Return to Oz
| Return to Oz | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Walter Murch |
| Produced by | Paul Maslansky |
| Written by | L. Frank Baum (novels) Gill Dennis Walter Murch |
| Starring | Fairuza Balk Nicol Williamson Jean Marsh Piper Laurie Matt Clark |
| Music by | David Shire |
| Cinematography | David Watkin Freddie Francis |
| Editing by | Leslie Hodgson |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
| Release date(s) |  June 21, 1985 July 10, 1985 August 28, 1985 September 6, 1985 March 29, 1986 |
| Running time | 113 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25,000,000 |
| Preceded by | The Wizard of Oz |
Return to Oz is an Academy Award-nominated 1985 film which is the semi-sequel to The Wizard of Oz. It was made by Walt Disney Pictures without the involvement of MGM, the studio that made the 1939 film. However, no approval was necessary, because by 1985, all of the Oz books on which the film was based were in the public domain. A large fee was paid, however, to use the ruby slippers, which were still the intellectual property of MGM at the time (the rights to the 1939 film and all elements now rest with Time Warner). The film was directed by Walter Murch, and although it did not fare well at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics, it has attracted a cult following.
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Plot summary
The movie's plot is a combination of L. Frank Baum's novels Ozma of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz, both of which were written as sequels to the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
It is around Halloween 1899 (Dr. Worley mentions that "...in 2 months it will be the year 1900, the dawn of a new century. The 20th Century. A century of electricity." Also, in Dorothy's room, there is a jack-o-lantern). It has been some months after the events of The Wizard of Oz, and Dorothy Gale (Fairuza Balk) cannot stop thinking about the experience and her friends the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion. One night, Dorothy sees a shooting star, and the next morning while checking for eggs from her hen Billina, Dorothy comes across a key that she thinks was sent from Oz on that shooting star. Auntie Em (Piper Laurie) is concerned over Dorothy's inability to sleep since her return, so she sends Dorothy to stay overnight at Dr. Worley (Nicol Williamson)'s clinic in Cottonwood Falls to "cure" her by electro-shock therapy. When waiting in her assigned room that night, Dorothy is visited by a mysterious blonde girl (Emma Ridley) who later helps Dorothy escape from the clinic when she reveals that patients have been driven insane by Worley's treatment. However, they are pursued by Head Nurse Wilson (Jean Marsh), and the two girls fall into the nearby river; Dorothy manages to climb aboard a chicken coop, but the other girl presumably drowns.
Dorothy awakens to find herself back in Oz with Billina, who now can talk (Denise Bryer). The two venture across the Deadly Desert, and upon entering the nearby forest, discover the yellow brick road destroyed. Dorothy follows it all the way to the ruins of the Emerald City, which has been deprived of all its emeralds. All its civilians, including the Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion, have also been turned to stone. The Scarecrow, who was King of Oz, is missing. The city is policed with Wheelers, humanoids with wheels instead of hands and feet. Hiding in a secret room accessed by the key obtained at the beginning of the film, Dorothy and Billina meet the Royal Army of Oz, Tik-Tok, a clockwork robotic man. After beating up the Wheelers, Tik-Tok makes one talk and take them to Princess Mombi, who is now the ruler of the city. Mombi, who is a witch and has 31 interchangeable heads, explains that the Nome King was behind the destruction of the Emerald City and the kidnapping of the Scarecrow.
Mombi locks Dorothy and Billina in the attic, where they meet Jack Pumpkinhead (Brian Henson), a friendly stick man with a pumpkin for a head. He explains he was brought to life by Mombi's Powder of Life, and this gives Dorothy an idea to escape. Dorothy and Jack restore a wound-down Tik-Tok, who helps Jack build a flying machine using sofas and the head of a Gump, a moose-like animal. Dorothy steals Mombi's Powder of Life to bring the Gump to life, but Mombi catches her in the act. The group escapes on the Gump, who is able to fly. After flying all night, they later crash-land on the mountain of the Nome King. The Nome King explains to Dorothy that the Scarecrow "stole" the emeralds of the Emerald City, and he only reacted accordingly.
The Nome King takes pity on Dorothy when she cries, and offers her a chance to set things right. One by one, Dorothy and her friends venture into the king's ornament room, to search for an ornament into which the Scarecrow has been transformed. They each have three guesses, but if they fail, they themselves become transformed into ornaments. When Dorothy is the only one left, the Nome King reveals that he is actually wearing the Ruby Slippers, which is what allowed him to conquer Oz. He offers to use them to send Dorothy back to Kansas with no recollection of her adventures in Oz, but she refuses his offer.
Dorothy enters the ornament room, and her last guess frees the Scarecrow from his enchantment. Dorothy's friends are restored one by one, when an enraged Nome King attacks. He tries to eat Jack, but Billina, hidden inside Jack's head, lays an egg which falls down the king's throat, killing him (due to the fact eggs are poisonous to Nomes). The Nome King disintegrates and his palace begins to crumble. Dorothy finds the Ruby Slippers, puts them on and wishes for all her friends to escape the mountain, and to restore the Emerald City and all its citizens.
The citizens of Oz celebrate Dorothy's triumph and ask her to become the Queen of Oz, but she declines in favor of returning to Kansas. The blonde girl from the clinic, seemingly drowned earlier in the story, then appears in a mirror behind Dorothy. It is revealed that she is Princess Ozma, the rightful ruler of Oz. Ozma's father was the king of Oz before the Wizard of Oz came, but the Nome King bribed Mombi with 31 beautiful heads if Mombi kept Ozma a secret by trapping her into the mirror.
Ozma ascends the throne of Oz and Dorothy is returned to her world, where she is found by Toto, Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. Aunt Em reveals that Dr. Worley's clinic burned down during the night and he died trying to save his machines. A jail cart travels by, with Head Nurse Wilson imprisoned inside. The film concludes with Dorothy's new house being finished and Ozma and Billina appearing in her bedroom mirror, hinting that her adventures in Oz may not be just a dream.
Cast
- Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale
- Nicol Williamson as Dr. Worley & The Nome King
- Jean Marsh as Head Nurse Wilson & Mombi
- Piper Laurie as Aunt Em
- Matt Clark as Uncle Henry
- Michael Sundin & Tim Rose as Tik-Tok (puppeteers)
- Sean Barrett as Tik-Tok (voice)
- Mak Wilson as Billina (puppeteer)
- Denise Bryer as Billina (voice)
- Brian Henson as Jack Pumpkinhead (voice)
- Stewart Larange as Jack Pumpkinhead (puppeteer)
- Lyle Conway as The Gump (voice)
- Steve Norrington as The Gump (puppeteer)
- Pons Maar as Lead Wheeler/Nome Messenger
- Emma Ridley as Ozma
- Justin Case as The Scarecrow
- Various Actors as The Wheelers
- John Alexander as The Lion/Wheeler
- Deep Roy as The Tin Man
- Bruce Boa as Policeman
- Tansy as Toto
Casting
- Sarah Michelle Gellar auditioned for the role of Dorothy.
- Alyssa Milano turned down the role of Dorothy.
Comparisons with The Wizard of Oz
Return to Oz is often referred to as a sequel to the 1939 Wizard of Oz, but this is only partly true. Some ties to the 1939 MGM musical were deliberately kept. The silver shoes in the Baum story remain ruby slippers in Return to Oz as they had been in the MGM film. Also, the MGM movie's concept of Dorothy imagining Oz based on people she knows in the real world — which is not present in the original story — is again used; as in the 1939 film, actors in Return to Oz played dual roles as characters in the "real world" and the "Land of Oz".
Besides being considerably darker and not a musical, the movie is overall truer to the original concept of Oz as described in Baum's books.[citation needed] Additionally, many plot elements from the books which were not included in the 1939 film, such as the Tin Woodman's back story, are portrayed here. Also, Fairuza Balk was nine during the filming of Return to Oz, which is much closer to the age of Dorothy in the books than that of Judy Garland, who was 16 when she starred in The Wizard of Oz. The film also includes more violence and scarier imagery than the 1939 version. Although this was one of the chief complaints of the film upon its release, many Oz fans contend that this helps retain the spirit of Baum's books.[citation needed]
One of the major characters from the series, Glinda the Good Witch is noticeably absent from the film. She plays a major role in the 1939 movie, and in Ozma of Oz, she gives Ozma a magic carpet on which to cross the deadly desert.
Additionally many characters and concepts of Baum's which did not originate in The Land of Oz or Ozma of Oz were also included in the film:
- The Patchwork Girl, The Shaggy Man, Polychrome the Rainbow's Daughter, The Frogman, Tommy Kwikstep, The Braided Man, Button Bright and Ojo are all background characters in the final scene. Arguably, Jellia Jamb, General Jinjur and the Captain of the Guard are in the scene too.
- The unsuccessful attempt by the Nome King to invade the Emerald City by tunnel occurs in The Emerald City of Oz.
- Although maps of Oz vary, especially due to the east/west controversy, it is possible that Dorothy lost her shoes "in flight" over the Nome King's domain after her first visit. If the tornado approached Oz from the east, it is possible that is the direction by which Dorothy returned to Kansas. In Baum's Oz Canon, the silver shoes were lost in Dorothy's passage over the Deadly Desert. The Nome King possessed a Magic Belt that Ozma later obtained and used for most of the purposes to which the ruby slippers were applied in the movie.
- Uncle Henry and Aunt Em's financial woes (the loss of the house due to the tornado and the bank foreclosing on the farm) are a strong theme in The Emerald City of Oz.
- The Nome King kidnapping someone by means of a seemingly-endless tunnel through the center of the earth takes place in Tik-Tok of Oz.
- The Nome King's plot to become human is only mildly approached in The Magic of Oz.
- In the 1939 film of The Wizard of Oz, Toto is a Cairn Terrier. Here, he is a Border Terrier. In Baum's original books, Toto's breed is not specified; he is merely described as "a little black dog, with long, silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose." (Toto is brown in Return to Oz.)
- Princess Mombi in the film is a composite of two characters from the books: Princess Langwidere and the witch Mombi. Similarly, Glinda was a composite of both the nameless Good Witch of the North and Glinda, The Good Witch of the South in The Wizard of Oz.
Elements From 'Land' and 'Ozma'
The majority of the film's plot comes from Ozma of Oz. Dorothy washing ashore in a chicken coop, the Wheelers, a head-swapping princess, Tik-Tok, The Nome King, the ornament room, and Princess Ozma are all culled from the book.
Several elements of the second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz were worked into the film's plot. Jack Pumpkinhead, the Gump, The Powder of Life, and the Scarecrow's being king are from Land. Mombi is also from the book. She was reassigned to Princess Langwidere's roles, but retained some of her Land roles as well. For instance, she keeps Ozma captive. In the original book, she is Tip's (Ozma transformed into a boy) evil witch guardian. Also in the film, the people in the Emerald City are turned to stone. Though the Nome King does this in the film, it could be a reference to how old Mombi planned to turn Tip into a statue.
Reception
Budgeted at $25 million (an expensive sum for the time), the film went overbudget and encountered many difficulties during filming.[citation needed] Murch called his friend, George Lucas, to come to England (where the film was being filmed) as a troubleshooter and to advise on the production, which he did, asking for expenses only, and no screen credit.[citation needed] Despite arriving amid much fanfare - the premiere was held at Radio City Music Hall, and a Return to Oz float along with characters from the film appeared as part of Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade - it earned only $2,844,895 in its opening weekend, finishing in seventh place. The film ultimately grossed $11,137,801 in North America and did not see an international theatrical release.
The PG rating was likely a major cause of the poor box-office performance.[citation needed] Many critics denounced the film as too disturbing or scary for young children. However, other critics including Harlan Ellison praised the film for its originality and visuals. It is still referred to as being ahead of its time in terms of quality and special effects. It currently holds a 64% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, and a 6.6 user rating at the IMDB.
Awards
Received an Academy Award nomination for "Best Visual Effects." Both Fairuza Balk and Emma Ridley were nominated for Young Artist Awards. The film also received two Saturn Award nominations for Best Fantasy Film and Best Younger Actor (Fairuza Balk).
Production Errors
- In the scene where the Strange Girl (Ozma in the Land of Oz) unties Dorothy from the Wheeled Bed when the Doctor and the Head Nurse go away, she is wearing no shoes, and when they escape from the Hospital, she is also wearing no shoes. But, during the scene where she and Dorothy accidentally slip down a small hill when the Head Nurse is chasing them through the woods, she is suddenly wearing white slippers.
Cultural Influence
- In 2005, American pop band Scissor Sisters, fans of the film, published an unreleased single on their debut album, Scissor Sisters, called "Return To Oz." Although the song actually pertains to the effects of methamphetamine (crystal meth), it contains many of the images and themes covered in the film (as well as referencing the Skeksis from the Jim Henson film, The Dark Crystal).
- The film's interpretation of Oz is featured in the Storybook Land Canal Boats attraction at Disneyland Resort Paris.
See also
- The Wizard of Oz (adaptations) — other adaptations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
References
External links
- Return To Oz at the Internet Movie Database
- Return to Oz at Allmovie
- Return to Oz - Unofficial site
- Returning to Oz Online Radio Talk Show
- Generations Of Oz Tour Site
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