While Murch is arguably the greatest editor in cinema history, this is his only directoral effort. This 1985 Disney production is primarily a live-action film with a lot of modeling, some stop-motion/claymation effects, possibly some (in camera) matte shots, and a small amount of CGI animation. It stars 9-year old Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects.
Breakdown:
- The story begins 6 months after the tornado in the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy has trouble sleeping and, as before, she lives with her aunt and uncle on a farm in Kansas. Aunt Em is worried that Dorothy fantasizes too much about the creatures she met in Oz and won't sleep. The aunt and uncle want her to be treated by a doctor, but to pay for the doctor they will have to borrow money. They're the same poor farmers and their home is still needing repair from the damage caused by the tornado. As part of her chores, Dorothy tries to collect an egg from a chicken (named Billina) who she treats almost as a pet. Billina won’t lay an egg and Dorothy is afraid she will be cooked for dinner. Dorothy discovers a strange looking key which she thinks is from Oz.
- Aunt Em takes Dorothy sans Toto to a doctor out of town, Doctor Worley. Aunt Em leaves her there overnight. The doctor's setup suggests he will give her electroshock therapy and his nurse, Nurse Wilson, seems very unfriendly. They leave Dorothy in a room. She is scared and lonely, hearing the screams of other patients. In the mirror a young blond-haired girl appears, (This turns out to be Ozma.) She tells Dorothy that she must escape. The doctor comes to get Dorothy for her treatment. She is strapped to a gurney and taken to a room with a machine which will send an electrical charge through Dorothy. Just as they are about to throw the switch on Dorothy a thunderstorm strikes, knocking out the power to the building. The same blond girl helps Dorothy out of the straps and escape.
- As they are chased by the mean Nurse Wilson and her helpers, Dorothy and Ozma fall into a river. Dorothy grabs hold of a floating wood board, climbs onto it and falls asleep. When she wakes she is in a desert with Billina the chicken, who can now talk. They are in Oz, surrounded by the Deadly Desert. They avoid death by only stepping on rocks. Then they head to the Emerald City, which is now in ruins. All of Dorothy’s friends, such as the Cowardly Lion, have been turned to stone. The Scarecrow is missing. Only a nasty gang known as the Wheelers (they have wheels as hands and feet) are alive. They almost capture Dorothy and Billina but they escape into a hidden chamber using the key Dorothy found in Kansas. In the chamber Dorothy meets Tik-Tok, a robot who requires winding up to work. Once wound up, Tik-Tok defeats the Wheelers and makes the lead Wheeler tell them what happened: only Princess Mombi knows where the Scarecrow has gone and the Nome King is responsible for the Emerald City's destruction.
A Wheeler - Dorothy, Billina and Tik-Tok go to Mombi’s castle. They find Mombi (usually played by the same actor as Nurse Wilson), who has 30+ heads to choose from, each in a separate glass case on display in a long hallway. and can switch them at will. She immediately imprisons them (Dorothy, Billina and Tik-Tok) in a chamber, with the plan to let Dorothy age until she can add Dorothy's head to her collection. In their chamber they meet a creature made of sticks and a pumpkin as a head, Jack Pumpkinhead, who was animated (brought to life) by Mombi's Powder of Life. He tells them the Powder of Life is kept locked in cabinet 31. Dorothy looks around the room and designed her own flying moose with a couch as a back called a Gump. Then she sneaks out of their chamber to steal the Powder of Life. She's discovered by Mombi but manages to run back to the chamber (the some help by Ozma again), and animate the Gump. Then all of them fly off to meet the Nome King. Mombi and her Wheelers chase after them on ground on a chariot (with the Wheelers as her "horses").
The vain and evil Princess Mombi
- They make it to the mountain of the Nome King, a man (played by the same actor who played Dr Worley) made of stone. At one point on the way there, Billina ends up inside the pumpkin used by Jack as his head. (Occasionally Billina will stick her beak out of one of the holes Jack has for an eye and say something.) He tells Dorothy that it is he alone who makes gems, such as emeralds, and so he turned Emerald City, and all its inhabitants except Scarecrow, to stone as punishment. The Scarecrow he kept and turned him into an ornament for his castle. Mombi and her crew of Wheelers show up. The Nome King is furious she allowed Dorothy to escape and imprisons Mombi in an iron cage. Dorothy wants to rescue her friend Scarecrow. Nome King wears the ruby slippers and tells Dorothy he can send her home now if she'd like. She says no, she must rescue her friend the Scarecrow.
The Nome King tells them all there is only one way to do that. They must enter the room of ornaments and when they think they can guess which one is the Scarecrow they are to touch it and say "Oz" at the same time. They each will get three guesses. Jack Pumpkinhead tries first. He leaves the others, goes to the huge ornament room filled with vases and statues and so on, tries three guesses, fails all of them, and is turned into an ornament. Dorothy complains she wasn't told that they would be turned into an ornament if they failed. Nome King says "You didn't ask." Dorothy is last. Her first two guesses fail. For her last guess she notices a green ornament. She thinks it should be green (reminiscent of the Emerald City) and guesses correctly. They find the other green ornaments and free them as well. Nome King is furious. He eats Gump then decides to eat Jack Pumkinhead. At this point, Billina chooses to lay an egg. Just as Jack is lowered into the (claymation) Nome King's huge stone mouth the egg falls out of a hole in Jack's head into the stomach of the Nome King. "Don't you know eggs are poison?!" the Nome King yells as he turns to sand. As the Nome King's mountain crumbles around them, Dorothy finds the ruby slippers, puts them on, and wishes for all of them (including Mombi still in her cage) to return to a restored Emerald City.
Dorothy and Tik-Tok
- Once they are there, they ask Dorothy to rule them. She refuses, wanting to go home to Kansas. However, she learns the girl who helped her is Princess Ozma, cursed by Mombi. Mombi's powers have disappeared with the Nome King so Dorothy asks Ozma to be the ruler, giving her the ruby slippers. Billina decides to stay in Oz but Dorothy says goodbye to her friends and heads back to Kansas. She learns Dr Worley's building, including all his machines, have burned down and Worley died in the fire. Nurse Wilson was arrested by the police. Dorothy's farmhouse is now completely repaired and, in her bedroom mirror, Dorothy again sees Ozma. She and Toto run outside to play.
Review:
First, to be clear, I enjoyed the movie. It's a movie with a different visual feel which is well-done. It's also fun to see a different take on the character of Dorothy Gale made famous by Judy Garland.
As you can see, this is a movie about a young girl in a fantasy world overcoming obstacles to save her friends. The narrative device used to create the fantasy world is to model some of the fantasy characters after characters in her real life. But that is not the point. The question is: Does the story have a logical consistency, given the rules of the fantasy world? Not quite. There are some reasonable setups and pay-offs. For example, the Oz key Dorothy found in her yard back in Kansas is uses to help her escape from the frightening Wheelers. Less believable example is Billina laying an egg at just the right time (the "point of no return") and that it is just this thing with is poisonous to the Nome King. Another example: Mombi wants to imprison Dorothy so she can have her head when Dorothy grows old enough. Is this a believable goal for an antagonist? Not really. Mombi already has over 30 such heads, all of which are prettier than young Dorothy's. Does she really need another? I have to think a typical audience would involve young kids in the 10-year old range. It seems to me the characters in the film are a bit dark for that age. However, the visuals are nice (given they were in 1985) and fun for all ages.
Main theme of this film, as in the Wizard of Oz, are friendship, loyalty, love of family. I think it is a technically impressive film but emotionally lacking. I appreciate a lot of work went into it. The SFX helps communicate plot elements (eg, how the Nome King learns about events away form his mountain hideout is via the stop-motoin/claymation stones strewn around Oz who communicate with him as if by ESP). However, the heart of the story is not helped by the technical aspects. There is some symbolism due to the connection between the characters in real life and the corresponding characters in Oz (eg, Dr Worley vs the Nome King and Nurse Wilson vs Mombi). However, except for the minor character of Billina (who Dorothy in Kansas is worried that might get eaten), that too doesn't contribute significantly to the emotional core of the story.
As far as acting and the characters go, Mombi (played by Jean Marsh) and the Nome King (Nicol Williamson) are Dorothy's main antagonists. They're portrayed competently and theoretically present real threats to Dorothy, but the sets seems too cartoonish to be taken seriously. Besides, a new 9-year old actor can't match the emotional range of Judy Garland (who was 16). I thought the plot-driven dialog for the most part conveyed facts, rather than emotion. Even when the Scarecrow is rescued, a main goal of Dorothy, we don't feel anything. They hug and the movie goes on. Comparing Balk and Garland is a bit unfair. Don't forget the Wizard of Oz was a musical featuring one of the top recording artists of the time and the Return of Oz is not a musical at all. Also, don't forget 16-year old Garland was clearly past the age to be regarded believable as a young girl. Balk is completely believable because she is a young girl.
While Murch the director chose to tell the story in a straightforward way, the pace never got boring for me (thanks to the writing, and BTW the script can be found online if you look for it). That said, I will say I didn't find the suspense or tension in the Oz world to be what I would expect, given the darkness of the story. For the suspense and tension to work, Dorothy must appear scared. Except in the Dr Worley's basement, I didn't get that sense from the direction or the acting. While the goals of Mombi and the Nome King are certainly in conflict with Dorothy's goals, to me the visuals (SFX and the action) are more captivating than the conflict. The editing was excellent and I'm sure that Murch's skills in that department made the pace flow well.
In terms of cinematography and production design, the shots were very simple wide shots, with occasional medium shots of the actors when emotion was conveyed. The only "unique" shots were the claymation/stop-motion inserts. Lighting was for the most part flat. In the "scariest" parts (Mombi's castle or Nome King's mountain) there are shadows but nothing pronounced enough to create a different mood. The Oz sets were either (a) overly ornate (eg, in Mombi's castle or Nome King's ornament room) or (b) studio sets (as the exteriors of the ruins of the Emerald City or the interiors in the Nome King's chamber), but these two seemed to have a different aesthetic. It wasn't distracting at the time but I think it indicates an inconsistent overall artistic vision. Perhaps best shots were the exteriors of the Oz countryside, which I guess were a mix of in-camera matte shots, CGI and live shots. Very good costumes overall, with skilled make-up artistry. The important thing to me was that the look of the film is different from that of a typical film. I liked that. Not the same as the Wizard of Oz. Similar but darker, with better visual effects, but a less consistent artistic aesthetic.
The claymation effects were similar to those of the great Ray Harryhausen. Personally, I found it refreshingly different (and well-done), but some of the intended younger audience (used to slick cartoons these days) might find it distracting. The effects integrated well with the story but the techniques used are a bit old-fashioned by today's standards.
Overall, this is a good movie in search of the right audience. You can enjoy it as a family film but don't be surprised if the younger ones fall asleep because it lacks emotional engagement. However, if you want a trip into the world of Oz then this is your ticket.
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