Morbius Fitzgerald I kind of had enough hopes for this to watch it and maybe I could like something this guy did. Oh my god I was wrong. Okay first of all, I should tell you all that I absolutely love the idea of Oz, a magical world that children can escape to and make it their own, a lot can be done with that. Return To Oz, the 1985 film, is actually my all time favourite film so I am more than open to any Oz adaptation. How does an independent film company make a movie about Oz when its run by Leigh Scott? I'm not convinced they did. So lets take a look.The film starts off with a Middle Earth style narration explaining that a munchkin created Oz when the world was full of magic and when it was created Wicked Witches were at war with the Wizard. He decides to give them a book with a word that can make anything happen, the key to the book is missing, only to be with Dorothy, magical crap happens and they get transported to 1990s America. Confused yet? Get used to it. So Dorothy grows up and becomes a children's writer who writes stories about Oz it turns out that a talent agency wants to sell the book and hopefully get it published. When she goes to New York (the place everyone associates with Oz!) she decides to write but can't.Then you have a scene which has probably the most cringe worthy dialogue EVER FOR ANYONE OF ANY AGE! First of all the talent agent requests Dorothy sex's herself up and when they get into the publisher's, they want the Dorothy in the book to wear skintight leather pants and jacket after real Dorothy says that fictional Dorothy is 11 years old! Okay, Leigh, you do realize that this is a family film? Not only that but the way the publisher reveals it is so dumb that Peter Griffin would laugh at it. There is so many things wrong with this scene that it's just not funny. Almost everyone has grown up with at least one version of the Oz story being told to them. Did anyone actually read this scene aloud before filming it? You can't throw crap like this at an audience and expect them to go along with it!So, lets just say for the sake of the review that you'd keep watching this movie after that scene, Eventually it gets revealed that real Dorothy and fictional Dorothy are one (who would've guessed?...) Then Uncle Henry left a letter for her after he died revealing that she was his Aunt thanks to the fact that she went into a tornado into the land of Oz and stayed there with enough time for 110 years to pass and when she was transported back, they (Uncle Henry and Aunt Em - Em doesn't have a single line in this movie, by the way) raised her as their own. WHAT?! This is the dumbest twist in a movie since Monster A-Go Go, this is like magic moonbeam dolphins on the titanic, there is no way that Scott gave a crap when writing this scene. Whether you grew up with the books or the movies (The Wizard Of Oz or Return To Oz, PICK ONE!) this is the jump the shark moment. No I take that back, this is jumping the shark while nuking the fridge and frying the coke ALL IN ONE EASY SWIPE!Okay so yet again, lets just say, hypothetically, you kept watching after that twist, its revealed that the talent agent is actually the Wicked Witch of the West who is also coincidentally played by the actual movie's producer (at least they got SOMETHING correct, anyone who financially backs THIS while reading the script has to be evil!) They go through this rushed climax, even though the people of New York act like there's nothing wrong when Dragons are on the empire state building (how would people not notice that? When were there dragons in Oz?! How did that get no attention?!) Dorothy tells the Witch how many good time they had (no they didn't) and she saw the good in her (how?) and used the power of the silver slippers to stop her. Then through some bullsh*t no one remembers anything besides Dorothy and the Scarecrow, New York is restored to life and they go along their merry way.My complaints about the plot...no comment. The CGI is awful, when the graphics of Pong and Space Invaders are better than that of a movie your making, stop making movies! The acting is pretty awful and if you look at the cast you'll see that is no easy thing to buy, you have Sean Astin, Christopher Lloyd and Lance Hendricksen in the cast. They all give pretty bad performances because the best actress out of the whole movie...was the film's producer who actually makes me miss Mila Kunis as the witch.Overall this movie did not just not understand what Oz was about, oh, it understood, but it was made as a movie with one goal in mind - to destroy everything about it that made it credible. They spend all their time in this movie in New York. Yeah, an Oz film spends more time in New York than Oz! This movie is without a single doubt in my mind the worst movie ever made. So long Star Wars Holiday Special, adiós Batman And Robin, Superman 4, Howard The Duck, High School Musical this movie outdoes you all in terms of horribleness. Avoid this movie at all costs.PS. I actually forgot to mention the book with the word...apparently that was all the Wizard's plan, the book is actually the entirety of the Declaration Of Independence and the American Constitution...you wait 2 and a half hours for THAT ending. Think about that.

bearkrug Unlike most of the reviews, I actually enjoyed the series. I do think it could be cut to two hours and be more enjoyable - three was a tad too long. My main complaint was the acting. Christopher Lloyd was excellent and you expect that from him, but the big surprise for me was Glinda, the good witch. I had not seen her before and was very impressed with her work. I think Glinda (Noel Thurman) should have played Dorothy and vice versa. Hope to see more of Noel in the future. The other actors were sub-par at best. On the whole, I think the film is good for all ages. The visual effects could have been better as well as the directing.

Queeneb OK the plot line had excellent potential and started out very strong despite the horrible excuse for an actress who played dorthy ...I mean really I wanted the witch to win so she would just die. But really after part one I was really into the story line and wanted to see part two....I should have stopped at part one because the acting goes down hill and the effects lets face it my 12 year old sister does better with her YouTube videos on an allowance budget. You got to love the part when scarecrow was on fire and she looks like she is just bating him to death...no where near the flames I may add . ..the ending looked a little better but bad acting shitty effects and dialog that made me want to shoot my self in the face made sure that hope was squashed ...I had high hopes for this too there was a lot of really good actors in it to bad the lead actress never took any acting classes

CygnusXII I was expecting garbage and I was surprised. Owing that this movie came out of SyFy's stables, I thought it was going to be a bunch of CGI trash. I was quite wrong. While the acting is not strong at times, I think that is because the writing is a little flat. Some of the Acting is quite hammy at times, and over the top. Sprinkle in a judicious use of munchkins, and other baddies and I guess it balances out. Some of the prop work and costumes are pretty cool. Christopher Lloyds outfit is spot on Steampunk at it's best, as well as The Tin Woodsman prop works. Some of the City EFX, are lacking, as mentioned the lightning is a little lame. I guess all in all though, it was worth a watch, and could be viewed by the kiddies.