Return to Oz (A- or 3.5/4 stars)
'Return to Oz' (directed by editor/sound designer Walter Murch, & based on the famous L. Frank Baum books) begins 6 months after Dorothy (Fairuza Balk) has returned to Kansas, but finds herself haunted by memories of Oz. She can't stop talking about it. She can't sleep. And so, worried about her health, and in an attempt to clear Dorothy's head from the 'Oz nonsense', Aunt Em (Piper Laurie) brings her to a sanitarium for treatment. But when the head doctor & nurse (Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh) aim to treat her with experimental shock therapy that has resulted in damaged children being locked away in the hospital, Dorothy escapes by the skin of her teeth in a torrential storm; and finds that she's been transported back to Oz for a new adventure.
Having woken up in cherished Oz alongside her pet hen, Billina (who can now talk!), Dorothy realizes that something is wrong: The Yellow Brick Road is in ruins, vicious 'Wheelers' are running amok, the Emerald City is dilapidated, & it's populated by statues. Dorothy surmises that this devastation is the doings of the diabolical Princess Mombi & the malevolent Nome King who has used Dorothy's ruby slippers to lay waste of Emerald City. With the help of new friends: a walking jack o' lantern named Jack Pumpkinhead (who thinks Dorothy is his mom), a loyal robot named Tik Tok, & a loving moose-headed sofa named Gump ... Dorothy sets out to rescue the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, the Cowardly Lion, & restore Oz to its glory days.
OK, maybe I was just a demented child because I probably saw this movie by age 6 or 7 … and I LOVED it. Because it's been engrained in me from such a young age, I thought nothing of its bizarre, scary plot incidentals, visuals & themes. But as I watch the film back as an adult, I realize just how horrifying & chilling this movie could have been to children (and still can for today's youth). There is some scary sh*t in this movie {haha}. Gone is the whimsical tone of the 1939 Wizard of Oz (one of the best films of all-time, in my opinion). Gone are Glinda, the munchkins, & the iconic songs.
What we have in this sequel (of sorts) are aunts & uncles who appear ignorant, evil doctors, creaky corridors, screaming patients, shock therapy, a foot chase in the woods, a girl who seemingly drowns in a river, 'Wheeler' creatures that look like they'll tear you to shreds if they catch you on their wheel-bound feet, a princess who lives in a towering castle who exchanges her own head for one of 30 other heads that she keeps in lockdown in her boudoir, a deadly desert that turns people to sand if they touch it; not to mention a creepy subterranean domain where the Nome King takes pleasure in turning people & animals to inanimate objects forever.
All of that is friggin' creepy. This is like a horror film for kids. But it's all in the source material! And I WISH more children's films actually went the route of being that edgy/scary and not having to sugar-coat everything. I watch kids films now (compared to the ‘80s - Return to Oz, Neverending Story, The Witches, Faerie Tale Theatre) and you get the feeling that studios today have sucked out every potential jarring/scarring plot incident in order to allow the kiddies to ooh & ahh without the threat of real peril. If I could stand it, and if millions of other kids could stand it, then why can't they now?
All this scary talk aside, 'Return to Oz' is actually a competent, true-to-it's-source-material, lavish production with astoundingly gorgeous sets, superbly strange costumes/gowns, state of the art effects (Oscar-nominated), & amazing use of make-up/Claymation (for the climax). You're not likely to find another film in ‘85 with more vibrant & unique design. I remember the menace I felt while watching Dorothy stalk around Mombi's enormous glass palace. There's the terror in seeing the Wheelers (with loud, squeaky wheels) – they’re like the flying monkeys of this story. And yet, with all that said, there's humor in the movie, too. I loved Dorothy's new friends. So from beginning to end, I just love this bizarre, off-center, yet rousing adventure.
Having woken up in cherished Oz alongside her pet hen, Billina (who can now talk!), Dorothy realizes that something is wrong: The Yellow Brick Road is in ruins, vicious 'Wheelers' are running amok, the Emerald City is dilapidated, & it's populated by statues. Dorothy surmises that this devastation is the doings of the diabolical Princess Mombi & the malevolent Nome King who has used Dorothy's ruby slippers to lay waste of Emerald City. With the help of new friends: a walking jack o' lantern named Jack Pumpkinhead (who thinks Dorothy is his mom), a loyal robot named Tik Tok, & a loving moose-headed sofa named Gump ... Dorothy sets out to rescue the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, the Cowardly Lion, & restore Oz to its glory days.
OK, maybe I was just a demented child because I probably saw this movie by age 6 or 7 … and I LOVED it. Because it's been engrained in me from such a young age, I thought nothing of its bizarre, scary plot incidentals, visuals & themes. But as I watch the film back as an adult, I realize just how horrifying & chilling this movie could have been to children (and still can for today's youth). There is some scary sh*t in this movie {haha}. Gone is the whimsical tone of the 1939 Wizard of Oz (one of the best films of all-time, in my opinion). Gone are Glinda, the munchkins, & the iconic songs.
What we have in this sequel (of sorts) are aunts & uncles who appear ignorant, evil doctors, creaky corridors, screaming patients, shock therapy, a foot chase in the woods, a girl who seemingly drowns in a river, 'Wheeler' creatures that look like they'll tear you to shreds if they catch you on their wheel-bound feet, a princess who lives in a towering castle who exchanges her own head for one of 30 other heads that she keeps in lockdown in her boudoir, a deadly desert that turns people to sand if they touch it; not to mention a creepy subterranean domain where the Nome King takes pleasure in turning people & animals to inanimate objects forever.
All of that is friggin' creepy. This is like a horror film for kids. But it's all in the source material! And I WISH more children's films actually went the route of being that edgy/scary and not having to sugar-coat everything. I watch kids films now (compared to the ‘80s - Return to Oz, Neverending Story, The Witches, Faerie Tale Theatre) and you get the feeling that studios today have sucked out every potential jarring/scarring plot incident in order to allow the kiddies to ooh & ahh without the threat of real peril. If I could stand it, and if millions of other kids could stand it, then why can't they now?
All this scary talk aside, 'Return to Oz' is actually a competent, true-to-it's-source-material, lavish production with astoundingly gorgeous sets, superbly strange costumes/gowns, state of the art effects (Oscar-nominated), & amazing use of make-up/Claymation (for the climax). You're not likely to find another film in ‘85 with more vibrant & unique design. I remember the menace I felt while watching Dorothy stalk around Mombi's enormous glass palace. There's the terror in seeing the Wheelers (with loud, squeaky wheels) – they’re like the flying monkeys of this story. And yet, with all that said, there's humor in the movie, too. I loved Dorothy's new friends. So from beginning to end, I just love this bizarre, off-center, yet rousing adventure.