Return to Oz is a 1985 dark fantasy film serving as an unofficial sequel to the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film The Wizard of Oz, and is based on L. Frank Baum's early 20th century Oz novels, mainly being a combination of The Land of Oz (1904) and Ozma of Oz (1907). Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Silver Screen Partners II, the film was co-written and directed by Walter Murch in his directorial debut. It stars Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, and Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale in her first screen role. In the plot, an insomniac Dorothy returns to the Land of Oz to find it has been conquered by the wicked Nome King and his accomplice Princess Mombi. Dorothy must restore Oz with her new friends Billina, Tik-Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Gump. In 1954, Walt Disney Productions bought the film rights to Baum's remaining Oz books to use in the television series Walt Disney's Disneyland; this led to the proposed live-action film The Rainbow Road to Oz, which was never completed. Murch suggested making another Oz film in 1980. Disney approved the project as they were due to lose the film rights to the series. Though MGM was not involved in the production, Disney had to pay a large fee to use the ruby slippers created for the 1939 film. Return to Oz fell behind schedule during production, and, following a change of Disney management, Murch was briefly fired. Return to Oz was released in theaters on June 21, 1985. It performed poorly at the box office, grossing $11.1 million in the United States on a $28 million budget, and received mixed reviews, with critics praising the visual style, special effects, and faithfulness to the books, but criticizing it for its scary imagery. The film performed well outside the US, and has since acquired a cult following from fans of the Oz books who regard it as more faithful to Baum's works than the 1939 film. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects.
Plot The film is set six months after the events in The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy Gale's continued obsession with the Land of Oz concerns her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry that she may be delusional. They take Dorothy to a sanatorium, where Dr. Worley intends to perform electrotherapy on her, but she is rescued by a young girl, who warns her that Worley damages his patients. Worley's assistant, Nurse Wilson, pursues them as they escape in the middle of a storm to a nearby river, where Dorothy loses sight of the other girl as she floats downstream aboard a chicken coop. Dorothy wakes up in Oz with her chicken, Billina, who can now talk. Following the damaged yellow brick road they reach the Emerald City, which is in ruins and all its citizens, including the Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, turned to stone. They are seized by the Wheelers -- creatures with wheels at the ends of their limbs -- but are saved by Tik-Tok, a mechanical man who explains that he was told by Scarecrow, the king of Oz, to await Dorothy's return. In search of Scarecrow, they visit the castle of Princess Mombi, who wears the different heads of the women of Oz. After revealing that Scarecrow is being held prisoner by the Nome King, the one responsible for the devastation of Oz, she imprisons the group, intending to take Dorothy's head for her collection. Locked in a tower, the group encounters Jack Pumpkinhead, who explains that he was brought to life by Mombi's Powder of Life. To escape, the group constructs a flying creature from furniture and the head of the Gump, a moose-like animal, and Dorothy steals the powder from Mombi to bring him to life. Discovering them, Mombi has the Wheelers pursue the Gump as he flies the group cross the Deadly Desert to the Nome King's mountain. The Gump eventually tires and crashes on the mountain, where Dorothy is briefly reunited with Scarecrow, before the Nome King turns him into an ornament. The Nome King offers each member of the group three attempts to identify the Scarecrow in a room full of ornaments, but The Gump, Jack, and Tik-Tok all fail and are turned into ornaments themselves. Before Dorothy begins her turn, the Nome King reveals he has her lost ruby slippers, which he used to conquer Oz, and offers to use them to send her home instead, but Dorothy refuses. Dorothy enters the ornament room and makes two guesses as Mombi reaches the mountain. With her final guess, Dorothy selects a green gem, which turns into Scarecrow; realizing that the inhabitants of Oz become green objects, Dorothy finds and restores Jack and the Gump. Enraged, the Nome King imprisons Mombi for allowing Dorothy's escape, then grows to gigantic size and attempts to eat the group, until Billina, hiding in Jack's head, lays an egg in the king's mouth, fatally poisoning him. Dorothy retrieves the ruby slippers and hurriedly puts them on as the subterranean Nome kingdom collapses; she wishes for the group to return to the restored Emerald City, where they find a green medal on the Gump's antler that Dorothy restores into Tik-Tok. When Dorothy is subsequently asked to be the Queen of Oz, but she desires to return home, Princess Ozma -- the girl from the sanitorium and rightful ruler of Oz, who was imprisoned in a mirror by Mombi -- is freed and ascends the throne. Dorothy gives Ozma the ruby slippers, and she uses them to send Dorothy home, promising that she can return to Oz again if she wishes, while Billina chooses to remain. Dorothy wakes up and is found beside a riverbank in Kansas by Toto and Aunt Em, who tells her the clinic burned down and everyone except Worley survived, while Nurse Wilson was arrested for assisting in Worley's experiments. Dorothy returns home and sees Ozma and Billina through her bedroom mirror; she calls for Aunt Em, but they signal for her to keep Oz a secret.
Cast
Live action
Voice cast
Puppeteers
Production
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