The Many Tragedies of Walt Disney's Return to Oz
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2024
- On its surface Return to Oz is just another failed Wizard of Oz movie. Turns out it's just one chapter in Disney's 60 year journey to make good on one of Walt's earliest obsessions, involving backstage drama, financial ruin, and unexpected redemption.
WALTER MURCH INTERVIEW FROM THE FILMUMENTARIES PODCAST
• Episode 31 - Return to...
RETURN TO OZ - THE MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE FOOTAGE
• Return To Oz - The Mai...
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Return to Oz is seriously underrated I loved it as a child. Pure nightmare fuel but I loved it.
I'm getting to genuinely hate that relatively new term "nightmare fuel" I wish someone would start another phrase trend like "Parasomnia Petrol" or something similar 🤮🤌
@@AllGoodOutside Return to Oz is seriously underrated I loved it as a child. Pure Parasomnia Petrol but I loved it.
@@CeticWales Bü-JA- GrandMA! 👋🤣👍 Thank you for the reply!
One of my favorites.
Not pure, just a good portion of it.
I adore this movie, and constantly rented it as a kid. I loved being scared by it, and I liked that it felt closer to the books which I also read constantly.
Yep, the creepiness is what makes it so good.
Faruza Balk!
The best sequels change genre. Terminator and alien went from horror/sci-fi to being strait action sci-fi.
It’s tricky to do sequels but u can’t outdo a classic. You need some of Rte sane characters and settings but gotta change something so genre is bestv
Same. I kept coming back but was so scared. I couldn’t look away though because it was so visceral to my heart
This movie makes me cry buckets when Aunt Em brings her to the clinic and when they find Dorothy in the woods, Ozma coming back to Oz out of the mirror it's the best, I'm sick and tired people dissing it saying it's horrible well you know what then don't watch it and you all don't know good movies and when I found my DVD Copy it was the best day of my life
HOW IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT YOUR PRODUCTION VALUE. you rock dude, feels like I am watching a docu-series TV show bravo.
Thanks! Definitely something that I put a lot of effort into, so it's great to hear that you're enjoying it!
I saw this first before The Wizard of Oz and got fascinated eversince.
The Flight of the Navigator, Return to Oz, Tron, The Black Cauldron, and so many others that bombed somehow in the theaters but I really, really enjoyed as a kid back then
Totally! That whole era of Disney cranked out some of my favorites as well. Flight of the Navigator's entire 1st act still holds up!
I feel this so much.
Return to Oz and Flight of the Navigator are fucking awesome!!!
Flight of the Navigator... MAN I loved that film!
i loved Flight of the Navigator as a young kid and had the VHS tape.... compliance!
I was a kid when this came out and I LOVED it. Great introduction to horror concepts, and the special effects are soo good for the time.
That is true. Plus, unlike the original movie released by MGM, Return to Oz was closer to the source material that was the original books, making me view Return to Oz as its own film instead of a sequel of any kind.
Return to Oz was one of my fav movies when I was a kid. That, The Labyrinth, The Never-Ending Story & The Dark Crystal
What about willow?
@@Johnlindsey289 yes def! I forgot about that one!
I was the kid who got scared from it but watched it multiple times.
Also, I liked the Wiz.
I pretty much had the exact same expereince!
I'm a huge Oz geek, and as such I appreciate thoughtful videos like this. I like the bait and switch of "starting at the beginning with the '39 film" before talking about the books and some.if the earlier adaptations. While I enjoy the MGM film, and appreciate it for keeping the tale in the public consciousness, I have to admit that I'm bothered by the number of people who think that that is all there is to Oz. While Return to Oz has its flaws, I enjoy that it dared to adapt material from later books. As a Minnesotan, I will always love Judy's performance in the MGM film, but Fairuza Balk is probably my second favorite Dorothy.
So glad you enjoyed this one!
I read every single book and it was clear that he had no intention of making more than two. Later books had to address plot holes, inconsistencies and questions about the characters.
Saying that, I would like to see a series adaption that's faithful to the books.
What I would really like to see is the Wizard of Oz series in an animated format that closely matches the tone of the books. I know there’s a 90s series, a Muppet Babies like cartoon, and one from a few years back that’s more aimed towards a younger audience, but I would like to see a show that’s more in line with an age group that’s in line with Gravity Falls.
YES! A really well done Oz animated series would be amazing!
I think what would have been ideal is a release in 1939 of an animated adaptation by either Disney or the Fleischer Brothers. They might even have commissioned the same composer and songwriters. The movie could well have been pretty much the same, but richer in narrative and not hampered by the special effects limitations of the day.
There's a decent anime from the 80s.
I used to long for that as well but hope that if it ever happens, it will be in the hands of folks who don't want to alter every detail to suit their "modern" selves or because they feel like something was "wrong" with the story and needing fixing. Return to Oz, in spite of being done by Disney, is one of my favorite films, period. I love everything about it. It successfully forged together two of the books plots, aligned itself to fit within MGM film lore and distinguished itself entirely from both. I don't necessarily mind changing details for television or movies (because not many things translate perfectly from page to screen) as long as the core is still there. The characters and the world are as magical and whimsical as they are in the books (and they leaned into the horror aspect that is present when you translate characters and situations directly from their source, just like fairy tales). That combined with one of my favorite film scores, it certainly made a lasting impression on me.
If anyone actually takes on the series, I certainly hope it wouldn't just stuck within the "Wizard of Oz" realm, like we've had for over 40 years now, rewriting the same ONE novel in different ways (::cough WICKED cough::). Personally, I think one of the Oz-adjacent stories (like "Sky Island") would be a great concept for a film. It's got those wonderfully Baum-esq dark side to it as well. I would just love to see Baum's entire world explored more and I recommend them to every young reader I can.
There is a faithful full-length animated version of The Wizard of Oz that is close to the book it's by Paramount and it is 80 minutes long
i still remember the first time i saw this movie i was a bit too young for it and it really freaked me out, i appreciate its oddball nature today, its sorta a time capsule of what you can do with a story if you let loose, but i see very much why it failed
Return to Oz is and always will be my favorite Oz movie.
Return to Oz is a masterpiece. It's tone, and risky choices is great. But I can see why people were disappointed if they were expecting 'The Wizard of Oz 2'.
Guillermo Del toro praised it
Nice to see Wonderful Land of Oz get mentioned. Thankfully the good people at Rifftrax have greatly improved it (and it's free on their RUclips channel)
Ha! Rifftrax and MST3K is the best when it comes to discovering hidden gems like this.
When I watched this on VHS as a little kid, I was deeply intrigued. There was so much going on that felt so grand and went over my head. I loved it, because I hadn't seen the original. Many years later I saw the original and was ... a bit weirded out by the bright colors and naivety. But later I understood, what it meant for the people who loved it. 'Return' was a very typical product of the 80's with their dark, gritty fantasy, horror and Sci fi themes, constantly pushing the boundaries of what's seen as suitable for kids. I'm glad to learn so much about that film's troubled history
Happy to hear you enjoyed learning about this!
Another example of going gritty was a remake of BABES IN TOYLAND released the very next year, starring a very young Drew Barrymore and Keanu Reeves in one of his first roles, as well as THE KARATE KID's Pat Morita(!) as Santa Claus. They made a fair effort, but their budget was obviously brutally low and the proceedings come off as vaguely dreary. And the villains are more sinister than in the original, looking more like characters from THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.
Yeah I saw this one before the classic too. Really don't know how that happened.
The 80’s was lightning in a bottle and a great time for sci-fi and fantasy
When I watched Return To Oz when I was 8 years old, I had already seen The Wizard Of Oz probably about 10 times by then. However, even at 8 years old, I knew that they were different movies and that I had to like Return on it's own terms, not comparing it to Wizard. Even at 8, I knew that for myself, nobody had to tell me that. Most adult critics at the time could just not grasp this concept.
It’s more an adaptation of two oz books
Return to Oz will always be my favorite. It’s so,ingrained in my childhood that one of my favorite memories is the childhood frustration of my mom seemingly using the movie to time cooking dinner. Countless times right at the exact same moment, when Tick Tock is first found and he’s looking out the door for the wheelers, my mom would proclaim “Dinner’s ready. Turn off the movie”. We’d always finish it after dinner.
I will gladly return to this film before I would watch the original one. Return to Oz has managed to stick in my mind.
This was one of my go-to movies as a kid! My siblings and I loved it so much, that we named one of the red hens on our farm Billina.
I'm a little surprised that you included the obscure Aussie Oz movie (NOBODY acknowledges that one!) and skipped Shirley Temple's 1960 TV special The Land of Oz, which has a few of the same elements as Return to Oz. I didn't know it existed until recently, and it's kind of interesting. I'm among the few who saw the original Return release. It wasn't what me or my family expected at all, and I was traumatized by Mombi's hall-of-heads, but I still loved it. All of those dark Disney films from that era were kind of awesome. I'm grateful that the execs didn't meddle with the director's vision of this one like they did with Watcher in the Woods and Something Wicked This Way Comes, which don't hold up as well today.
Yeah - outside of the occasional throwaway joke refference, I tried to keep this one focused on both Disney and theatrical Oz. Could have gotten wild if I included TV entries.
Absolubtly underrated classic,
Perfect amount of magic wonder and horror!
The beautiful dark.
Absolutely love this movie as well as The Wiz. Loved how this was much truer to the spirit of the books, and got over the whole making it still seem like she dreamed it with the Kansas citizens doubling as Oz citizens. The Wheelers weren't really scary for me, however many of my peers really were frightened by them. The whole presentation of Mombi and the heads stayed with me for some time though. Oz the Great And Powerful is the Oz prequel that we definitely needed.
Frank Baum would have adored this film. Despite mashing up several books, the characterizations, the imagery, the tonality are completely within the original Baum Oz books.
Agree
Just gained a new subscriber here! Honstly, bc I don't have much experience in technology and such, I simply don't realize just what goes into making/producing media like this. Then, as I'm watching this after just watching your Tim Burton "Hansel and Gretel" piece...sometimes it becomes abundantly clear how much must go into this😮 Seriously professional and absolutely impressive!!
Thanks - I really appreciate that. These are all definitely a labor of love!
If you read the books, you know this movie was directed flawlessly. How Walter Murch pulled this off is nothing short of amazing.
I will say this. I actually love Return to OZ, ever since I first saw it as a little kid.
Many people say that Disney's Return to OZ is too dark and scary for an OZ movie, but what most people don't realize is that the original OZ stories by L. Frank Baum were not like the 1939 movie. They were actually very dark, violent, and scary. For instance in the first book, the Tin Man kills a large pack of wolves from attacking by cutting off each of there heads with his axe, or in one sequel book, the wizard lobotomizes a cats' brains out and replacing them with glass ones. And bare in mind, those are just a couple of examples of what the original L. Frank Baum OZ stories are like.
People, like myself, believe that Disney's Return to OZ fully captures the feel of L. Frank Baum's original dark vision of OZ. It got the tone of the land of OZ right. And on a personal level, I really hope that Disney makes a prequel to Return to OZ to tie in to it, and have it end with Dorothy beginning stages of her depressive state we see her at the beginning of Return to OZ not long after she returns home.
Return to Oz is 100% more re-watchable to me. I'm one of those 'creepy' kids from the 80s who preferred the darker stuff - dark crystal, black cauldron, secret of nimh etc - and I also loved The Wiz growing up too. I was never a fan of the original, but at least I can at least appreciate it now for what it is. Very interesting to hear all this, now I have to go watch Return 😆
I wasn't a fan of the og Oz movie either but loved Return to Oz!
Ur not the only one😅
I loved this one so much! Saw it in the theater with grandma in 85. I loved being terrified by it! This was a great video/analysis!
Thanks so much!
Return to Oz is my favorite Oz film simply because it's so close to the dark themes of the Baum books. His books are very twisted and dark in many ways, and honestly his need to write them simply for money comes through, you can tell he wasn't loving it by how the characters are and how they interact with others, Dorothy especially. I think by the end Baum absolutely hated Oz and Dorothy lol. But still, I love how dark the books can get and love that the movie Return to Oz encapsulated that.
Great video mate, I love return to oz it's a very powerful film and reminds me of being a child, that feeling of quiet boredom in a strange place being forces into new situations constantly and having to meet new friend's. You dont know much as a child and so much is new to you, you may aswel be swept up into oz but then again I'm 33 and born before the internet so these feeling I'm certain are different for kids today.
So glad you enjoyed this one!
Love the OZ Disney drama connection made vivid & fun. Dazzling FX animation!
This is one of my favorite films of all time. I grew up on the books. I adore the 1939 film. I collect 39 film stuff. However, THIS film is Baum's Oz, not Hollywood. I was 28 years old when I saw it at the theater. I was blown away to see the real thing. I still love it and watch it often. I love the 39 film on it's own merits - a treat for both eyes and ears and as a part of the collective pop culture we have today. This film is it's own thing, but it is what was written by the author and a clever use of two different books. One can love them both for different reasons.
Funny enough, I never grew up with the MGM classic; I actually grew up with the Filmation animated film then Return to Oz. Those were my main and only introductions to the Land of Oz stories, then later on I read the "Wicked" book and saw the musical inspired by it. It would be till late 2006 when I finally saw the MGM movie and at first it caught me off guard with how colorful it was since in my mind Oz was grittier and darker, but ended up loving it as one of my favorite movies ever as well as musical.
Woah - Oz in reverse must have been wild!
@@theothervault It was! Going from Green Elephants stampeding through everything , through Dorothy running away from a headless witch, to Idina Menzel belting it out alongside Kirstin Chenoweth...to the super MGM colorful musical. It was a journey! And the reason I STILL remember "Oz the Great and Powerful" was because the first time I saw it was on a flight to Orlando...in the middle of a storm...with severe turbulence. So the tornado scene became a motion simulator that lasted the film's runtime, and in order for me to prevent going full panic mode, I glued my eyes into that small TV and watch EVERY SECOND OF IT till we landed safely. So now I associate Oz with turbulence...lawl
Although not Disney, a nod to how Wicked made a HUGE success by turning the story on it's ear, proving that there is still a market for the Oz story, would have been a nice footnote to the Disney saga.
i absolutely LOVED return to oz... i was not able to see it as much as i wanted as a kid because they did not air it often and basically could only rent it.
Before I saw this movie as a kid, I was already a fan of animations like the Sleepy Hollow Headless Horseman stuff, Night on Bald Mountain, Pinocchio, Henson's Dark Crystal, and Bluth's Secret of Nimh. So I actually thought it was more cool than scary.
Have you ever seen Labarynth?
This is be a very large margin the absolute best OZ visual media. It's not even close
This movie is insane and actually more closer to the actual books than the original movie with the yellowbrick road. Its weird and strange but also amazing.
That is true, which is why I do view this as its own movie instead of a sequel.
Its like how some thought Batman begins was a prequel to the Burton movies in 2005 but a standalone film series
The real Oz is somewhere between the 39 and 80's flick. Colorful and fun mixed with your worst nightmares and making them digestible. And still has the best Santa Clause backstory despite no intention. I mean if classic Tim Burton were colorful and had a little more of the living, he was kinda the modern Baum of the time.
I mean, I'd definitely check this out.
I'd love to see a tim Burton Oz interpretation
This is one of my favorite movies. It's hauntingly ethereal and you will never forget it.
we need to make this channel bigger it’s easy as liking the video and telling your friends about it 😂
Thanks so much! Slowly but surely we're get there!
YES!!!
LOVED this movie! So much closer to the feel of the books!
this movie scared the shit out of me when I was a kid
This was a great video! I was curious about the different oz adaptations, and this video collected and explained them better than any other I've come across!
Thanks! So glad you enjoyed this one!
I love the movie, it was filmed here in England and the Jim Henson crew were involved. It even had a presenter from a show I watched on TV playing Tik Tok, at least the movement at least. And the wiz has a soft spot as the makeup was done by one of my heroes, Stan Winston.
It's a shame, really, as this movie is another fantastic entry in the children's dark fantasy genre of the 80s. I think part of the reason it did so poorly is for the same reason the 2005 Charlie & the Chocolate Factory remake was panned, in that it stuck TOO close to the source material and was unrecognizable from the beloved original. My mum for example, is a HUGE Wizard of Oz fan, so I showed her Return to Oz and her reaction was basically "why is it so different. This doesn't look anything like the '39 version". But honestly, that's why I love it. It's such a fascinating world to explore
Absolutely agree and your experience is a perfect example. Thanks so much for sharing!
I grew up on 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I was absolutely horrified when I watched the original, it got on my nerves and funnily enough, I found it scary. 😂 Something about movies made in the 1970s and 80s geared towards kids really freaked me out as a child. Everything was TOO colorful and bright and I liked the muted colors of the remake even if it was a bit more gothic, it felt like the characters were real people with flaws and motives and not human cartoons.
When I was little I would love when this would come on t.v. looooved it!
return to oz is such a gem
I hope we get a proper Disney movie series someday soon, or even a big budget series. As of now, WICKED is what I’m waiting for!
A legit Disney Oz series would be awesome, but probably too expensive for them to bite.
Great review! Thank you. I grew up with Wizard of Oz and watching Return to Oz as a kid gave me nightmares. But I loved it.
You're so very welcome!
Aesome, well crafted video. I haven't seen this movie since I was a wee lad and this brought back a lot of memories (mostly of being frightened by this film!). P.S. you have a phenomenal voice for narration!
So glad you enjoyed it!
This production is wonderful. It is much more satisfying than the musical. I really enjoy the homage to the darkness of the Brother’s Grimm pall of danger and evil. The spirit and the celebration of self reliance is nice to see
Return To Oz is nothing more than a basic template for MK Ultra mind control
I saw Return To Oz when I was 7. I laughed my head off. For me, it was a macabre comedy classic like The Adams Family. Scary was the last word I would have used to describe it. It is probably because I had already seen movies like Gremlins, The Blob, Child’s Play, Ghostbusters, Halloween and Alligator. If you wanna talk horror, Return To Oz is pretty laughable compared to those movies.
Billina did provide comic relief
I love the research and depth that comes to your videos, happy holidays everyone. .
Thanks - I really appreciate that! So great to hear that you're really enjoying my format. Happy Holidays to you, too!
The wheely people and interchanging heads.....Awesome!!!
Crazy. I'm 61 years old. When I was in about the second grade Santa brought me a record with all these odd songs about the Oz carechters called "the Cowardly Lion of Oz" that seemed to bear no relationship to anything. Now, FINALLY I find out what those songs were.
Wow! So glad that I could help clear that up!
It's my kids FAVORITE Oz movie, & I really love it, too.
My friend's Mum had a group of us round to watch this when it came out on video. The other video night she organised was Dumbo. I think she secretly hated kids.
I do love Return to Oz though
I love this movie! I saw it in the theater when it came out. I liked it better than the MGM version, but I was a kid that loved everything spooky. I love the character design!
Thanks for sharing! Agreed - the design throughout the movie is pretty incredible.
This is one of my favorite movies. I like it much more than the musical
I sat through it with my mum when I was a kid but tbh, I got a lot of nightmare from that one. Still one of the coolest moviest I have every seen as a kid.
As someone who grew up in the 80s... this movie was nothing compared to the horrors we encountered in real life
I remember watching this movie a lot as a small child and I loved it!❤
I have seen the 1939 film, THE WIZ, OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, one of the animated adaptations, and (although I can just barely remember doing so) RETURN TO OZ. Of all of them, OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL has satisfied me the most. But none of them have truly done the classic book justice. I think of L. Frank Baum as a sort of proto-J.R.R. Tolkien, and Oz as a precursor to Middle Earth. The Oz mythology works best in the books, where we're free to use our imaginations to the fullest.
The Tolkien - Baum comparison is a pretty interesting one. For the longest time it was thought that The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings could never be be fully adapted, too.
I loved this movie when I was a kid! We taped it when they showed it on The Disney Channel back in the 1980s. Years later I got it on DVD and I still enjoy it! I like this movie better than the MGM musical because it is more faithful to the books.
Saw it on video in 86 at 4 and I had it taped off Disney Channel too and I dug it.
I even bought the anchor bay vhs at 17 and later dvd now Sony and Disney should do an uhd 4k anniversary edition with new restoration and would look more visually stunning
This movie scared me as a kid it was dark and creepy My Friends the Scarecrow Woodman and Lion were turned into abominations
One of my favorites as a child and still love this movie
Liza minnelli is the daughter of Julie Garland?!?!
Yep!
When I was very young my older sister rented this and it scared the hell out of me. It was a few years later I dared to rent the same tape from the same video store and watch it again. After that I rented it out several times a year for the next few years. It was, and still to this day one of the best movies I have ever seen in my entire life. One of my top 10, up there with the likes of T2 and Alien. I have a copy on my laptop I still enjoy watching regularly.
Cosby sounded drunk on that hot air balloon 😂
Its a movie you have to watch again if you saw it as a child because you miss so much when you're a kid.
To be clear, they were making a film that adapted the next few books (which I think they did successfully) but this is NOT a sequel.
Sure - not a sequel. But maybe a follow-up? Seems like they were definitely trying to build off of everyone's love and knowledge of the classic MGM version...
One thing you don't mention about Return is its visual design, which works hard to recreate the John R. Neil illustrations. I'm quite fond of the movie, like Murch having had the books read to me as a child by my mother. Momby, TikTok, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Gnome King, Bilina the hen, and of course Ozma were my old friends.
I loved how creepy & weird it was! I was probably around 10 when it came out and loved it. But we Gen Xers were built different. Black Cauldron, Watership Down, Secret of NIMH - we were raised on darkness
Return to Oz, followed by the Wiz are probably my favorites.
I honestly can never sit down and watch more then a few minutes of the Original.
This movie terrified me as a child, I have very few memories of it though.
I loved this movie as a kid!
Hearing Diana Ross and Michael Jackson singing “Ease on Down the Road” always puts a smile on my face. I love The Wiz!!
I also have a great love for Return to Oz. Mombi taking off her head scared the hell out of me as a kid, but Jack and Tik Tok bring nostalgic feelings to me when I watch the film as an adult. I love the sequence where they’re trying to find green things in the collection while the Gnome King gets pissed. And of course an egg being his downfall definitely makes me giggle even to this day.
One thing I never understood is why the doctor’s nurse got arrested at the end when she was clearly trying to save Dorothy from the flood! LOL
I’m definitely a weirdo, though because so many of those Disney flops you talk about in the 80s are movies I love to this day, like The Devil and Max Devlin!!
Great point about the ending!
Because she confessed she with the doctor did unlawful experiments on patients
I honestly like this movie better than Wizard. The live action Disney movies from about 1975 to 1990, when they were just throwing stuff at the wall to see what would happen, are one of my favorite eras in film history.
Say what you will, but I love this movie. Lots of Childhood Trauma came out of this for me too.
I was a bit nonplussed that the DVD I bought of this film had very jolly-looking packaging, as if to deceive the customer that Return to Oz is something other than a twisted, gothic nightmare. It’s one of my favourite films. I have previously described it as a sequel not to its 30s precursor, but a sequel to the very dark circumstances of the previous film. I am astonished that mindless studio execs didn’t kill it. It’s a postmodern masterpiece.
Can't mess with the classics.
Wizard Of Oz, 1939
Willy Wonka, 1971
A Christmas Story, 1983
It’s not a sequel to the 1939 movie, it’s an adaptation of two Oz books
Actually, if you think about it; a lot of those tropes are perfectly in-line with the Horror-genre! And I think one reason it's aged so well is because it sort-of predicted the dark-fantasy trend that has grown in popularity in recent years. No doubt this was a film ahead of its time! =)
Ooh, Return to Oz. The secret origin of the Pumpkin King!
And even better, an The Other Vault video!
(In the tune of Jack's Lament. The "and since I am dead!" part)
♪~"AND SINCE HE IS BACK, I CAN SIT AND RELAX! AND WATCH HIM REVIEW A FILM UNHEARD OF...
UNDERRATED OR SCORNED! IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW IT WAS FORMED!
HE WILL MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER IT AND THEN SOME. "~♪
Thanks! Fantastic, as always!
I say the same thing about your videos, you wonderful creator! Keep up the amazing work and I will always do my best to show up and make a funny parody!
@@theothervault
I loved Return To Oz as a kid, the special effects were great for the time and the characters very realistic. i loved the darker tone and the fact it wasnt a musical. I do remember finding the headless witch and the wheelers mildly scary but we were tuff in the 80's unlike modern kids.
No. Oz films set horrific examples for all children. All entertainment towards children for that matter. Gives them a false sense of hope which doesnt exist in the real world... for women especially. Girls believe they are princesses and as women... believe they should be treated as such. We need to do away will all forms of entertainment for children and reveal to them how harsh, cruel, wicked, and often meaningless the real world is.
I like the movie quite a bit, though I'm less sold on some of the voice work. But the real star to my mind is the incredibly expressive clay animation done by Will Vinton. Those rock faces were so subtly expressive, you could tell what they were thinking.
I Return to Oz. I was obsessed with all things Oz as a kid, this included. I think it's spectacular. It deserves more credit because it's very close to the source material as far as fantasy goes. People complain that it's incredibly creepy, which it is, but so were the original books.
I remember reading the original Oz books as a kid at my grandma's house, and recall thinking how odd the books were compared to the movie, which has become a standard Disney trope by then.
I really like Return to OZ. think I was 13 or 14 when it came out and went to see it 3 times . Even as an adult I still like to see it from time to time.
One of my favourite movies as a child
Up there with predator 2 for most under-rated sequel ever
"Okay p****face, it's your move!"
I actually like this movie above and beyond the MGM one, for one simple fact, the end of the movie from MGM there never was an OZ, Dorothy just had a concussion, that is all. The story that Baum crafted wasn't from getting hit in the head. I ignored the film itself and had dreams where Dorothy finds the ruby slippers on her feet after sleeping. But as I grew up I didn't like MGM one as much as this one. It was perfect with the darker version, many might not know, but although it had a huge box office beginning what else went with it was children driven almost catatonic of fright because of the witch, they had to cut the film down. I know watching it at 4 years old it sent me screaming into the rooms away from the living room. The family friend was able to calm me down and get me to go back into the living room and see the rest of the movie.
This movie scared the crap out of me but I still kept rewatching it. Kid's movies were definitely alot different back then.
You forgot the "Tin Man" miniseries, which i rather liked
My mom had this recorded on VHS, and my siblings and I loved watching it.
Love the Wiz and Return to Oz.
3 double-ad breaks in 10 minutes and we haven’t even gotten to the production. Goodbye forever, may God have mercy on your soul..
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"Return To Oz" has always been my favorite since I was a little cub in the 1980s. I think something that worked against the film was that MGM's film was an institution by this point, and that film is kind of a curse in its way as it's Oz to most people, kind of like how Disney has so made fairytales its own that comparisons cannot be escaped. As a child, I didn't understand what an institution MGM's musical was. To me, it was just another Oz production, so I was able to view various ones on a more equal footing. I think time is definitely what has helped this movie. You needed more people to see it without the over influence of the MGM musical.
I love "The Wizard of Oz," but "Return To Oz" has always been my favorite. It's so engaging, mysterious, and more emotionally powerful. Heck, I even remember its music more than the great numbers from the MGM film. It also embodies something I've always liked about kid's stuff from the '80s: they weren't afraid to scare you. The following decade got so cautious that it was insulting, whereas the 1980s figured you could probably handle it. As I got older, I came to appreciate that more and more. Disney's Dark Age was amazingly creative, and they took chances. That's worthy of respect.
I think I prefer it to the 1933 film. I saw a lot of it in production at Elstree and was sad it didn't connect with theatrical audiences at the time.