BEFORE: Speaking of sequels, why did it take Hollywood so long, about 45 years, to film a follow-up to "The Wizard of Oz", one of the most popular films of all time? Seems like that would be a no-brainer. I think part of that had to do with the source material - L. Frank Baum wrote a bunch of Oz books, but most of them didn't live up to the original. I remember reading the 2nd book, "The Land of Oz", as a kid and being somewhat disappointed.
Linking from "Neverwhere", Gary Bakewell was also in "Backbeat" with Stephen Dorff, who was also in a film called "Deuces Wild" with Fairuza Balk. I also got lucky thematically, since a character in "Neverwhere" referenced "The Wizard of Oz" indirectly, saying that if they completed their quest in the London Underground, they'd get a new heart and brain from the Wizard...
THE PLOT: Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.
AFTER: Turns out this film borrows from two different Oz books, "The Land of Oz" and "Ozma of Oz", 2nd and 3rd in the series of 40 (!!) books. I read "The Land of Oz", which introduces the characters of Jack Pumpkinhead and the witch named Mombi. But the lead character in that book is a boy named Tip, not Dorothy. Which was probably a big drawback when trying to appeal to fans of the 1939 film, I'll bet. So they brought in pieces from the third book, which does feature Dorothy, as well as the Nome King, Tik-Tok, and Billina the chicken.
But does the resulting patchwork function as a proper film? I suppose so, but it had the same air of randomness to it that plagued Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland". It seemed like a record of successive, yet disconnected events - a bunch of WHATS without much of a WHY. Why give Mombi the power to change her head, what larger purpose does this serve in the plot? What does the Nome King gain by turning people into pieces of furniture?
Even taking a step back - what lesson does Dorothy learn in her second trip to Oz? What was the moral, the point? None that I could see. And we still never learn if she actually went to this land, or if it's all her fantasy or delusion. Maybe some electro-shock therapy was just what she needed, but now we'll never know, will we?
Also starring Nicol Williamson (last seen in "Robin and Marian"), Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie (last seen in "The Crossing Guard").
RATING: 3 out of 10 yellow bricks
No comments:
Post a Comment