When it first came out, it was a big flop. The general public thought it was too dark, depressing and disturbing for kids. And the hard-core Oz fans thought it was too unfaithful to the two Oz books that it was based on (The Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz).
I think I liked it better than most, but I still had some big problems with it. It was pretty joyless throughout. There was a hollow, humorless, tragic feel to the whole thing. Very unlike the Oz stories.
I own the DVD, and my opinion has gotten better of it over the years. Either the world has become more dark and cynical, or I've gotten over my initial shock of the strange tone.
Fairuza Balk is quite good in it, as is Jean Marsh. But I think my favorite aspect of the film is the music by David Shire. By the way if any of you own the CD, it's a HUGE collector's piece and used to fetch upwards of $250 on eBay. A great score that echoes Aaron Copland, ragtime, and a little John Williams too. I still listen to it all the time.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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