Return to Oz (1985)

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Dec 10, 2006

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Nov 23, 2005

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Jul 3, 2005

Very Unique!

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Aug 1, 2003 | 1 out of 1 found this Return to Oz (1985) review helpful

I absoultely LOVE this film! It is very unique and kept my attention well. I love the ideas... ie, the lunchbox tree....

Very close to L. Frank Baum's books

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Aug 16, 2002

I read the whole series of Oz books before seeing this film. This film is actually a combination of books 2 & 3, and that is the only reason I mark a point off. Each story could have been told on its own they were so good.
The effects (for the film's time) are outstanding, with particular care being paid to make the Oz characters look and feel like the original book artwork. Particularly delightful is Tik-Tok, whom you'll come to love as much as the trio of Dorothy's pals from the first film. If you are an Oz fan, watch the crowd scenes for several cameos of other recognizable Oz characters from the whole book series.
Also of note is the marvelous way that the Kansas world once again foreshadows the Oz world. I particularly liked the link between the attendants wheeling squeaky carts and the Wheelers of Oz.
Understand that this is not a musical and some scenes are pretty scarey for youngest kids. Winged Monkeys and green witches look simple compared to a few scares here. But this darker natured film is actually much more authentic to L. Frank Baum's style. Still, there is a lot of fun and humor here, and what kid wouldn't be fascinated by a tree that grows picnic lunches? Of course the ending is happy.
I just wish Disney had done the whole series...

Magical!!!

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Aug 13, 2002

This is the way i thought OZ should B. It was odd, eerie, and magical. The characters were entrancing and the story was great. One of the best movies on my list!!!

No offense meant to other reviewers

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Mar 12, 2002

but I cannot imagine why so many people say that RETURN TO OZ is true to L. Frank Baum's books. None of his fourteen Oz novels approach the mostly humorless gloom of this movie; they were fraught with light-hearted remarks and situations. That includes the second and third books, which have been pointlessly joined together to form RETURN's plot, with the 1939 musical's ruby slippers tossed in for good measure. The writers must have had an almost impossible task trying to create a story that could stand as a "sequel" to both that movie and the original book, AND work as a stand-alone film. It shows.

But the film does have its good points--the beautiful sets, the atmosphere (in both the Oz and Kansas scenes), and the acting, especially by Fairuza Balk, who was kind of eerie-looking and beautiful herself, even then.

returning again

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Aug 1, 2000

Return to Oz was nowhere near as good as the original. It didn't follow up on it what so ever, Thats why I am glad to hear a Wizard of Oz 2 will be coming out. Dorothy will be returning to Oz at the age of 63 and wanting to visit her friends for the last time. It will be a great follow up from the original.

OZ AS IT BAUM DESCRIBED IT

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Apr 6, 2000

This really is the true way to visit OZ,with due respect to the original 1939 musical with the oh so beautiful Judy Garland. Much more frightening than the original(except for the flying monkey's who still blow my mind today) and with some truly disturbing and unpleasant moments,but finally more satisfying than the musical.The art direction is more sophistcated than 1939 original and deserves a more extensive analysis than it has been given by film critics.

A must see for everyone at some point

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Aug 21, 1999

<EOM>This fantasy sequal where dorothy returns to the magical world of oz is a classic movie that everyone has just got to see at some point in their life, children and adults alike will be garanteed to love the sequal just as much if not more than the original!!!