Film Snail

Return to Oz
Return to Oz

6.7

Return to Oz

PG·1985·109m

Summary

Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, finds herself back in the land of her dreams, and makes delightful new friends, and dangerous new enemies.

Crew

Director, Screenplay

Walter Murch

Book

L. Frank Baum

Screenplay

Gill Dennis

Reviews

r96sk

r96sk

September 16, 2020

6

<em>'Return to Oz'</em> is alright, I personally didn't enjoy it though.

I did like the horror edge it has to it for the first portion of the film, it's something I wasn't necessarily expecting so it was pleasing to see. That's about all I did rate from this though, with Oz itself not looking as magical as it should while the non-human characters are boring to me.

Talking of the onscreen lot, Jean Marsh as Princess Mombi is the only performance I felt entertained by - she's very good. Away from her, there's not much to note. Fairuza Balk is solid in the role of Dorothy, nothing really to say about her other than she does an OK job; considering her age. The Wheelers are kinda interesting, they do look cool.

It's a shame they don't make use of Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and Tin Man - the latter I'm actually glad they didn't, given how awful his design was. I get why they don't feature more, given the source material, but it feels a needless change-up especially with Billina, Tik-Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead being so lame.

I read that this is apparently true to the original book series, which is respectable. However, the point of a film is to make it a good film first and foremost - this doesn't quite do that in my opinion. Each to their own, of course!

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$25,000,000.00

Revenue:

$11,137,801.00

Keywords

princess
donkey
electric shock
sequel
pumpkin
imaginary land
mental institution
mechanical
based on young adult novel
mirror