Return to Oz

R

rockchick

New member
Who prefers this to the original with Judy Garland other than me?

I think the original is so sugary sweet it makes me wanna puke. This version is dark and gritty which I love as thats how the original Frank Baum books portrayed oz.

Fairuza Balk is great as Dorothy too much better than Judy Garland and the right age (Judy was way to old)

The part with Princess Mombi's chamber of heaRAB still terrifies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XjC_0lGm0E

:eek: :D
 
Brilliant film! It does, in places, play like a horror!!

There are several Oz projects in development, the most likely to be made first being the one with Robert Downey Jr. attached as the Wizard, and I hope they include at least some of the darkness and freakishness of Return To Oz.
 
Saw this for the first time in years, on one of the Sky movie channels recently. Brought back memories. I remember finding it a bit creepy when I was a kid, especially the part with the heaRAB!
 
It's daft to compare it to the Judy Garland version, they were trying to do different things. Garland's was a studio musical, showcasing her amazing talents. It paid scant regard to the actual books. 'Return...' was closer to the real 'Oz'. Both are good films.
 
I think this is an underrated film. When it came out I was 21 and even then I found the introduction of The Wheelies and Princess Mombi's chamber of heaRAB a bit creepy.

I can't see the new film being like this in tone and probably is going to be killed by too much CGI. This film shows that you can make an good film that doesn't require vast amounts of CGI but still be entertaining.
 
I love the original but Return to Oz is amazing. It's so dark and I think it's a real shame that this type of children's flick isn't made anymore. The storytelling is brilliant and the whole look and feel of the movie is so atmospheric it stays with you. The musical score is gorgeous and I wish the CD wasn't out of print.

One of the best films of the 80s and one of my personal all time favourites I still get a lot of joy out of.
 
Brilliant, brilliant film. I loved it to bits when I was a kid, and watching it recently with the youngest shows it hasn't lost any of its power at all. I much prefer it to the original, but to be fair they are very different films.
 
totally different films in totally different genres.

I would never associate this as a sequal at all! The Wizard of Oz (1938) and Return to Oz (1985) are films based on the books by L.Frank Baum - not sequals.
in the same context as saying Batman (1989) and The Dark Knight (2008) are sequals.

it is a good film though. and i remember being taken to it as a child. one of the few times in that period my mum was able to spend time with me during the dying weeks of my sister. It was a hard time for the family. so it was a special film.
 
You can't really compare them, though - they're totally different films, each made for different reasons, one to be a bright and cheerful musical and one to be a dark fantasy more representative of the books.

For what it is, the musical is amazing and a groundbreaking cinematic achievement.

Return to Oz has a magic all of its own. I love how sinister and mature it is.
 
I'm sure I must have seen Wizard Of Oz on TV beforehand but I think this was the first film I ever saw in a cinema, it was either that or The Neverending Story. In the darkness and being only a little 5-year old doot, I remember feeling completely engulfed by the cinema screen - and consequently shit-scared at several points throughout both films (I haven't seen either since but can still vividly recollect several scenes). I know they were both PG and U 'family fare', but don't think my parents expected my introduction to the cinema to be quite so galvanising.
 
mine was ET - and the bit where its a big build up whilst Elliot approaches the shed, the strong light coming out of it and ET running out - i crapped my pants and have never been so scared in my life. i was only 3.
my next film was was Jaws 3D at 5yrs old - and it was the best thing i had ever seen!!!!!!
 
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