Return to Oz (1985)It's amazing what nostalgia can do to the human mind. It is perhaps one of the most powerful influences, in that it is able to warp and change experiences from past into elements that may be completely different from how they originally transpired. That weekend to DisneyWorld you took when you were five which was pretty much rained out suddenly becomes a rosy-colored memory of the past. The way we view movies is no different, especially from the films we tend to love from childhood. This film is an example of that, being a favored film from my childhood that, as I got older, built up a reputation of not being that great. Now at nearly twenty, I've gone back to look at this film once again to see if everybody seems to be right. What I found is that the film has some more problems that I thought there were, but I still enjoyed a great deal of it.
What has often been incorrectly been regarded as a direct sequel to that 1939 classic, the film finds Dorothy (Fairuza Balk) and her family suffering from rebuilding their house from the aftermath of the tornado. But Auntie Em (Piper Laurie) is concerned about these wild delusions of that her niece is having about golden roads, a trio of strange friends and a witch with a severe skin condition and horrible aquatic allergies. The cure: strap her in for electroshock therapy. But before you can do that, there has to be a flood that whisks her back to Oz, now a desolate place, where she has to save her old friends and restore life back to Oz with a new group of friends and villains.
I will be honest that when comparing this film to the original...well, there is no comparison. A bleak opening in Kansas doesn't have the same appeal as the sepia-toned plywood set with an Oscar-winning song. Dorothy's accompanying chicken doesn't touch the heart like Toto. A flood is not as exciting as a tornado. Jack Pumpkinhead, Tic-Toc and the Gump can't match the playful wit and energy of the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. The pace is slower, the tone is darker and the resolution goes on too long. But this movie still contains something the original film does not have, and something I think is better: a sense of danger.
I find that most of the successful family movies tend to have a sense of darkness and danger that puts its characters through. Kids can handle a little bit of danger because, I believe, it doesn't pander to them and treats them like real people. The tone is a lot darker, but I feel that leads the film to a lot more exciting and suspenseful action sequences. When Dorothy and her friends fall towards a mountain top, there still remains a dramatic danger that manages to acquire a sense of realism that totally escapes the original film. In that respect, I tend to find a great deal of admiration for this film over the first one.
Having said that, there are even problems with the film itself in its own self-contained universe. This is the first and only film directed by Walter Murch, who many movie fans will know as probably the most famous editor and sound designer working today. Despite his extravagant genius in film theory, his touch as director is one that's not very exciting. His direction shoots for many targets, and some hit but a lot miss. The opening is quite unbearable and dull, and the film has a hard time getting up momentum until it is almost a third way in. At the same time, he can create some well staged moments and inbetween some of the dull moments, there is some great emotional reveals.
In terms of the performances, they're nothing to write home about. Balk, in her very first role, has the right childlike sense of wonder and curiosity to inhabit the role, but the unfortunate comparison to be made against Judy Garland doesn't help, and she doesn't get quite the right amount of magic needed. You do get some good hammy work from Nicol Williamson and Jean Marsh, but their roles are limited enough to not have a great effect. But their work is greatly appreciated still.
You can call it hit or miss, but I think a majority of this movie is a great success. Even trying to dismiss the nostalgia-colored glasses, I still find a lot of love for this movie. The performances still manage to be somewhat engaging, and the exciting action scenes with a hint of danger also allow the better parts to overshadow the shortcomings in the plot and direction. I know the problems exist, but if anything else, I can at least say that maybe my childhood was a little warped to begin with, as a dark film like Return to Oz is in company with many other dark films that I loved from my childhood. Hell, I will even say that Wild Wild West is a good film. But that's another review entirely.
B
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