Return to Oz

RETURN TO OZ appears earnest in its efforts to add to the Wizard of Oz mythology, but what a disappointment. The film fails not because it's poorly acted or made -- Balk is sweet and affecting, and it has decent production values -- but in its execution. Dorothy is treated as if she has a mental illness; at one point, a doctor suggests she be admitted to a clinic and be attached to an "electric machine" to "control these excess currents" that surely must be causing her visions. She's even belted to a gurney. That Aunt Em would allow this is mortifying.

And that's just the beginning: The rest of the film offers sequences that are downright scary, with gnomes calcifying, eyeballs stoning over; and Oz completely destroyed. Where's the fun? The gaiety? The special effects are decent, and the film does include plenty of original characters from the books that spawned the original movie. And there are a few lessons, too, such as the importance of returning something that doesn't belong to you. But these don't make up for the fact that Return to Oz undoes the indelible magic left by the Judy Garland classic.