Rating: 
Summary: GREAT MOVIE!
Review: This was a pretty good sequel. Many people didn't like it because it didn't live up to the standards of the 1939 masterpiece The Wizard of Oz. Well, let's face it, you can't remake a clasic! For a sequel, this was pretty good. It's a little too scary for the smaller children, but other than that you see a lot of great stuff.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: One of the coolest movies I've ever seen. It was really unique, just like The Labyrinth. It was pretty 'artsy'. I mean that it was totally abstract and original. It's better suited for viewers that are older than 7 because any younger and they might get frightened due to the unfluffy atmosphere of the movie. It's really good and I suggest it for anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the awful movie the critics want you to think it is!
Review: The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite movies and even though Return to Oz is so completely different with a much darker plot and some rather creepy elements it is a good movie that has gotten a bad rap from critics and by people who keep comparing it to the Wizard of Oz and I think if they gave this movie a chance and stopped comparing it to that 1939 classic they would see that this is a very entertaining movie and they might actually have to admit that it isn't the awful movie they are trying to make everyone think it is. Judy Garland may be my favorite Dorothy but I think the cute as a button Fairuza Balk did a very good job and I was satisfied with her performance!
Rating:
Summary: "The Wizard of Oz it is not--should not be!
Review: For those expecting this movie to be a sequel to MGM's 1939 Wizard of Oz are in for a disappointment, but such expectations are unfair. Judy Garland's "Wizard of Oz" is grand, glorious, and gets better every time I watch it (can you catch all the rainbow images in the film) but it is a plush MGM musical-comedy, beautifully adapted from the book, with "adapted" the operative term here. "Return to Oz" is in many ways actually closer to the Baum books, particularly in its common-sense, fairly young heroine who does not DREAM her way to Oz, but actually journeys to this "cut off" part of the world. The music-less adaptation is also more in keeping with the original, which are so plainly stated that critics have claimed the works are not really that good. The "Baum Oz" is a surprisingly dark and weird place at times, and the more horrific aspects of "Return to Oz" are in keeping with its folktale qualities. Plus the work has a real feeling of time; that is, turn of century of America--with its fascination and trust of machinery (Dorothy is being given electrical treatments for her depression), the Gilded Age (Mombi's palace is momument to conspicuous consumption including changeable heads; it even has a cluttered attic which, before charitable organizations began accepting donations, is where old, outmoded stuff used to be stored). Live settings increase the reality of this Oz, replacing the deliberately artificial qualities of the 1939 Oz land. The special effects make the fantastic elements in this film "realistic," down to the talking chicken and the Nome King gradually assuming humna life. And then there is the rag-time music . . . If you are willing to accept "Return to Oz" on its own terms, you will find it a wonderful, eye-filling film with a treat--some rather strange!--around every corner.
Rating:
Summary: Good & gets better with each viewing
Review: An engaging movie, if a bit disquieting, it's not the best chaser to the 1939 MGM/Garland production "The Wizard of Oz". However, it does give a nod to the latter while staying closer to Baum's source material."Return" has a definite dark, bittersweet character that keeps one coming back for repeat viewings, with lush sets and not too much Disney silliness; the main Wheeler is way overdone, though. Fairuza Balk is well-cast as Dorothy, and refreshingly the other Oz characters lack the vaudeville heritage and limitations of the MGM cast. The naturalistic acting and settings of mid-1980's sensibilities dominate. Plain optical printing, Will Vinton's claymation, some clever animatronics and puppetry lend visual reality to action that has yet to be matched by 17 years of CGI trickery. The only downside of the DVD edition is large-margin matting in widescreen mode - it's not been properly letterboxed. One can view the full-frame 4:3 version but then it's cropped. Maybe a later edition will fix this. The source print was clean; nice for a change with older films. Definitely recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Return to Oz
Review: My older sister and I always liked this movie. It was nothing like the original "Wizard of Oz", but it was still very, very good. Fairuza Balk portrays a Dorothy Gale who clearly looks much younger than the Dorothy that Judy Garland carried out in the original. Basically, the sequel picks up the story several months after the "tornado" that propelled Dorothy to Oz for the first time in the original. Little Dorothy is having trouble sleeping, and her Aunt Em is worried about her because she can't seem to stop talking about a fanciful place called Oz. Determined to restore Dorothy to her old self and make her forget about Oz, Aunt Em takes Dorothy to a therapist who plans to snap the child back into reality with some wacky machine. Left alone with the therapist and his witch-like assistant, Dorothy is suddenly grabbed and pulled to safety in Oz by a mysterious young girl. Now that she is back in Oz, Dorothy is looking forward to revisiting the beautiful land and all of her friends--the Scarecrow, Tinman, and Cowardly Lion. However, Oz is not the same as it was when she left it--her beloved friends have been turned to stone, and she is confronted with an array of new enemies--the evil Princess Mombi, a team of "Wheelers," and some sort of "stone" character who is Dorothy's only hope in rescuing the Tinman, Lion, and Scarecrow. Luckily, Dorothy also has a group of new friends to help her along the way, including a kindly robot named "Tick-Tock," a talking pet chicken named Bellina, and a troubled "Jack Pumpkinhead," whose features can most likely be guessed =)All in all, this is an enjoyable movie with many good points, but I can understand how it can be a little frightening for young children. There is a scene where Princess Mombi leads the dumbfounded Dorothy into a long room with a variety of different heads individually placed in glass cases. Apparently, Mombi has stolen these heads from real women and is able to pull her own head off and wear any other head she wants, obviously to deceive others and cater to her various moods. This film does not have the same magic that you might expect after seeing the original "Wizard Of Oz"--for instance, the Scarecrow is the only one of Dorothy's 3 original friends who talks, and the talking chicken can get a bit annoying at times. But, it is still a good movie. I recommend it for kids 9 and older.
Rating:
Summary: i like it, tho i shouldn't....imagine that
Review: Everything about this movie says i shouldn't like it. It's dark, cynical, and fairytale-ish. BUT, i LOVE this movie. It's imagination, social commentary and RETURN to the TRUE feel of the REAL Oz books makes this a movie a TRUE Oz fan cannot dislike. The characters only a true fan of Oz knows, the ones that read the books, come to life. This is a must see.
Rating:
Summary: "Where's My Powder of Life!?!"
Review: When I was five years old, my Aunt took me to see my very first movie on the big screen. That movie was "Return to Oz". The memory of this strange and wonderful movie is among my very first, and I begged my mother to take me to see it again. She, of course, was totally horrified once she saw the film for herself, as it is definitely not your average children's movie, what with the lunatic asylums, poisoned nomes, and dismembered heads. A surprising and unexpected film, "Return to Oz" is best watched on a stormy October night when it's subtle creepiness can be properly appreciated. The movie picks up six months after "The Wizard of Oz" ends, with Dorothy (eerily played by a young Fairuza Balk) back at home with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry in Kansas. All is not well ,though, as their first house was of course destroyed in the tornado and winter is fast approaching with the new house still unfinished. Then there is the problem of Dorothy herself; she doesn't sleep well, acts queerly, and is full of tales of a magical world located over a rainbow. It is at this point that the film takes a truly unexpected turn as Aunt Em decides that the best way to cure Dorothy's illusions is electro-shock therapy (!). From here on the movie really takes off, as Dorothy (thanks to a wild storm) finds herself once again in Oz, this time via something called the "Deadly Desert", which, Dorothy explains to her talking chicken Balina, turns any living thing that touches it into sand. (If you get the feeling that we will have a distrubing demonstration of this phenomenon later, you would be right.) From then on the film swiftly moves from bizarre episode to bizarre episode as Dorothy makes various friends and enemies. Highlights include meeting the "Army of Oz" (one lone mechanical man), discovering someone trapped in a mirror, and a truly stunning set-peice towards the middle detailing Dorothy's escape from "Princess Mumbie"'s castle, thus avoiding becoming part of Mumbie's twist-on twist-off head collection. It all ends on the horrific Nome King's mountain, where Dorothy learns the value of friendship, loyalty, and chickens. So, for those worried about some of the above reviews warning that this movie is not for young children, I say ; That depends on the child. Beautiful and haunting, this is a must-own for every lover of great unappreciated cinema.
Rating:
Summary: Scary and true to the stories
Review: A lot of people have criticised this for ruining the image of Oz that was imprinted on everyone's mind when they saw the classic musical 'The Wizard Of Oz'. Yet this is what the Disney remake's main attraction is, that it is bold and daring and sticks closely to the actual stories. The distinction between the grey real world is well evoked (although admitedly this distinction was better in the original movie). Oz is a sparkling land of wonder whilst home is boring and overcast. Dorothy (a superb debut from 'The Craft' actress Fairuza Balk) finds Oz after a nightmarish experience at a clinic where she's to receive some kind of electric therapy. This theme of nightmare and dreams is constant, with plenty of eerie figures that will probably scare younger children. Whilst the first movie was a lot more sweet-natured, this is more grim. The 'wheelers' and even the good guys such as the talking chicken, are perturbing to say the least. However, Mombi the witch is what people will really remember. Missing a head, she keeps the heads of all of the beautiful maidens of the land locked up in a long corridor so that she can switch whenever she feels like it. Indeed, a corrupted Oz with a crumbling yellow brick road and a delapidated emerald city couldn't be further removed from the original and give a worrying air of anticipation that is rare in a children's film. The final scene involving a rescue attempt of the Scarecrow are also brilliant, with some truly impressive special effects as well as a touching scene between Dorothy and new-found friend Tick-Tock, a robot. It's a shame that this wasn't a bigger success at the box office, as its ending involving Dorothy looking at her reflection to find the princess of Oz and then finding that it's vanished, provoke a dreamy quality which marks the escapism that people require from the mundane, workaday world.
Rating: 
Summary: "Return to Oz" an oddity and an honest failure
Review: Bad movies are almost always bad for one reason: the writing. It's rare that you find a wonderful script and a stinking picture. "Return to Oz" was a big budget flop for Disney, and an unfortunate fledgling directorial outing for the brilliant editor Walter Murch. But as wrongheaded as much of it is, you sense that Murch was sincerely committed to the material and the strangeness of the whole enterprise will keep you watching. Dorothy, here played by the young, wide-eyed, rather stolid Fairuza Balk, isn't sleeping too well after returning from her first trip to Oz. For God knows what reasons, the moviemakers decided to have her sent to an insane asylum, run by an obviously unhinged Nicol Williamson (actually, Williamson always seems unhinged) and a nightmare matron played by Jean Marsh. That Aunt Em (Piper Laurie, Carrie's mom) would leave her here suggests that Aunt Em is the one who needs to be committed. During a thunderstorm, Dorothy escapes and is swept away in a chicken coop which, somehow or other, deposits her and her barnyard buddy Billina the hen in Oz. This mode of transportation is lifted from the third Oz book, "Ozma of Oz," though in that story Dorothy was swept overboard while returning from Australia on an oceanliner. What follows is a hodgepodge of "Ozma of Oz," "The Land of Oz," and "The Emerald City of Oz." Perhaps, in an attempt to give the material a "modern" feel, Murch and screenwriter Gil Dennis have given the work a dark tone completely out of keeping with the spirit of the original books, which were entirely shadowless. This works, in a spotty way, until Dorothy and friends arrive in the kingdom of the Nome King (wacky Williamson again) at which point the picture falls completely apart. Nonetheless, there are some lovely moments: Dorothy's exploration of the ruined Emerald City; Tik-Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead; the assembling of the Gump; Dorothy's horror film encounter with many-headed Princess Mombi (Marsh again) and the return to life of the Emerald City at the end of the film. Also of special note is the inspired score by David Shire. Though "Return to Oz" does not hold together in the long run, it still has a unique, melancholy flavor all its own, and will be of interest to fantasy fans and Ozaholics.
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