Review of OzLand (2015) by Jeebus117 — 13 Feb 2021

Caught it streaming, and not unhappy that I watched it. But it wasn't exactly a good movie. The acting was mediocre. The writing was mediocre. Took an oft-used concept of sole survivors, and put a barely-original spin on it.

The main issue I had was that the characters were never really in any peril. Yes, they were lonely and bored. This appears to be enough in the future where iconic literary works have been forgotten, and where defunct robots exist.

Yet, we saw no other signs of technology, derelict or otherwise. What I really don't understand is why they don't just follow a river. They seem to have no shortage of food, but a constant water shortage.

So follow a river, and learn to boil water. They're in Kansas, heading west. Kansas is 410 miles wide. Missouri is only 241. So walk across Missouri, instead, and use the Mississippi as a resource. Fish it.

Drink from it. Maybe even use a boat for more efficient transportation. I get that the Kansas setting was almost entirely there for the Oz stuff, but why would they not try to get to Topeka, which is supposedly the Emerald City, of the book? Instead, one character gets his open-ended "I hope he got what he wanted" ending, and the other gets to aimlessly wander the earth, forever alone.

They were clearly trying to be artsy and thought-provoking. I just think they did a mediocre job of both.