HP6 - Review by Philip Josse

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is the sixth film in the Harry Potter franchise. I know i previously stated my intention to review all these films before the end of the summer, but to tell you the truth i still haven't gone back to university, and so hopefully i will complete them all before freshers week, only two to go. Half Blood Prince recounts the sixth year at Hogwarts School, and is the year in which Harry finally learns more about his past and his destiny from Dumbledore. The title refers to an old potions book which Harry founds, which was once the property of the mysterious Half Blood Prince, a potions genius from who he learns a great deal.

Half Blood Prince adds very few new characters to the series, as the work focuses mainly on Harry's past and future, and there is no 'mystery' to be really solved, however one fantastic addition is that of Jim Broadbent as Slughorn, i love this actor and he really shows both his comedic and dramatic range in this film. The movie is much more introspective, the pensive is a device used in other books and films which allows the characters to enter memories and explore them. Here Dumbledore uses the pensive to show Harry memories about Voldemort from his past, in order for Harry to understand Riddle's motives. Dumbledore shows Harry Voldemort's discovery of horcruxes and his childhood. The film shows us a lot about Voldemort's descent into psychopathy and the birth of his obsession with eternal life.

The second half of the film deals with the trios raging hormones first and foremost, the burgeoning relationship between Ron and Hermione, and Harrys growing affection for Ginnie. This part of the film also deals with horcruxes, and Dumbledores search for them. Harry and Dumbledore journey to a cave, where they find a locket and fight off inferi, upon their return to Hogwarts Dumbledore and Harry face off against a group of death eaters in the battle of their lives.

The film is much darker than it's predecessors, and this film continues the trend of desaturating the film of each subsequent installment of the series, becoming darker and less colorfull, to represent the happiness being sucked out of the world. The sets are beautiful in this film, and the movie is tender and poignant. The cave where Harry and Voldemort find the locket is a fantastic creation, and identically mirrors the illustration from the book cover. The film shows the same world as the first film, but with all the life, light and colour sucked out of it, and the future looks bleak as we gear up for the final battle. Rating: B

Harry Potter: Be brave, Professor. Be brave like my mother... Otherwise, you disgrace her. Otherwise, she died for nothing. Otherwise, the bowl will remain empty... forever.

The Prisoner of Azkaban

Like with the last post, intuition should tell me to love this movie, that this is one of the best Harry Potter films, that this was directed by auteur Alfonso Cuaron and that this film is atmospheric and dark, unfortunately i don't feel like this, i don't particularly like this movie, much as i didn't particulraly love the book it was based on, and i find this film to be utterly unlinked to the rest of the series.

Despite my qualms about this film, this movie was one of the most influential of the franchise, the film guided the direction of all subsequent Harry Potter films, making them dark, more cinematic and more character driven. The director made many changes to the environment and atmosphere of Hogwarts, rather than the school being a series of disparate locations filmed at some to the most iconic british tourist attractions, CGI was used in order to link these locations together, making the universe of Hogwarts a real lived in environment. Locations were also widened, enlarged or enhanced in function of what the story needs,  creating a real floorplan for the school, a floorplan that will be changed as needed, given Hogwarts magical secrets.

Changes were also made to the characterizations of the students, the pupils were removed from the voluminous capes which hid their personalities and were put into more casual wear, they were encouraged to personalize their uniforms much as real students do. Because of all these things the film has a far larger sense of personality and the school feels far more diverse as a result.The film takes on a darker tone from it's predecessors, there is a continuous sense of impending doom and we can sense that something is brewing, the film has an influence over the rest of the series, and is responsible for starting a visual narrative that will be continued throughout the franchise.

Whilst the storytelling and visual world are both complex, unfortunately the entire film is a little disconnected, Voldemort doesn't appear in this series, and nothing we really learn about in this story is relevent to the rest of the series, few new characters are introduced, no one dies, and the whole of the climax is about saving a hippogrif that is about to be executed. Of course, i have these same qualms about the book, and i find the story too disjointed and simplistic to care about it.

Despite the flaws of it's plot, Cuaron does a fantastic job of crafting a complex visual story from the least interesting of the Potter novels, and although i feel that this film by itself is only mediocre, it's influence on the rest of the series and the way in which it sets up such a complex world for the stories to inhabit cannot be understated. Rating: B-

The Great Lego Adventure

The Lego Movie is the kind of incongruous phrase that sounds a little like a hoax, but fortunately it's not. The Lego Movie is a 3D computer animated movie based around the franchises formed of Lego construction toys. I was a huge fan of Lego as a kid, as i suspect so were most people of my generation. Lego has the kind of all round appeal that only Adele and Harry Potter can also hold claim. I find it rather saddening that young people today don't play with Lego, and i hope that this film will reignite interest in the historic danish brand, if the box office receipts are anything to go by, it already has.
The film is about a construction worker named Emmett who lives in Bricksburg, and who is mistaken for the "special". The film then details Emmet and a girl he meets, called Wildestyle with whom he escapes Bricksburg, finds a god like figure called Vitruvius and Wildestyle's boyfriend; Batman. They, with a group of outlaws, hatch a plan to defeat the evil lord business and disable the kragle, a mysterious substance that Lord Business is going to use to glue all the bricks together. The film's plot is essentially a loose parody of The Matrix, with Emmet being The One, Wyldestyle being Trinity and Vitruvius being Morpheus. The film is fantastic fun, and the plot allows for many fun cameos from other Lego franchises and characters. The film starts in Bricksburg, which is essentially a generic colorful representation of corporate america, then it moves to The Old West and on to Cloud Cuckoo Land, based on cute and colorful Lego franchises. Then into the ocean, and under the sea. In addition to cameos from Middle Earth, Star Wars and DC Comics.

The movie looks fantastic, and the whole world featured looks exactly like it was made out of Lego, the sets look huge, and although the film was not made using stop motion, the film is deliberately given that feel, and everything in the film looks as if it is real and tactile. The film is so faithful to looking absolutely real that even water is made using Lego beads, laser bolts using lightsaber rods, and jet's using plastic flame pieces. Explosions are made using grey small Lego bricks and waves using blue and white Lego pieces. Dust trailing the batmobile is made of beige bricks and puffs of smoke are ice cream pieces, this separates the film from other direct to video Lego movies which are much lower budget and which generally do not look as if they are made entirely out of Lego.

The film also feels like it has something interesting to say about capitalism and about modern western life. The film depicts a world not unlike america today, where all the people look alike, they all listen to the same music, they all dress the same, they live in identical apartments and they are essentially indistinguishable, in appearance and in personality. Their lives are dominated by capitalism and business. The film is essentially about how capitalism leaves us devoid of any personality, and how we are essentially being corrupted by our ability to all buy and own the same things. The film is smart, the dialogue is witty and the plot is streamlined and unexpected. This is a film with heart, a quality sadly missing from a lot of modern animation (looking at you Dreamworks and Toonstudios) and a film that makes you think. The use of 3D is also superb, i have often proclaimed that animated films work best in 3D, and here is a prime example, the 3D was never used in an obnoxious way, but i was glad of the extra depth!

Overall i have nothing negative to say about this film, it's damn well near perfect, looks beautiful and has a great story and a good heart. A witty script and some funny gags make The Lego Movie supremely entertaining. It goes above and beyond what one would expect, and the Lego movie is far better than a two hour toy commercial has any right to be. Rating: A+

President Business: Hi, I'm President Business, president of the Octan corporation and the world. Let's take extra care to follow the instructions or you'll be put to sleep, and don't forget Taco Tuesday's coming next week.

The Life and Times of Hugo Cabret

Hugo is a 2011 American fantasy adventure film directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace Moretz, based on the children's book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Hugo is about a boy, named Hugo Cabret, who lives in the Gare Monparnasse railway station, mending and winding the station clocks, orphaned by his parents and abandoned by his uncle. Hugo attempts to repair an automaton left by his father, believing it holds a message from him, and is drawn into a world of cinema and fantasy.

Hugo is perhaps the most beautiful film to be released in recent memory, the film is like a fairy tale, fantastical and vivid, and despite containing much computer generated material, there is a concrete reality to the film. The station is a real place, where one can feel the heat of the steam and the smell of the coal, the whole thing feels tangible and tactile. Scorsese paints a vivid picture full of depth only enhanced by 3D.

Hugo is Scorsese's love letter to cinema, this film is Scorsese saying thank you to the films that inspired him, silent films feature heavily in the films plot and visuals, George Meliès is a character in this film, played by the iconic Ben Kingsley. Despite perhaps not being traditional Scorsese film, in some ways it is a deeply personal work, Scorsese bought the rights to this film after being presented with the book by his daughter, so as well as being a love letter to the world and history of cinema, Hugo is also a film he made for his daughter.

The fact that Hugo was directed, produced and projected in 3D has 2 consequences, firstly it is Scorsese showing that whatever he puts his hands on, he is successful, and the use of 3D in this film was acclaimed even by James Cameron, and is seen as being some of the best 3D cinematography of all time. It also adds a fabulous fantasy quality to the entire movie, and creates a sense of heightened reality.

This film also features some pretty fantastic direction and acting, the films leads give some of the best performances by child actors seen since Kramer Vs Kramer or Paper Moon, and particularly Asa Butterfield as Hugo has presence and subtlety, and manages to carry much of the weight of the film on his shoulders. The supporting cast is also superb, with Ben Kingsley and Christopher Lee's performances standing out. Sacha Baron Cohen also proves that he is perfectly capable of slipping seamlessly into an ensemble cast, without his performance becoming overbearing or overly comical.

Hugo is a movie about movies, a film which tells a delightfully old-fashioned traditional story in a new and innovative way, melding traditional and magical storytelling with modern techniques. If the script is, admittedly a little meandering, and perhaps a bit long for a children's movie (although admittedly restrained for a Martin Scorsese film), the emotional payoff once we reach the end truly packs a punch. Hugo is magical, enchanting and extravagant, a true love letter to the magic of the movies, and a magical movie in itself. Rating: A-

 Georges Méliès: "My friends, I address you all tonight as you truly are; wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, magicians... Come and dream with me."             

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG - A Review by Philip Josse

I don't know if i ever thought that i would be able to go back to middle earth, i think i assumed that our cinematic journey was over, however, Peter Jackson developed the hobbit as a 3 part movie project, using the appendicies from The Return Of The King to fill out the story. The Desolation of Smaug picks up where An Unexpected Journey left off, with the dwarves  and Bilbo, aided by Gandalf escaping the Orcs on their Wargs, and running into Beorn, a shapeshifter who takes form as a bear. The story then details their journey to the lonely mountain, and their attempt to take back the arkenstone, on the way they pass through Mirkwood, where they are attacked by spiders and orcs, trapped by elves and escape in some barrels, before entering Lake-Town, and attempting to reason with the treacherous master.

The film begins with a prologue, much like the Lord of the Rings films, and overall this film has much better pacing than the last film did, there are no silly pranks, no gags and the characters are not really introduced, i convinced myself when watching the last film that the extended introduction of the company of dwarves was needed to differenciate them, however i found when watching this film that i had forgotten the names of most of the dwarves, and that i didn't really care. The film feels action packed, and two minutes in we are already running from waargs and chasing bears. This film, for me, justifies turning this book into a trilogy, and even at two and a half hours long, it doesn't feel excessive. The action scenes are fantastic, and even though we haven't seen a real battle yet, the fight scenes between the elves and the orcs stand out, Tauriel is a fantastic addition to this story, the adds a much needed female character to the mix, and is a strong moral character, and a fantastic fighter.

The film looks absolutely fantastic, even better than the first, and the filmmakers have managed to find a way to tone down the cinematography, to stop everything looking so fake, one of the problems with the first movie is that it simply wasn't ready, and the CG characters looked like video game avatars, in this movie those characters look fantastic, tactile and ugly, with the orcs being particularly ferocious. The designs of these characters are also great, and some of the orcs even have their armor growing out of their skin like secateurs. The sets are what really stands out, the elven realm of mirkwood looks absolutely superb, it is a magnificently tall space featuring stairs and waterfalls, carved rock and huge chasms, the space is like a cathedral in it's majesty, and even though the space was certainly enhanced by CGI, the space feels real, and tactile. Lake-Town is also a masterpiece, this space was certainly a minature, as it again feels real and inhabited, the space is this trilogies Minas Tirith, a living, breathing city captured on film. The space is like a venice made entirely of wood, and it lives and breathes like a real city

Now we come to Smaug, played by Benedict Cumberbatch the character is ferocious, menacing and strangely human, the dragon has real character, and lives and breathes much in the same way that Gollum did, and visually he is an absolute delight, his scales are a burnished shade of blue, and his eyes are proud and strong, Smaug was created using motion capture, much like Gollum and is a technological marvel, much of the characters presence comes from this being a motion capture performance.

Overall i was very impressed with The Desolation of Smaug, this film alone justifies the series' expansion to three films, the movie is action packed and exciting, and is generally a fun time, the visuals are inspired and stunning, and the script is strong, the film offers deft performances from McKellen, Freeman and Armitage, Lee Pace is suitably menacing as Thranduil, and Evangeline Lilly adds a much needed female presence. The highlight of the film is undoubtedly the appearance of Smaug, and Benedict Cumberbatch is this films MVP, he no doubt deserves to be nominated for an oscar, the only shame is that he is ineligible! The Desolation Of Smaug is one hell of a fun ride. Rating: A-

Thranduil: Where does your journey end? You seek that which would bestow upon you the right to rule. A quest to reclaim a homeland, and slay a dragon!

Trash and Our Planet

WALL-E is a PIXAR film released in 2008 during the studio's much publicized golden era. The film was PIXAR's first (and only) real foray into the world of science fiction. WALL-E is the story of a robot, whose sole job is to clear up the garbage that now litters much of the world's surface. Mass consumerism has left piles of waste, and as the last remnants of humanity leave for a new life in space, the government decides to use robots to clean up the mess, it is quickly realized that this plan will not work, and the government shuts down the WALL-E program, however one robot remains, and he alone clears up all the rubbish, in the years since the humans leaving, WALL-E has developed a personality, and is immensely lonely. EVE is a robot charged to find vegetation on earth, and as soon as WALL-E sees her, he falls in love.

What makes WALL-E so unique is that the characters do not speak, and only communicate using grunts and sounds, which at times sound almost human. The first half of the movie takes place on earth, where WALL-E and EVE are alone, save for the cockroach. Thus during the whole first portion of the film, there is no dialogue, it is impressive that PIXAR manage to allow real communication between these robots. The robots have so much personality, EVE has a LED screen instead of a face, and the shape of the eyes changes depending on the emotion she is feeling. The head will also tilt depending on feeling, such as leaning to the side when she is confused. WALL-E is also hugely expressive, the eyes here will also move depending on emotion, such as blinking to indicate sadness. It is phenomenal that characters who do not speak, and who do not have real faces can be so expressive and have such character.

The film also looks amazing, the first part of the film takes place on earth, which has turned into a dusty rubbish dump. The whole first part of the film has a sepia tint, and legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins was hired as a consultant on the film. The second half of the film is in direct contrast to this, as it takes place on a space ship, it has a cold industrial feel, using mainly whites greys and blues. What is interesting about this film is how it has been treated like a live action movie, the film features almost photo-realistic animation and manages to successfully blur the line between animation and live action.

The film itself is a critique of industrialism and mass commercialism, the film depicts a world which our planet is vastly in danger of becoming. Purchases are not made to last, and everything is disposable, T-Shirts at Primark that are designed to be worn once and thrown away, and cars that are only intended to be used for a few years before they are exchanged for a newer, better, shinier model. Most the stuff that we buy comes in packaging, which is basically trash, and even the things that we buy themselves are mostly trash, designed to be used a handful of times and then thrown away, WALL-E opens our eyes to the fact that when we throw something in the trash, it doesn't simply disappear, and it has to go somewhere.

WALL-E also critiques the way in which we use technology, and since watching the film, i have tried to modify the amount of technology that i use, on the spaceship Axiom, humans have become so attached to technology that the barely see the world around them, to the point that one of the characters didn't even know that the ship had a pool, and that characters have become unable to walk due to mobile chairs carrying them around. (Segway anyone?) Due to technology taking over their lives, humans have become less and less human to the point where it is difficult to tell them apart, and the robots have become more human than the humans, knowing how to love and gaining personality.

The film also contains many charming references to other science fiction films, most notably '2001, A Space Odyssey'. WALL-E mirrors 2001's themes of technology and power, and the idea of technology becoming more charismatic, and having more personality than humans. AUTO, the intelligent computer system in WALL-E resembles HAL 9000 from 2001, both in appearance and in personality.

The film can also be seen as a biblical allegory, EVE resembles the eponymous character from genesis, and the beginning of the film mirrors the Adam and Eve story, with WALL-E representing the lonely Adam, and EVE being the woman who comes to keep him company, and with whom he subsequently falls in love. EVE also resembles the white dove that Moses sent forth from the arc, only to return with the olive branch, in style and in story.

Overall, WALL-E is a fantastic complex story, which proves that animated films do not have to resort to silly cartoonish gags in order to appeal to children. WALL-E contains numerous biblical, science-fiction and environment allegories, and serves as a warning that humanity needs to change it's course if we want to survive. It's not bird flu, or homosexuality that will lead to the end of the human race, but our own actions, and since the release of WALL-E in 2008, the situation has only gotten worse. Rating: A+

Captain: Wait, that doesn't look like Earth. Where's the blue sky? Where's the-the grass?

Now You See Me Review

Now You See Me is a 2013 caper film directed by french director Louis Leterrier, director of the aggressively awful Clash of the Titans. Now You See Me follows four magicians who are brought together by a mysterious benefactor, and transformed into a Las Vegas act The Four Horsemen, their act involves teleporting a man from Vegas to Paris to his bank in the eighth, convincing him to rob the bank, and showering the audience with money, their activities attract the suspicions of the FBI who attempt to discover the secrets to their trick. This leads to caper with the authorities chasing the horsemen to New Orleans, with a final showdown in New York, at 5 Pointz.

Now You See Me is an incredibly modern movie about magicians, it is about magicians with residencies in Las Vegas and who use modern technology to support their acts. The opening sequence of the film features the four magicians using various tricks in order to survive and make money. Each of the Four Horsemen present a various trait, Jesse Eisenberg plays J Daniel Atlas, an illusionist and leader of the group, Woody Harrelson plays Merrit McKinney, a mentalist, Isla Fisher plays Henley Reeves, an escapist, and the cute Dave Franco plays Jack Wilder, a slight of hand magician and the youngest of the group, during their run-in with the FBI, they encounter Dylan Rhodes, played by Mark Ruffalo and Alma Dray, an Interpol agent played by Mélanie Laurent, the cast is rounded out by Morgan Freeman, playing a former illusionist and Michael Caine as Arthur Tressler, the horsemens benefactor. Now You See Me succedes largely due to its talented, likeable and charismatic cast. 

 The film uses various plot twists in order to continually stay one step ahead of it's audience, however it manages to refrain from being too infuriating, by never taking it too far, the films plot is clever and engaging, and uses a variety of intriguing locations. The film manages to come to a successful conclusion, tying up enough ends to leave an audience feeling satisfied, yet providing enough leeway for a sequel. The films production design is slick and modern and the film makes imaginative use of it's different settings, with the groups opener being set on the Las Vegas strip, the second show taking place in the french quarter of New Orleans and a car chase taking place on the 59th street bridge, the shows finale takes place at 5 pointz and a parcour chase sequence features the back alleys of seedy manhattan.

Overall Now You See Me, despite being fantastic fun is far from perfect, the characters remain woefully underdeveloped and Dave Franco is painfully underused. I actually like the ending of the movie and like the fact that there are some ends left untied, leading seamlessly into a sequel. The story and cast are engaging and exciting and the film, to put it simply is just fantastic fun. Rating: A

J. Daniel Atlas: First rule of magic: always be the smartest person in the room. 

Oz, Neither Great nor Powerful

Oz The Great and Powerful is a 2013 Disney prequel to the 1939 MGM film, directed by Spider-Man director Sam Rami. The film stars James Franco as Oscar Diggs, a small town traveling magician from Kansas, who is whisked away in a tornado to a magical land called Oz, where ha encounters three witches: Mila Kunis plays Theodora, Michelle Williams plays Glinda, the good witch of the south and Rachel Weisz plays evanora, the wicked witch of the east. The film uses a spectacularly large amount of CGI, and a large part of the film was made on a digital backlot.

The film is set many years before the events of The Wizard of Oz, and describes the wizard's arrival in Oz. Oscar Diggs is swept away to a magical land by a hot air balloon while he is attempting to escape from the wrath of his investors. Diggs discovers a world in turmoil, where three witches fight for power. The problem with this film is that it has no message, the film says nothing about power or magic, and the character of Oz is totally miscast, with James Franco lacking the slick charm of the magician, and seeming like merely a slimeball. The films only message seems to be that cheating pays, and nothing is said about what truly makes a great man great, a missed opportunity rather.  The film is only a semi-prequel to The Wizard of Oz, and the film makes little reference to the 1939 film, neither visually nor stylistically. The narrative of the film somewhat follows the MGM film, with Oscar meeting Dorothy's mother in kansas, and Diggs being sucked into Oz in the same way that Dorothy was. Stylistically the film shares very little with The Wizard of Oz. The only real similarity is that the film opens in black and white and transforms into color when Diggs enters Oz. The film also begins in the old fashioned 'academy' ratio, and gradually expands into widescreen.

The film looks very little like the original film, the MGM film used largely low-fi practical effects. For instance the door opening to color was achieved with some very careful painting of the door, a sepia tinted outfit and a slight tint on the whole first segment led to a very convincing effect. The whole of the 1939 film was filmed in a studio, whereas this film was mostly made on a digital backlot, sacrificing reality for fakery, and grounded imagery for fancy graphics, and The film for the most part looks terrible. Generally this film can be split into three segments, the first black and white segment, the second segment set on and around the yellow brick road, and the final segment, which portrays the battle for Oz. The second segment looks the worse, and is the one which looks the least grounded in reality. This segment was mainly shot on a digital background, and depicts a world in which everything looks larger than life, and giant. The problem with this is that rather than looking awe inspiring, James Franco just looks ridiculously small, and looks out of place, the real problem is that there is no point of reference, and the actors are simply pasted onto these backgrounds with no interaction between the characters and their surroundings.

The character of Finley is also a problem, the character looks fake and rubbery, and fails to leap the uncanny valley. However the character of China Girl is unbelievably cute. The final sequence of the film looks fantastic, and the filmmakers use an art deco style for the emerald city, and although the city differs from the in the MGM film, it looks fantastic. The film overall has a rather good script and a fun story and the overall conclusion of the story is really rather clever. The wicked witches costume annoyed me a little, as she has a strap round her neck, which makes her look really small and a little fat. The film also suffers from the fact that many of the iconic properties invented for the MGM film were not allowed for this film, due to the rights being held by Warner Bros. The ruby slippers are an example as well as the swirl design in munchkinland and the mole on the wicked witch of the west's chin and the exact color of her skin, this leads to the witch being presented as a small fa woman with an unappetizing skin color, as opposed to the real iconic monster in the 1939 film.

Overall many of the failures of this film are due to it being too tied in to the film world of the MGM film, yet legal issues hamper it from becoming a true prequel, and from having the classic iconic feel of the original. Overall the film looks withering and lacks any real grounding, the characters seem superimposed and photoshopped onto their environments. The story is rather clever, however it has no meaning and says nothing about power or greatness. this film pails in comparison to Return to Oz which looks better and has more substance. 50% prequel, 50% spinoff; 100% pointless Rating: C+

Theodora: Aren't you the great man we've been waiting for?

Return To Oz

Return to Oz is a 1985 dark fantasy film from Disney and is a half sequel to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, and an adaptation of the second and third Oz books. Although receiving mixed to negative reviews upon its release, the film has now become something of a cult movie. The film featured a cast of largely unknown actors. The films is considered by its fans and by fans of the books to be a much more faithful adaptation of the novels than the MGM film. Part of the success of this film is in its refusal to sink so low as to attempt to replicate what made the 1939 film so iconic, this film has been compared in recent years to Oz The Great And Powerful, however what makes this film so much better than 'Oz' is the fact that it is much less reductive and less referential, the film is in full color, the opening included (unlike Oz the Great and Powerful). The film actually makes more use of intellectual property created for the 1939 film, such as the ruby slippers, however is actually much less derivative.

The film is much darker than its predecessor, the film begins with Dorothy in Kansas, unable to sleep and having hallucinations about Oz, her mother sends her to an institution, where she escapes on a stormy night, in a chicken coop, and finally washes up on the shores of Oz, where she discovers a world torn apart, and destroyed by the Nome King. The yellow brick road has been destroyed, and munchkinland is in ruins and the world is observed by the rocks, who relay information back to the Nome King. All of the citizens of Oz have been turned to stone, including the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. Dorothy makes two friends in Oz who are essentially horrific industrial versions of her previous friends, she encounters a man named Tic-Toc, an industrial tin man who has to be constantly wound up in order to move and think, and who is not alive, and who has no soul. Her other friend is Jack Pumpkinhead, a scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head, who was created in order to scare off the wheelers, and who was brought to life using Mombi's powder of life. The trio use the powder of life to bring to life a flying sofa they have patched together. The trio travel to the Nome Kings cavern where they discover that he has the emerald slippers, and that he destroyed Oz and turned the scarecrow into an ornament, the group must reclaim the slippers, and save the wonderful land of Oz.

The film makes fantastic use of practical effects, at a time when Star Wars and 2001 A Space Odessey had already been released, and huge advancements were being made in the field of CGI and computer animation, this film uses claymation to animate the Nome King and his minions. Billina is animated using audio animatronics, a technique sadly rarely used on film anymore, being really only used on theme park rides, and a technique for which the Walt Disney Company is known. (Animatronics were also used in The Chronicles of Narnia, also a disney movie) The tone of this film is rather dark, scenes involving the destruction of Oz, may be actually traumatic for some viewers! The film is well acted, and Fairuza Balk does a fine job as Dorothy Gale, holding up the entire movie, and she really is a good actor for a child star. For the record the film is not perfect, it does have some issues, there are occasional tonal inconsistencies, the film suffers from poor pacing and at times seems to lack story and substances, and seems to not have quite enough to fill a feature length film which is longer than the prerequisite one hour thirty.

Overall I really liked Return to Oz, the film is dark and brooding, nicely low budget and organic, and actually adds something to the source material rather than trying to replicate the success of the MGM film, the film feels much less reductive than other Oz movies, and has a nice mature tone and dazzling visual style, and despite some tonal inconsistencies and pacing problems, I can see why this has become a cult film.
Rating: B+

Dorothy: Because I can't sleep, and I talk about a place that I've been to, but nobody believes that it exists.