About 6 years ago I saw it in an old movie store and realized it was real. Bad 80s effects though... Really, you think so? I found the special effects and design to be remarkable, even by today's standards. Some of the maquettes and set pieces were really something (like the hall of mirrors), and I
still don't know how they got Jack's pumpkin head to grow and warp for expressiveness.
Somebody told me the budget for this film was really cheap though. Actually, in 1985 it was one of the most expensive movies ever made. The film used state-of-the-art animatronics (even the chicken was an animatronic) and other cutting edge technology, and Disney had invested a substantial amount into the production: the film had a budget of $27 million, a huge figure at the time.
Unfortunately, when the movie came out it was lambasted by critics for being too dark, and the film performed poorly at the box office. If you ask me, the critics didn't know what they were talking about: what makes the land of Oz so ingrained in the public psyche is the darkness and mystery of that fantasy world. The Wicked Witch of the West is perhaps the most memorable thing about the first movie, chiefly because she scared the hell out of children who grew up and would still remember that fear.
Incidently, the director Walter Murch is one of the greatest editors and sound designers in film history: he was the editor of such iconic films as APOCALYPSE NOW, THE ENGLISH PATIENT, JULIA, and TOUCH OF EVIL, and oversaw the sound design in films like GODFATHER PART TWO and AMERICAN GRAFFITI. RETURN TO OZ is his only film as a director.
You can notice his talent for detail not only in the way RETURN TO OZ is edited (the escape out of the asylum is expertly crafted), but also in how aspects of the "real world" feature into Dorothy's psychological adventure in Oz, even moreso than the original MGM movie: the squeaking wheel sounds she hears in the asylum is reimagined as the Wheelers of Oz, the electroshock machine becomes Tik-Tok, and the pumpkins on the farm reappear as Jack Pumpkinhead.
For more info, check out this website I found:
http://www.returntoozthemovie.com/
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
Updated On: 7/9/05 at 05:07 PM
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