So I used to love this movie as a little kid, and one of my good friends re-introduced me to it about a year ago. I know I'm weird, but I love this movie for some reason.
This is really eerie because I just thought about making a thread about this movie earlier today. Weird........
I think Return to Oz is one of the scariest movies ever. All those heads yelling "Dorothy Gaaaaale!!" And when they strap Dorothy down in that creepy hospital place, and then everything starts to go wrong. And of course the Wheelers. I dont think I've seen this movie since the 1980's, by my favorite scene is definitely when she is in the room with all the cups and knickknacks and she has to pick the right one for some reason.....I dont remember what it was all about but that was pretty intense.
Yeah, now that I think about it, it is really scary. I don't know how it didn't freak me out as a kid. I just remember I wanted it to go on, how Dorothy is reunited with the Scarecrow, Tin Man, etc. and then she has to leave.
This film and I have an odd history. I first heard of it when I read the novelization of the movie (how my family came to obtain the book, I haven't any idea) and I then began looking around rental places, trying to find it. Alas, my search bore no fruit. Living in a small, New Mexico town means that more obscure properties can be nigh impossible to find. However, half a year after reading the story, we found the movie at a Blockbuster up in Washington state. That movie (from what I remember as a child) was a moving piece of work, although I don't remember it being that scary.
Anyway, that's my story. I didn't realize that anyone else even knew this movie existed.
Great...ruin my day by 7AM...now I'm depressed and feeling old, because I'm reading about all these people who loved this movie when they were young, and it was MY KIDS who used to love this movie when THEY were youg.
When it first came out, it was a big flop. The general public thought it was too dark, depressing and disturbing for kids. And the hard-core Oz fans thought it was too unfaithful to the two Oz books that it was based on (The Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz).
I think I liked it better than most, but I still had some big problems with it. It was pretty joyless throughout. There was a hollow, humorless, tragic feel to the whole thing. Very unlike the Oz stories.
I own the DVD, and my opinion has gotten better of it over the years. Either the world has become more dark and cynical, or I've gotten over my initial shock of the strange tone.
Fairuza Balk is quite good in it, as is Jean Marsh. But I think my favorite aspect of the film is the music by David Shire. By the way if any of you own the CD, it's a HUGE collector's piece and used to fetch upwards of $250 on eBay. A great score that echoes Aaron Copland, ragtime, and a little John Williams too. I still listen to it all the time.
I miss scary kids movies! Everything is so....sugar-coated now. RETURN TO OZ was scary but so was SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARVES and SLEEPING BEAUTY.
I love that they made a "Little Golden Book" out of it.
That was the other huge problem with it. Disney marketed it as a sugar-coated kiddie movie. The public was very confused when they walked out of the movie theatre. eBay link
There was a video rental store near my house where you could get 5 movies, for $5, for 5 nights. I used to get this and the cartoon version of The Wizard of Oz every time.
Everyone gave this movie flak for not being the "classic" MGM version, and told poor Fairuza Balk she wasn't Judy Garland. I agree that it lacks humor (and Emma Ridley's Ozma is a lifeless figurine) but it's a lot closer to the books than it is given credit for. L. Frank Baum often got rather creepy in the original Oz series--in one book, he had the Tin Woodman encountering his original (human) head (which had been preserved, still very much alive, in a cupboard) and HOLDING A CONVERSATION WITH IT.
And for those that don't know... he bears an Ozian name.
For years, Disney owned the rights to the original 14 Baum Oz books. Now, they've all gone Public Domain (I think even Glinda of Oz passed through recently), so their up for grabs for films, musicals, TV adaptations, and the like.
And there are many hard-core fans out there, like me, roquat, Husk, and others.
Roquat...that's the official name for Nome King, correct?
I actually like the Ruby Slippers in Return to Oz 1000x better than I do the MGM slippers. In fact, the pair I'm working on for Halloween are patterned after them.
You have the Wizard of Oz cookbook? I make "Aunt Em's Kansas Breakfast Scones" all the time (except I use chocolate chips instead of currants, which I hate). Ditto "Field Mouse Nibbles", which are to die for (literally, they're hot as hell from the cayenne pepper.)
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joined:8/17/07
Posted: 8/11/08 at 02:03am