Review of Return to Oz (1985) by Harry W — 01 Jun 2013

Return to Oz is a film that would appeal to me more than the original Wizard of Oz, primarily because as a kid I had the story and the meanings of the former's cultural legacy drilled into my head, but I was never that convinced by it. Although, I would have to rewatch it today to determine if I would still enjoy it.

Return to Oz, however is much more convincing and sweeter in its colour due to the fact that it is the creation of an age much more developed with visual effects and other technical film qualities, and it shows off excellently.

Visually, Return to Oz is absolutely stunning and its one of the reasons its such a convincing story. The combining elements of this are the absolute astounding cinematography which gives a great wide view to all the complex plot dynamics as they occur in a perfect perspective and smooth movement, and the excellent musical score which varies amongst all different kinds of tones but maintains a singular valid fairy tale atmosphere even as it ventures into darker territory and more.

The atmosphere is excellent in Return to Oz because its a charming and colourful one that also works to emphasize the darker side to the story which the 1939 film was bereft of, one of the reasons I'm not to interested in The Wizard of Oz for.

Return to Oz is a colourful spectacle that is also shot on numerous beautiful locations and features great lighting, rich with various colours and whimsical themes, constantly up on an astounding epic scale.

And Fairuza Balk made an impressive lead, and her performance matched the one given by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, and I personally feel it was even better because her youth played into her character and it was more convincing as she was played by an 11 year old actress, rather than a 17 year old one. Fairuza Balk was great as Dorothy Gale, and its a hard role to perfect but she passes with flying colours.

However, Return to Oz has its issues as well. Namely, after the colourful venture at the beginning of the story, the visual tone takes a more dank approach and becomes a more dark story, dark in terms of themes and the general lack of colour which doesn't make it the same splendid to watch that it was in the beginning.

Also, the general adventurous tone becomes trapped in the same cave Dorothy and her friends do, and around then it becomes more of a dark monster movie which isn't something you expect when going in to see a movie about the wonderful land of Oz, and although it does capture a true darker side to the fantasy tale, it isn't the most pleasant thing.

But overall, I enjoyed Return to Oz primarily because of the production values and the colourful story, even though there were some clunks along the way.