Wizard of Oz?!

Today's feature in the DVD "catch-up" list was filmmaker Baz Luhrmann's "Australia."

I was really prepared to like this movie. I'm kind of a sucker for epic, historic tales. And, I'll watch just about anything with Nicole Kidman in it. (Well, except for Moulin Rouge, which was utter tripe and nonsense despite the critical acclaim.)

Unfortunately, Luhrmann's vision was too narrow.

Then again, it can't be easy to capture the character of an entire nation--nay, an entire continent--even if you do expend three hours of film in the attempt.

Instead, he did a bang-up job of depicting what it was like to live in the northwestern part of Australia (particularly in and around the port of Darwin) during the Second World War.

More annoying, he injected the theme song from "The Wizard of Oz" ad nauseum. ("Somewhere over the rainbow.")

The bottom line is this: The Crocodile Dundee movies have done a better job at characterizing the land down under for the rest of the world than the current offering.

And, that's just sad.