Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Taking place after the events of "Wizard of Oz", at the end of the 19th century, eleven year old Dorothy Gale (Fairuza Balk) is back in good ole Kansas with her Aunty Em (Piper Laurie) and Uncle Henry (Matt Clarke). Her stories of her adventure in the magical land of Oz cause great distress to her Aunt and Uncle who fear the worst for her sanity and take her to see a psychologist Dr. Worly (Nicol Williamson) who is secretly experimenting with the new medium of Electric shock treatment, which often produce abominable results of madness with patients.

It is there that Dorothy recieves a distress call from the land of Oz and is summoned there to find the land deserted, the Emerald city in ruins and her former friends turned to stone and the sinister tyrant Princess Mombi (Jean Marsh) and her wheeler minions in power. However Dorothy is not alone and manages to find friends in the devastated city and together they pledge to defeat Mombi and save the land of Oz.

This is one of the earliest films I saw as a child back in the 80's. I was perhaps six years old and it was the first film I remember being able to follow and understand from the get go, which is quite something since I'd not seen or read "The Wizard of Oz" beforehand. I still found this film easy to follow without backstory and it really fed my imagination back then, and today it remains an indispensible and vivid reminder of my youth.

All the sights and sounds of the film are hooked into the past, its like looking into a mirror and truly seeing life as it was over 100 years ago- everything is rural, antiquated and ornamental reminding me fiercely of walks in the park and its gardens and its statues and visits to my gran's house which was full of antiques and unstable fuses, with a coal cellar and attic full of old clothes and wigs. It reminds me of the years of wild imagination and easily formed friendships. It also reminds me of visits to my child psychologist. Perhaps my love of the film is unconditional, but I don't care.

Looking back at the film, it still stands up well. Its the sense of atmosphere which makes the film timeless. It has the eerie deserted garden images reminiscent of films like "The Time Machine" and The Dark Crystal, and the sound quality is so fine tuned you can hear a pin drop. Compared to today's CGI Animated fare for children (and I enjoyed "The Incredibles" and "Finding Nemo" as much as anyone, and I'm really looking forward to "The Polar Express") I'd say this is not only far more concrete and tangible, but also a much needed relaxing change of pace.

Since "Return to Oz" was released in 1985, shortly after "The Neverending Story", which I also saw before seeing this, the two films were often compared- I remember a headline review on the videocover back then saying something along the lines of 'if you loved The Neverending Story, you'll love Return To Oz'. There are of course similar themes shared by both films. Specifically there is the message of the death of childhood imagination to the modern age and parental indoctrination, though its much more subtlely stated here. Dorothy has very kind and loving parental figures, yet her stories of the land of Oz are treated by them like a disease of the mind that must be eradicated. But this very fantasy world is the one which defines Dorothy's most noble characteristics of kindness, friendship, heroism, self-sacrifice and even forgiveness.

Obviously many a child of the 80's feels obliged to choose which one they prefer. Most people prefer "The Neverending Story" because its more epic and cosmopolitan and as a child I think I preferred it because it was more of a 'boy's film'. But in hindsight "Return To Oz" is the better film in my view. Because its less epic and firmly contained to the 19th century and localised to specific places in Oz, its more focused and disciplined in a way that "The Neverending Story" wasn't, it allows for stronger atmosphere, the scenes feel anything but rushed- in-fact the pacing is flawless and it doesn't bog itself down by having one foot in the 80's. Nothing is overblown, the beautiful music score and the lightening humour aren't at all intrusive. Everything fits like a glove.

For her young age and small experience, Fairuza Balk, in her screen debut plays Dorothy wonderfully. She conveys the essential element of playing a 19th century character and never blotches it in the way other obnoxious little brats would have. One senses a shyness to her but she makes it part of her character, she forms a good emotional bond of empathy with the audience by her sincerity and loneliness, and when need be she's a great little screamer. Put it this way, she can make a schmaltsy line like "you're the best friends anyone's ever had" actually mean something deeply touching and sincere, so you know you've got a winner on your hands.

Dorothy is of course the heart and soul of the film's moral values. She is everything a little girl should be. Meek, gentle and a true friend to true friends. She is always polite and respectful to saints and tyrants alike. She is a wonderful hero figure, a very nervous girl but one who can feign confidence well. I find it incredible how Fairuza Balk has gone on to play such smutty and mean-spirited lowlife characters in "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" and American History X. It kind of makes me wonder what kind of characters Daveigh Chase will be playing ten years from now.

In a sense the film is a grand preservation of a lost age of imagination over logic as it details how new age science is rising, and the older philosophies of christianity, superstition, myths and legends are dying and becoming archaic. The film highlights all that was beautiful about the past, of wood panneled houses, warm coal stoves, clear starry skies before we had pollution, the grand cameraderie of smalltown folk raising children together. The film aims for authenticity throughout and its production values and sets are superb, particularly the elegant and echoing design of Princess Mombi's lair, a palace full of echoing halls and mirrors and ornament rooms full of beautiful antiques.

Jean Marsh's performance as Mombi is simmilar to witch characters she played in later 80's fantasy fare like "Willow" and Doctor Who- Battlefield and yet she is chameleonic enough to look physically unrecogniseable in each role. As Mombi she is a fairly scary woman, even if a one dimensional baddy. She frequently shouts at and kicks around her wheeler minions till her voice turns hoarse. She is also grotesquely vain and owns a collection of thirty-something detachable female heads. There is a wonderful nightmarish scene where Dorothy is sneaking around Mombi's palace and wanders into her hall of sleeping heads and Dorothy accidentally wakes one of them, which begins scrieking, the heads surrounding Dorothy awake and start screaming and Mombi's headless body stealthily comes for her.

Return To Oz was criticised heavily for being too violent and scary for children, which I must absolutely refute. When I was a child of six, I loved this film. It was scary and gothic in places but quite honestly I had found "Superman II" and "Willow" far more distressing. In-fact as an adult I recognise that above all this is a film of exceptional kind spiritedness. The Tim Burton-esque freakish images and cruel characters only emphasise the resilience of Dorothy's kindness. That she befriends the other characters without prejudice, regardless of their freakish appearance, and she posesses enough love and sadness to briefly melt even the hardest tyrant's heart. It is this feminine touch which makes the film what it is, that our hero isn't a warrior knight and doesn't prevail by killing bad guys in cold blood, Dorothy and her friends stand for Christian values and they never hurt anyone, yet they remain strong people by their bonds of friendship. The film's ultimate message is that tyranny will destroy itself. Tyrants will pursue obsessive goals and violent endeavours which will ultimately bring destruction on themselves. Dorothy and her friends can and do offer peace and resolve to them, and the main villain is capable of mercy but they choose not to listen.

And whilst Dorothy and her friends risk their lives for one another and will never abandon each other because their love is so strong, Mombi has far more minions and warriors than Dorothy, but there is no real respect or cameraderie gained by tyranny at all- only co-erced obedience through the threat of death. When people protect and serve a tyrant purely for their own survival, for ultimately selfish reasons, it only lasts as long as the tyrant's power. When the tyrant is truly in danger, no-one will help them- no-one has any reason to, except Dorothy and her friends who would do so for the sake of kindness and forgiveness. For me its a classic film about following the better angels of your nature. I loved it then and I love it now.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8