We’ve looked at another interpretation of The Wizard of Oz story in our Forgotten Classics feature, The Wiz, but that was a while ago, so I think we’re due another. This time it’s Return to Oz, which you could also classify as a forgotten flop, seen as it only made back $11million of it’s $25million budget back. Made 36 years after the classic original film, the public clearly had lost interest in the land of Oz.
However, their loss! Return to Oz may not have the star power of the original but instead we are treated to new stars like Fairuza Balk, who steps into the Dorothy role and does a surprisingly good job considering the shoes she’s expected to fill. Here we see Dorothy escaping from a bizarre psychiatric experiment and ending up back in Oz. She soon finds that this is not the Oz she once visited, after it has been destroyed by the evil Nome King (Nicol Williamson). It may sound like a bizarre idea but it really works and feels a lot darker to the 1939 original (which is ironically the reason that it flopped at the box office).
Return also features some of the most terrifying villains in cinema – the wheelers, as well as some brilliant special effects and entertaining supporting characters. It’s like Oz with a bit of a Tim Burton-esque twist.
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