Review Roundup: Lea Michele, Megan Hilty Follow Yellow Brick Road in LEGENDS OF OZ: DOROTHY'S RETURN

LEGENDS OF OZ: DOROTHY'S RETURN opens in theaters nationwide today starring Broadway favorites Lea Michele (Dorothy), Bernadette Peters (Glinda), Megan Hilty (China Princess), Patrick Stewart (Tugg), Hugh Dancy (Marshal Mallow), Oliver Platt (Wiser) and Martin Short (the Jester). Also supplying their familiar voice talents are Jim Belushi (Lion), Dan Aykroyd (Scarecrow), and Kelsey Grammer (Tin Man).

The musical contains new original songs by legendary singer/songwriter Bryan Adams. LEGENDS OF OZ: DOROTHY'S RETURN is a 3D animated feature film based on the adventure books by Roger Stanton Baum, the great-grandson of L. Frank Baum, and is a continuation of the world's most popular and beloved fairy tales.

In the story, Dorothy awakens to a devastated post-tornado Kansas, but is soon whisked back to Oz and its new villain in this 3D-animated musical adventure. There she is joined by familiar faces including the Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Man.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Nicolas Rapold | New York Times

"That sense of imagination is largely absent from "Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return," a second-rate animated adaptation of a spinoff... Still, the film's set-piece journey through China Country, ruled over by a tiny, haughty, porcelain princess (a delightful Megan Hilty), is a highlight." Read the full Review here.

Martin Tsai | Los Angeles Times

"Whatever the shortcomings inherent in DOROTHY OF OZ, they are only exacerbated here by sweatshop animation, cringeworthy ditties and a DreamWorks-influenced wisecracking screenplay by Adam Balsam and Randi Barnes that undermines the story at almost every turn." Read the full Review here.

Michael Rechtshaffen | Hollywood Reporter

"Although it makes a conscious attempt to contemporize the venerable tale--mainly by amping up the characters and the volume--while still incorporating the classic touchstones that have made the original one of the most iconic movies of all time, the desired Oz-mosis never occurs." Read the full Review here.

Justin Chang | Variety

"Banking on audience affection for MGM's classic "The Wizard of Oz" (but remaining within acceptable legal boundaries, of course) while cooking up a comparatively feeble set of adventures for Dorothy, Toto and friends, this first theatrical outing for Clarius Entertainment will likely melt away at the box office before finding a small pot of ancillary gold at the end of the rainbow." Read the full Review here.

Jen Chaney | Washington Post

"Now along comes LEGENDS OF OZ: DOROTHY'S RETURN, which manages to be animated in form but completely listless in content. This is a musical that borrows tangentially from some of the most imaginative source material in the history of children's stories and weaves elements of that material into a tale with zero stakes and a troubling tendency to make Scarecrow say such things as 'Copy that' and 'Secure the chamber!'" Read the full Review here.

Peter Hartlaub | San Francisco Chronicle

"The long journey is filled with action and familiar characters, but ultimately falls short of success. All the brains, heart and courage in the world can't save a movie that doesn't have a third act." Read the full Review here.

Tom Russo | Boston Globe

"The enterprise, while gently reverent, looks and feels as shaky as it sounds, tonally as flat as Kansas farmland. This is mythology that's famously transportive in every sense, but the animators struggle to take us anywhere truly captivating, or even clearly defined." Read the full Review here.

Joe Williams | St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"This musical 'toon isn't made for anyone old enough to operate a remote control, let alone remember the MGM classic, but the dubious, discount-bin eye candy could keep the chaperones awake." Read the full Review here.

Did you follow the Yellow Brick Road back to OZ this weekend? Add your Review to the roundup on the comments below.

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