The three-time Oscar winning sound and film editor Walter Murch directed only one film, this film. What a gutsy project for your first time in the director’s chair. L. Frank Baum wrote many stories set in Oz, but few have dared to bring them to the screen fearing comparison with the classic WIZARD OF OZ. Because it would be hard to attain the magic of musical fantasy in WIZARD, Murch goes a completely different direction. If one can accept a dark Oz, then one can find a fascinating fantasy world within RETURN.
Dorothy (Fairuza Balk, THE CRAFT) hasn’t been sleeping ever since she returned from Oz. Her Aunt Em (Piper Laurie, CARRIE) and Uncle Henry (Matt Clark, THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES) are worried about her obsession with the fantasy world. So they decide to take her to a doctor who specializes in a new treatment – electro-shock therapy. Dr. Worley (Nicol Williamson, EXCALIBUR) and Nurse Wilson (Jean Marsh, FRENZY) assure Aunt Em that they can make the vision of Oz go away.
At the hospital, Dorothy meets a mysterious blonde girl (Emma Ridley), who when lightning strikes the roof, helps Dorothy escape to the river. In the morning, Dorothy wakes up floating on a crate with her chicken Billina (voiced by Denise Bryer, LABYRINTH), who can now talk. Dorothy is back in Oz.
But Oz has changed. Munchkin Land is gone and the yellow brick road is in disrepair. When she arrives at the Emerald City, it’s in ruin. The citizens have been turned to stone and King Scarecrow is gone missing. Wheelers roam the streets; they’re creatures that role around on all fours with wheels at the bottom of their stilted limbs. She discovers a wind-up robot soldier named Tik-Tok (voiced by Sean Barrett, THE DARK CRYSTAL), who was left behind to help Dorothy Gale when she arrived. Along their adventure, they will encounter the headless princess Mombi (Marsh) and the Nome King (Williamson), who is made of stone to match his heart. But they luckily find help from the innocent Jack Pumpkinhead (voiced by Brian Henson) and the makeshift flying couch with a moose head named Gump (voiced by Lyle Conway, BLADE).
Based on Baum’s OZMA OF OZ and THE LAND OF OZ, this film takes the tone of WIZARD OF OZ in an opposite direction. Oz is no longer the Technicolor wonderland of Glinda the good witch of the North. In the tradition of many classic children’s tales, the story is dark. The villains would make the Wicked Witch of the West proud. Mombi picking a new head from a closet of full of the heads of beautiful Oz maidens could easily haunt the nightmares of younger viewers.
The Oscar-nominated visual effects combine animatronics with stop motion animation from Will Vinton (best known for the creation for the California Raisins). Mombi with her metal infused gown and removable head just drips of menace. The manipulative Nome King slowly becomes more human as he tricks the heroes into his collection of humans turned into knick knacks. Tik-Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead are charmingly designed, while the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion get a redesign that’s closer to the original illustrations from John R. Neill.
In WIZARD OF OZ, Dorothy learned that there was no place like home. In RETURN TO OZ, Dorothy seems to have come to the belief that Oz is a great place to visit though. No one believes her. The doctor and nurse want to destroy Oz in her mind, which parallels their roles as the villains in Oz. For all the partners in the journey, she in some way brings them to life. At the end, she learns an important lesson about the difference between the real world and fantasy. We learn a lesson about the importance of imagination in young children.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
