Attention all ye who may have once fallen in love with the 1939 classic, “The Wizard of Oz”: for one week only (September 20-26), the most beloved family movie of all time is in IMAX theaters getting the fully-restored-and-in-3D treatment in honor of the film’s 75^th anniversary.

This special showing is the kick-off to a $25 million celebration in honor of the film’s 75^th anniversary (74, by my count, but nobody in Hollywood asked me) and will be followed up by the release of a Limited Collector’s Edition including Blu-ray 3D DVD, Blu-ray DVD, regular DVD, a 52 page photo book, journal, a framable map of Oz, a collectible pin set and various other goodies for the serious fan. This collection is available on Amazon.com for $79.99.

I didn’t go into the theater expecting much other than the utter genius of the original movie overshadowed by technological fluff and the instant headache that seems to be a consistent side effect of 3D glasses, but I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. The restoration team has earned its keep on this project. The colors are brilliant but not over-saturated, the resolution is surprisingly clear, and the perceived depth provided by the 3D technology adds a new layer of interest to the famously flamboyant background. To put it another way, Emerald City has never been so green. Viewers with a perfectionist’s lament over details will find themselves eagerly missing the action because inspecting Tin Man’s rust and Dorothy’s freckles is so fulfilling after all those years of grudgingly forgiving the technology of 1939 for lapses in visual clarity. Of course, such an accomplishment comes at a (admittedly endearing) price; not only is the trap door through which the Wicked Witch repeatedly appears impossible to miss, but the thick stage makeup of the era and the efficiently made costumes are comically obvious.

Speaking of comedy, if a decade or more has lapsed since you last saw this movie, I highly recommend you revisit L. Frank Baum’s glorious world of make-believe, if only to have the chance to appreciate how funny it really is. Bert Lahr, a Broadway and vaudeville actor best known for his role as The Cowardly Lion, is comedic gold. His motorized tail alone steals the spotlight as the ragtag trio of heroes sneaks into the Witch’s castle to save Dorothy from certain death, but it is Lahr’s performance of the song “If I Were King of the Forest” that had me doubling over in convulsions of mirth. “What makes the muskrat guard his musk?” “What puts the ‘ape’ in apricot?” Courage, he assures us. Ray Bolger’s Scarecrow has his own moments of hilarity, responding to Judy Garland’s query into his ability to speak without a brain by saying, “Well, some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t they?” The Wizard of Oz continues on this strain of thought by telling the Scarecrow, “Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven’t got: a diploma.” As a senior planning for college, this last one really hit home, but the timing is so perfectly executed that I couldn’t help but laugh in spite of myself.

If the jokes aren’t to your taste, then watch it for the sake of the wisdom of the film’s message: everything that you need to be happy is already yours, if only you can learn to appreciate it.

Lasting 75 (or nearly that many) years without going stale is quite a feat for a movie, or for any form of modern entertainment for that matter. It’s a milestone certainly worth celebrating, and MGM and Warner Bros could not have found a better way to do so than by inviting a new generation to experience the wonderful “Wizard of Oz” on the big screen.