Return to Oz

Buy This Item Return to Oz by Walt Disney Home Entertainment  Available from Amazon  $11.99  on 9-19-2008     If you loved THE WIZARD OF OZ, you'll love accompanying Dorothy on this second thrilling adventure based on L. Frank Baum's "Oz" books! Dorothy finds herself back in the land of her dreams and makes delightful new friends (like Tik Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Gump) and dangerous new enemies (the creepy Wheelers, the head-hunting Princess Mombi, and the evil Nome King). With every twist in the yellow brick road, you'll find awesome new surprises and special effects that will astound you! Reader Reviews I wish I could give this release five stars. Unfortunately, Disney decided this was a movie on-par with the other bargain films that is made up of mostly their disastrous 70s films. Anchor Bay did a much better job with the release of this film. Their version had nicer menus, cover art that was pulled from the original theatrical poster, and even a card inside of the unedited theatrical poster. The big drawback was that it was not a 16×9 transfer (Disney had such little faith in DVD back then that they licensed a lot of films out to Anchor Bay for release and forced their distaste in 16×9 transfers onto the third-party companies). Here, we get the Fairuza Balk introduction and interview and TV spots from the Anchor Bay release. In addition, we get a 16×9 transfer this time. This film, though, is VERY dirty. It's in need of some TLC. Dusts and scratches are everywhere. Maybe we'll get the love it deserves on a Blu-Ray release - if such a thing ever happens. On top of that, there are some making-of documentaries from the film's release that could easily have been added without too much more work. Seeing how they fit somebody into Tik-Tok and Dorothy & Friends sliding down those tracks during the filming of their escape from Mombi are some of my earliest memories of TV watching as a child. Now, for the movie. It is based more on what Oz is than the MGM film. Oz was a fairyland, but it was a bit gruesome at times. They gave us a real Oz. Fairuza Balk is, so far, my favorite Dorothy -- one of the few to be the right age for Dorothy, too. However, the big complaint I have are elements that forced people to compare it to the MGM film. Three major elements invented for that musical return to Oz: people and elements in Kansas appear as characters in Oz, Ruby slippers, and ending up all being a dream. While it's fine for people and elements in Kansas to parallel Oz, the other points are too big of a change when you try to do things faithfully. Just take The Muppets' Wizard of Oz for example. People in Kansas returned as people in Oz. But they stayed true with the Silver Slippers and ending it as a real place and not a dream. In a way, trying to bring the elements of two books doesn't do much better for the knowledge of the books. Mombi is actually a lot more of Princess Langwidere with only a few elements of Mombi left intact. Tik-Tok has a bit of Omby Amby thrown in to make him the Royal Army of Oz. Probably for simplicity, Ozma is never Tip. Still, I love this film as it is the best example of Oz on film yet. Especially since things such as Tim Burton's Oz television series keep getting lost forever. I'd love to see somebody that cared for the books to take the time to translate the 14 Baum Oz books into film faithfully... however, I'm sure nobody will ever try it in the foreseeable future.

Return to Oz Available from Amazon Price: $11.99 Updated on 9-19-2008.

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