We recently were in Las Vegas at the beginning of September, 2025, with our two oldest who had both turned 21 in the last few years for their big birthday trip. They both really wanted to check out The Sphere, and the reimagined Wizard of Oz had just opened about a week prior to our visit with mainly good reviews. I purchased tickets about a month in advance, and they were not cheap. For the 200 level, just off to the side of the center section, tickets were about $150 per person. This is a lot to charge for a movie, but it was definitely going to be a unique experience so it seemed worth it.

Check out my original post on The Sphere for some practical tips about coming here, as this article will mainly focus on the movie experience itself. When we arrived, it was definitely crowded, much like before a concert, although I would say security is even more strict and slow moving than it was the last time we visited, in September of 2023, so give yourself extra time and arrive early. The atrium doesn’t open until 30 minutes before the show, but I would still recommend lining up early. The main atrium is decked out with all sorts of Wizard of Oz stuff including not only merch stands, but stages and other performance-type spaces. It seems a little less space age with all of the Oz stuff, but it’s still cool nonetheless.

When you arrive in the theater itself, you are greeted to what looks like an old-timey movie theater projected on the sphere itself; it looks completely real, with curtains, hanging speakers and televisions, and a real amphitheater type of feeling. I really enjoyed hearing the people around me figure out slowly that it, indeed, was not real, and just a projection, just like the movie.

As for the show itself, there were definitely some practical effects that were really cool, and I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the amazing wind effects from the tornado scene where paper leaves fly throughout the theater as well, amplifying the 4D experience of the movie. The soapy snow during the poppy scene also added quite a lot to the experience overall. That said, some of the practical effects, including the life sized, blow-up doll flying monkeys were extremely cheesy and distracted from the movie. They were creepy, weird, and totally unnecessary.

A lot has been said about the AI used for this movie as well. I thought it was really cool when you could look up and see the top of the Wicked Witch’s castle or the top of the Emerald City, and you could look around and see the tree canopy or the extension of all of the scenery in the movie. I thought that the effects that were used to fill up the entire Sphere screen were really well done. On the other hand, I thought some of the AI was distracting, creepy, and overdone, and I wish they had left the film a bit grittier, rather than perfectly clean. You could see every single hair of Dorothy’s eyelashes and eyebrows, as well as her absolutely immaculate but unnatural hairline. Things were almost too perfect and better than real life, which I felt really distracted from the feel of the movie.

All in all, I thought seeing Wizard of Oz at the Sphere was an average and overpriced experience. It’s fine if you don’t have time for a full concert at the Sphere, but I think the effects that artists have been using at the Sphere for concerts are definitely way more impressive than just watching a movie. Some of the practical effects were unnecessary and jarring, and sometimes downright weird. I would recommend skipping the Wizard of Oz, and either waiting to see a concert at the Sphere, or spending your $150 on a Cirque show, which you’ll find far more impressive.