the narrative structural tweaks, while critics argue the story is soulless, poorly paced, and overly reliant on forced modern messaging. | |
| Emotion | The film fails to build genuine emotional connections, with many viewers feeling the heroine is static and the character development is replaced by rushed, superficial beats. | |
| Theme | The inclusion of modern themes, such as smartphone addiction, creates a dissonance that some see as a relatable update and others perceive as intrusive, clichéd propaganda. | |
| Pacing | The pacing and structure are contentious; viewers disagree on whether the decision to split the book into a trilogy creates a necessary epic scale or an unnecessarily stretched, fragmented experience. |