Review – Return to Oz

Has this ever worked? Seriously, has anyone ever come along decades after the release of a classic movie and made a successful sequel? No? Well, if they all turn out like this then the consistent failure should be no surprise. Most of the money Disney spent on this picture appears to have been squandered on the sets. Had it been shot a couple of decades later computer graphics could have been used to make up for the shortcomings in the effects budget, but back in the 80s cheap mechanicals just looked cheap. The story – Dorothy escapes a quack doctor in Kansas only to find Oz trashed by the Gnome King – was likewise weak. Good kids movies need a certain measure of magic, but all this production musters is the cinematic equivalent of cheap card tricks. See if desperate