This weekend, audiences are anticipated to enter movie theaters en masse to see Walt Disney Pictures' new big-budget family fantasy-adventure, OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, which is based on the work of L. Frank Baum and precedes the events of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, upon which the classic 1939 film is based. What the better part of Disney's targeted audience for their new film may not be well aware of though, is that Disney has been to the Land of Oz before, 28 years ago in 1985, in the form of RETURN TO OZ. While OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL is projected to score $70-$90 million over the domestic weekend (and a possible additional $100 million overseas), which would securely justify the giant $200 million budget by the end of its theatrical run, RETURN TO OZ was budgeted at 14% of that with $28 million and couldn't even make back that with a pathetic gross of $11.37 million. Since its embarrassing failure at the box office though, RETURN TO OZ has managed to become a minor cult classic.
THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) is often cited as one of the more frightening children's films with the infamous flying monkeys and the iconic Wicked Witch of the West, as played by Margaret Hamilton, but RETURN TO OZ is so creepy and macabre, any honest description strains credibility. The story takes place a few months after the events of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with Dorothy (played by Fairuza Balk) struggling to re-adjust to her ordinary life in Kansas. Due to concern regarding her outlandish stories of Oz and many sleepless nights, Auntie Em and Uncle Henry (Piper Laurie and Matt Clark, respectively) send her to a mental institution (seriously) where the menacing Dr. Worley (Nicol Williamson, who also plays the Nome King, the primary villain in Oz) intends to use a revolutionary new machine to perform electroshock therapy on her brain. I kid you not. In the hospital, the tortured screams of other patients can be heard through the walls, patients who have been 'damaged'. Just as Dorothy has been strapped down on a gurney and the electric paddles are about to be applied to the sides of her head, a storm knocks the power out and a mysterious little girl, from the mirror, assists Dorothy in escaping from the hospital. Dorothy falls into the stream that runs by the hospital and clambers aboard her aunt and uncle's chicken coop that has been washed away in the storm. The next morning, she finds herself in Oz, with her chicken named Bellina, who can now talk (with the voice of Denise Bryer). Although some things about Oz are as she remembers, such as the Deadly Desert, where anyone who touches the sandy is suddenly reduced to a pile of sand (and don't worry, you do get see that happen), most of Oz has changed. The Emerald City is dilapidated, the emeralds stolen, and all the inhabitants turned to stone. It turns out that the power-hungry Nome King has kidnapped the Scarecrow (Justin Case... see what his parents did there?), whom you may remember was made king of the Emerald City and Oz, and stole all the treasures and turned everyone into stone. Now, the only living inhabitants of the Emerald City are the "Wheelers"; freaky guys who zip around the streets on four legs, each capped by a scooter wheel, and look like they were dragged kicking and screaming from an early Tim Burton film. The Wheelers answer to a vain witch named Mombi (mostly played by Jean Marsh), who collects the heads of pretty women to interchange with her own, and is in cahoots with the Nome King. So of course, Dorothy has to rescue the Scarecrow and set things right, and she is helped along the way by Tik-Tok, the "Army of Oz" left by the Scarecrow for Dorothy to find, and Jack Pumpkinhead (voiced by Brian Henson), a scarecrow who is creepy as hell and basically looks like a giant Jack Skellington in more vibrant tones and with a jack-o-lantern for a head.
Needless to say, this film was simply to effed-up for the targeted child audience, what with the hellish hospital, the freaky nomes who appear as fearsome faces in rocks, a witch with a closet full of severed heads and on imprisoning Dorothy until her head is ripe for harvesting, not to mention the few dozen elements that are unintentionally creepy, such as Pumpkinhead. However, the film is beloved by aficionados of the original Oz books, for its more faithful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's quirky and dark writings which, for seemingly obvious reasons, has not been so present in the many film versions. However, a fanbase is a fanbase, and the fans of RETURN TO OZ are quite devoted, but the film fails to appeal to a wide audience and for that reason, is mostly unknown. For myself, I thought whole thing was rather amusing in context, but just not an enjoyable film. The now-primitve 1980's special effects are quite interesting though, especially the nomes who appear to be a form of stop-motion animation, and the Nome King who appears in varying form, from a rock face, to Williamson playing him in thick, granite-esque makeup.
RETURN TO OZ
Fantasy/Adventure
PG for unspecified reasons, but contains scary images, some thematic elements and mild action/peril.
1 1/2 out of 4 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment