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Return to OzRating:
Release Date: 03 February, 2004 Retail Price: $19.99 OUR Price: $15.99 You SAVE: $4.00! Cast: Complete Cast (11 total) |
Return to Oz Reviews
Return To Oz
Several months have passed since the events chronicled in The Wizard Of Oz, and Dorothy has returned safely home to Kansas. Unfortunately, she can't get any sleep at night because she thinks her friends back in Oz are in trouble and everyone thinks Dorothy is insane for talking about a place that they don't believe exists. When Dorothy finds a key with the letters "O" and "Z" on it, she thinks it's a key from Oz that was sent to her as a sign her friends are in trouble. Her family finally decides that enough is enough and sends Dorothy to a mental hospital to undergo shock therapy in order to erase Dorothy's memories of Oz so she can sleep again. But the hospital abuses their patients, so with the help of a mysterious young girl, Dorothy is able to escape only to find herself in a flooding river. Dorothy finds a chicken coop that she can safely fall asleep in, but when she awakes, she finds herself back in the land of Oz with her pet chicken, Billina, who now has the ability to speak. But all isn't well like it was before. The Yellow Brick Road has been destroyed, everyone in the Emerald City has been turned to stone (including the Tinman and the Cowardly Lion), and the Scarecrow and the ruby slippers have both been taken by the sinister Nome King. Now, together with her new friends, Billina; the robot, Tik-Tok; the talking pumpkin, Jack Pumpkinhead; and the magical creature, the Gump, Dorothy must embark on a journey to the Nome King's mountain to defeat him, rescue the Scarecrow, get back the ruby slippers, and save the land of Oz.
Return To Oz is a sequel to The Wizard Of Oz which was first produced in the '80s by Disney. Unfortunately, this movie isn't as popular as the first film, mainly because people were watching it expecting it to be exactly like The Wizard Of Oz. It's impossible for anyone to recreate the exact same magical feel the Judy Garland classic gave audiences for over a century, but what many people don't know is that The Wizard Of Oz is actually based on a book that was first written by L. Frank Baum in 1900, and the MGM movie actually made a lot of changes from the original storyline. The book was actually a lot more darker than the first movie and even a little bit violent (although nothing overly-gratitious ever occurs), but MGM cut all of this out when they produced the movie version of The Wizard Of Oz. However, Return To Oz is actually a lot more faithful to the original Oz books which it is based upon (The Marvelous Land Of Oz and Ozma Of Oz). But because so many people have only seen the Judy Garland version of Oz, when they finally see what the "real" Oz is like, they hate it because it's not what they grew up with and this is mainly why Return To Oz didn't perform so well in theaters. Also, a lot of parents complained that this movie was too scary for little kids, but this is why this movie is rated PG rather than G.
Return To Oz certainly isn't anything like The Wizard Of Oz, but that doesn't mean it's a bad movie. On the contrary, it has a wonderful story with a lot of unique characters and Disney gets pretty creative in this film with the whole "Oz is just a dream" plot MGM introduced to the movie version of The Wizard of Oz. It also features a lot of elaborate costumes and sets and the claymation effects really work well with a fantasy film like this. It actually works better than today's CGI effects because the actors actually have something to work with when using claymation, so everything looks more realistic. This movie also proves that Oz isn't just for little kids and can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages, so the darker storyline can help older fans rekindle their interest in the land of Oz. Unfortunately, this DVD release leaves much left to be desired. Disney made abosuletly zero efforts to restore the quality on this disc, so the picture quality looks very grainy, especially towards the beginning of the film. The audio is also a little low on this movie compared to most other DVDs and this DVD release is seriously lacking in the extras department. The only bonus features you actually get are an interview with Fairuza Balk (the actress who portrays Dorothy perfectly in this movie) and a collection of the film's theateritical and commericial trailers.
While these certainly are nice extras, it would've been nicer if they had also included interviews with the rest of the cast, an interview with Walter Murch (the director of this film), and an interview with David Shire (who composed the movie's beautiful musical score). Apparently, there was a behind-the-scenes special that was produced for this movie, but for reasons unknown it was never included on the actual DVD. It's a shame that it didn't because it would've made for a really neat extra and it also would've been nice to have some deleted scenes included, too. But even this mediocre DVD release doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the actual film any. While Return To Oz may not be a timeless classic or is anything like The Wizard Of Oz, it is a pure fantasy story at it's best that any Oz fan can enjoy as long as you don't try to compare it to The Wizard Of Oz. Parents of younger children who are sensitive or easily scared may want to take caution with this film though, as it really pushes its PG rating.
scared me crazy
I first saw this movie when I was about six years old. I couldn't sleep, and my mom hid the tape so I wouldn't be freaked out again. I found it when I was fourteen and watched it, and I thought it was an odd movie but I loved it. It was great and I watched it over and over again. Untill one day I turned it on and my brother had taped over it with some other stupid movie. So needless to say I bought the dvd. I highly recommend doing the same thing. Whether or not your evil brother taped over your original copy.
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