Return to Oz Image
Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 10 Ratings

  • Summary: Dorothy finds herself back in the land of her dreams where she makes delightful new friends like Tik Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Gum, as well as dangerous new enemies, the creepy Wheelers, the head-hunting Princess Mombi, and the evil Nome King. With every twist in the yellow brick road, Dorothy's struggle to return home becomes more challenging and foreboding. And the future of Oz rests in her hands. Will Dorothy be able to restore its rightful heir to the throne of the Emerald City? (Disney) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 11
  2. Negative: 4 out of 11
  1. Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    63
    First of all, it has no music. That aside, it doesn't have any wit, joy, or drive. Children who haven't had the pleasure of seeing The Wizard of Oz might enjoy this film, but it will also frighten them. There are some fine, Oscar-nominated special effects, but the excitement just isn't there.
  2. Everyone who grew up with the full range of the Oz books is deeply in Murch's debt. However, the framework surrounding Return to Oz is dark and, I suspect, terribly frightening for very young children. [21 Jun 1985, p.1]
  3. Reviewed by: Ian Nathan
    60
    It’s enthralling as well as rambling, you do miss the songs, but there is clearly no place for them here. Best to see them as individual films with nothing in common apart from source material, one a classic, the other a strong enough picaresque amongst some decent fabulation.
  4. 38
    The Nome King looks like a moveable Mt. St. Helens and he alone is magical. In fact, he blows Dorothy and her tacky-looking friends off the screen. So we end up liking the Nome King and hating Dorothy and her crowd, which I doubt was the intention of the L. Frank Baum series. [21 Jun 1985, p.1]

See all 11 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. Ignore the critics. this movie is beast!
  2. Return to Oz is a fantastic horror movie for children. Witches that can remove their heads, mutated rollerblading punks, evil rocks that spy on you, ghosts trapped in mirrors, electric shock therapy... This is scary stuff for kids! But not too scary, however, making it an excellent treat come Halloween. Expand
  3. this movie has no storyline very scary for younger kids boring as!!! it shames the original! i love disney but they must have been drunk and made this by mistake!! Expand

See all 5 User Reviews