I first saw this film back when I was a kid and I was not all that wild about it. I guess my mind could not grasp the idea of an Oz movie that was faithful to the book and was confusing because it did not seem like it was part of the original film's world. Now that I am an adult, I really dig this one more than the original 1939 film as it is darker to the point of being almost a horror/fantasy film and there are not a bunch of chirpy songs coming from nowhere. Honestly, the original was essentially a Broadway stage play that was filmed. This one, however, was more like the Oz portrayed in the books.
The story has poor Dorthy suffering from sleepless nights due to her adventures in Oz. Her aunt's solution? Why, take her to a doctor that using electroshock therapy of course! Well, Dorthy ends up in a creepy asylum and is about to be zapped when the power goes off, another girl frees Dorthy and both she and the other girl end up falling into a river just outside the asylum during a very violent storm. The other girl seemingly drowns as the river somehow transports Dorthy back to Oz; however, it is now run down and full of strange beings known as Wheelers who promptly give chase. Dorthy manages to find her way into a room and enlists the aid of Tic-toc, a wind up soldier. She will also find help from Jack Pumpkinhead and meet her old friend Scarecrow too. However, a strange demented Princess named Mombi and the Nome King will do everything in their power to stop Dorthy from returning Oz to its former glory!
Watching this film, one gets more of a sense of what Oz is all about, it is a mirror world where there are people from our world living within it. I get the feeling Stephen King and Peter Straub used the Oz series as inspiration for their collaboration, The Talisman as it too features a parallel world. While I found this one good as an adult I also found at times the outside world of Oz too mundane, though the interiors do look fantastical. It is a shame this bombed at the box office, because this Oz is so much more delightful and frightful than the 1939 version.
So, in the eyes of an adult, this movie actually improved for me. Usually, you watch stuff as a kid and later as an adult and like the film less, but not here. It is a strange world that is put together by Disney, who were going through bit of a dark phase during this time. They were also going through a rather rough time as there just were not too many hits during this era in their history. Not that the films were not good, just not what people expected from a Disney film at the time. This one is one such case, really good, but people expected lighter fare and something more in the line with the 1939 film.
