When I started with Jason and the Argonauts I did not plan to end up at Wizard of Oz.

Jason and The Argonauts is a great film.  To today’s movie viewers the special effects seem a bit on the corny side.  But for the time period, they were cutting edge. In fact, they had to invent a new method in order to film the skeleton fight scene.   My understanding of movie making is limited and basic.  But anyone with the smallest amount of understanding for the process should be able to watch this movie and realize that it is a great movie and not corny at all. 

 It is also not a children’s movie.  In fact, there is a very provocative dance in the film.  Perhaps not as provocative as in some of today’s movies, but still not something for you average 8 year old.  At the library back home, a very good inter-county library system, I was forever moving it from the children’s section of the library and returning it to the general section.  The cover looked somewhat cartoonish.  I don’t know if it was one of the other librarians who was constantly moving it because she had not seen it or if it was patron’s who saw the cartoonish art on the box cover and thought they were helping by moving it to the children’s bin.  Either way, I didn’t feel it belonged there.

 Our children’s section was pretty much geared for 11 year olds and below with a little bit bridging over into the pre-teens.  For the most part, the pre-teens were already shifting to teen/young adult materials.  Now I know I would have enjoyed the movie while still under 11 years of age.  But I was a pretty advanced child and my advanced reading level had introduced me to more adult themes. 

 Kids who still have trouble with the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz would probably have trouble with the skeletons in Jason and The Argonauts as well as other adult themes.  The Wizard of Oz is a kid’s movie when compared with the content of Jason and The Argonauts.  I’m not sure it was marketed as such when it was released. 

 Both are great classic movies.  Both are worth watching.  Just make sure that you understand where your child’s development is at if you are planning to introduce young children to either one.