7tavern: Return to Oz

Return to Oz

Sound (2)
3
Plot (2)
3
Cast (2)
3.3
Special Effects (2)
3.3
Length & Pace (2)
3.3
Cinematography (2)
3.3

Director: Walter Murch

Cast: Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, Matt Clark

Synopsis:

Tagline:

Classification:

Release date: 1985

Running time: 113 minutes

Language: English

Studio website:

Links: IMDb Profile

Categories: Comedy, Family, Fantasy

Main

Trailer

Squish
Reviews: 740
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Sound:
Plot:
Cast:
Special Effects:
Length & Pace:
Cinematography:

2.5

Return To Oz (1985) * Favorite Review *

There was a time when this joke of an actor did a good job of spooking me. I regret that time.

Genre: Adventure Family Fantasy (USA, UK)

Starring: Fairuza Balk (The Craft), Nicol Williamson (The Exorcist III)

Directed By: Walter Murch

Overview: This is a parable of the time Walt Disney rolled over in his grave, as told by Dorothy Gale in her return to the Land of Oz.

Performance:

Family films tend to be overzealously acted. Fantasy Adventure films tend also to melodramatically highlight the archetypes of good and evil. The doctor, played by Nicol Williamson, I guess plays the best role in this, or rather plays the least worst, and poor little Dorothy is excused because she's a very young little actress. No great effort was put in the direction, and it's blatantly obvious.
Rating: 5

Cinematography:

As a child, I remembered this as being exciting to watch, frightening and magical. Let me tell you how stupid I was as a child: I licked a pole in the middle of winter on a dare. It got stuck. I.Q. is something that you're born with, though experience must catch up to your raw intellect. Well I was smart enough in the next few seconds to exhale hot air as I gently tugged my tongue back in my mouth, without any lasting scars, be it emotional or tastebud-inal. Today, also, I was smart enough to know how stupid it was to watch this movie, though I've recovered, only with mild emotional scaring. Good animation wrapped up in a pathetic display of half-assed effort.
Rating: 5

Script:

Gill Denis and the director, Walter Murch, who also wrote the screenplay for THX 1138, wrote this script. The fact that half the movie is Dorothy saying "This isn't the Oz I remember" in as many different ways as possible is an obvious attempt by these men at creating a code that would be used to rescue them from the grips of their captors. When forced at gunpoint to write a sequel to a classic, they do well in concealing the code, making it seem only like 'bad writing'. The other half of the script is just an attempt to hide said code, though it was clear that the writers were piss-yourself terrified, because it's all stupid puns and statements of the obvious. After some deciphering they're in North Dakota somewhere, and they suspect they'll be buried in a corn field when they're done. May they rest in peace.
Rating: 3

Plot:

I'm too old and jaded not to see the subtext of this film. Sadly, ever so sadly, that underlying 'raison d'être' is nothing more than the almighty dollar. "Let's make a movie that people will see because they know it, and even if it's bad, we'll have made our money from them anyways. Disney Enterprise will survive." As least that what I picture that board of hand-wringers saying as they curl their evil handlebar moustaches, cackling maniacally. Oh and the plot is identical to the original: girl goes to another land, makes friends, gets quest, reaps reward. It's pathetic.
Rating: 3

Mood:

The childhood joy of remembrance I had about Return to Oz, as I watched The Wizard of Oz made me rush out and see this next, right away. What's worse is that I subjected this to a friend, who had since disavowed my existence and will never believe a single thing I have to say about film ever again. For someone to twist this story all up, making Dorothy younger, having the Land of Oz be drastically different, not to mention the Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man having been completely molested to the point that they're genuinely creepy... I'm ashamed, and I'm sorry!
Rating: 3

Produced in part by Mickey's evil twin

Overall Rating: 38% (Return To Your Homes, Nothing To See Here)

Aftertaste:

This is the kind of movie you regret reliving. This makes you glad you saw this as a child, when you had the imagination to embellish a ridiculous moron holding wheels into a creepy-legged monster who stalks the lonely streets. This is a bad pun with some nice claymation. This is not art, though you can see the art screaming to be released. This is the beginning of the Corporate Disney, and this is the end of an era of integrity. This makes you wonder how your childhood really looks like.

Recommendations: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009), Requiem for a Dream, Dawn of the Dead

2010-05-18 00:28:15

AlexDelarge
Reviews: 71
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Sound:
Plot:
Cast:
Special Effects:
Length & Pace:
Cinematography:

3.5

Return to Oz: Emerald Eyes

Dorothy’s emerald eyes mirror her aching soul, longing for the marvelous Land of Oz only to find herself condemned to the tortured screams and electric fear of a madhouse. RETURN TO OZ is not a sequel to the classic musical but an inspired homage to Baum’s classic series, combining elements of Marvelous Land Of Oz and Ozma Of Oz to create a dark fable as Dorothy struggles to save the magical kingdom from Mombi and the Nome King.

Wickedly inventive, Director Walter Murch takes Dorothy on a tumultuous journey across the Deadly Desert and to the crumbling Emerald City, where she faces the strange Wheelers and is saved by Tik-Tok: Murch imbues nearly every scene with some interesting Oz detail and design from the original W.W. Denslow illustrations. The surreal and often stunning visuals and the bizarre characters could have lurched from the subconscious of Terry Gilliam!

Dorothy Gale survives the tempest and discovers her old house, rotting and decrepit like the broken brick road, and is saddened to discover that her friends have been turned to stone…or kidnapped by the wicked King. As the narrative progresses darkly, she and her companion Billina the talking hen adventure with Jack Pumpkinhead (Jack Skellington, anyone?), Tik-Tok, and Gump: Dorothy must use her wits and ingenuity and, with a little help from her friends, restore the rightful ruler of the Emerald City and ends up saving Princess Ozma.

The gentle innocence of Fairuza Balk as Dorothy works wonderfully, and Nicol Williamson as the Nome King (he is also Merlin from EXCALIBUR) is fiendishly enjoyable. Walter Murch is an Academy Award winning Editor and it shows: the film’s pacing and cutting creates just the right amount of suspense while catapulting the plot towards its celebrative conclusion.

The final parade is a who’s who of Oz lore and it’s heartbreaking to acknowledge that more sequels were never produced, that these characters shall always remain background ornaments for this decorative finale. As Dorothy washes back upon the shores of consciousness, we see Mombi’s despicable doppelganger being carted away in a horse drawn prison, her leering toothy grin like splinters of bone. Dorothy is restored to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry but Princess Ozma has granted her willful passage to the wonderful realm…as long as Dorothy keeps her head. Final Grade: (B)

(Read Less...)

Recommendations: The Birds, Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960), Funny Games

All reviews copyright Korova, Ltd. Visit Alex at his Home Theatre Blog, http://korovatheatrepresents.blogspot.com/

2010-03-03 20:29:41

Squish
Reviews: 740
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Return To Oz (1985) * Favorite Review *

There was a time when this joke of an actor did a good job of spooking me. I regret that time. Genre: Adventure Family Fantasy (USA, UK) Starring: Fairuza Balk (The Craft), Nicol Williamson (The Exorcist III) Directed By: Walter Murch Overview: This is a parable of the time Walt Disney rolled over in his grave, as told by Dorothy Gale in her return to the Land of Oz. Performance: Family films tend to be overzealously acted. Fantasy Adventure films tend also to melodramatically highlight the archetypes of good and evil. The doctor, played by Nicol Williamson, I guess plays the best role in this, or rather plays the least worst, and poor little Dorothy is excused because she's a very young little actress. No great effort was put in the direction, and it's blatantly obvious. Rating: 5 Cinematography: As a child, I remembered this as being exciting to watch, frightening and magical. Let me tell you how stupid I was as a child: I licked a pole in the middle of winter on a...

(Read More...)

2010-05-18 00:28:15

AlexDelarge
Reviews: 71
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Return to Oz: Emerald Eyes

Dorothy’s emerald eyes mirror her aching soul, longing for the marvelous Land of Oz only to find herself condemned to the tortured screams and electric fear of a madhouse. RETURN TO OZ is not a sequel to the classic musical but an inspired homage to Baum’s classic series, combining elements of Marvelous Land Of Oz and Ozma Of Oz to create a dark fable as Dorothy struggles to save the magical kingdom from Mombi and the Nome King. Wickedly inventive, Director Walter Murch takes Dorothy on a tumultuous journey across the Deadly Desert and to the crumbling Emerald City, where she faces the strange Wheelers and is saved by Tik-Tok: Murch imbues nearly every scene with some interesting Oz detail and design from the original W.W. Denslow illustrations. The surreal and often stunning visuals and the bizarre characters could have lurched from the subconscious of Terry Gilliam! Dorothy Gale survives the tempest and discovers her old house, rotting and decrepit like the...

(Read More...)

2010-03-03 20:29:41

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