Psycho's Movie Reviews #318: The Witches Of Oz (2012)

The Witches Of Oz (aka Dorothy and the Witches of Oz) is a 2012 film directed by Leigh Scott, based on the early 20th century novels The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Ozma of Oz, The Road to Oz and The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The film stars Paulie Redding, Billy Boyd, Eliza Swenson, Mia Sara, Lance Henriksen, and Christopher Lloyd. A longer version of the film was originally released as a TV miniseries in 2011 called The Witches of Oz, distributed by MarVista Entertainment. The miniseries was over an hour longer and had earlier versions of the special effects. The miniseries was originally released in 2011 in Europe, though its United Kingdom premiere was not until July 5, 2012 on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Development of the miniseries/film began while director Leigh Scott was making direct-to-video films for The Asylum. Production began in December 2009 and filming took place throughout Connecticut and New York City.

The soundtrack to the film, composed by Eliza Swenson, was released on iTunes, and then on a soundtrack CD in February 2012.

Plot

An adult Dorothy Gale is now a successful children's book author and has moved from Kansas to present day New York City. Dorothy quickly learns that her popular books are based on repressed childhood memories, and that the wonders of Oz are very, very real. When the Wicked Witch of the West shows up in Times Square, Dorothy must find the inner courage to stop her.

Release/Reception/Box Office

Dorothy and the Witches of Oz was released theatrically in the United States on February 17, 2012. The film opened in select AMC Theatres, Harkins Theatres, Rave Motion Pictures, and Marcus Theatres venues in Arizona, Kentucky, Kansas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. The film was then shown at film festivals and exclusive events in New York, Kentucky, California, Virginia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina throughout the course of the year.

The original version of the film, in the form of the miniseries The Witches of Oz, was released on home video in France on November 9, 2011, in Germany on December 8, 2011, and in the United States on April 10, 2012.

Despite an overall negative response from critics and audiences to the original miniseries version, the later film version Dorothy and the Witches of Oz received better, but still mixed, reviews during its theatrical run. Bob Fischbach of the Omaha World-Herald praised the film for its contemporary twist on the story, but stated that it was "cheesy, but fun for family." Patrick Luce of Monsters & Critics gave the film a positive review, and stated that "hopefully this won't be the only trip to Oz we'll get to take".

My Review

I doubted this film would be great, but my best case scenario was that it would at least be fun in a cheesy way. Even by those standards, I was let down. Maybe part of the problem is that I saw it on the big screen when it really feels like a direct to video movie. On the other hand, I don't think I could have asked for a better viewing experience, so I have to face the fact that the main problem is that it was just not very good.

Things like "Wicked" and "Tin Man" have shown that there can be decent alternate takes on Oz, but this was not one of them, sadly. I think the filmmakers' hearts were in the right place, but this low-budget attempt at creating something with the look of a big-budget blockbuster ended up being kind of a cringe-inducing mess.

I got a sinking feeling within the first moments as we're introduced to a CGI version of Oz that looks poor even compared to modern video games. But I don't watch independent movies for spectacle; I watch them for story and characters, and unfortunately, I found neither to be terribly engaging here. I might have cared about the plot if the movie had spent more time establishing the characters and their relationship to each other, but this presents something of a Catch-22: adding such scenes would have presumably made the movie longer and it already felt overly long. They must have padded it out beyond all reason in order to accommodate the miniseries format.

I've seen complaints about wooden acting in this film. Any deficiencies there I am willing to at least partially blame on the directing and/or script. Even most of the name actors turn in rather unremarkable performances- the big exception being Mia Sara's manic Princess Langwidere. Among the lesser-known players, I thought Eliza Swenson was the most memorable as the manipulative literary agent.

This is a movie I really wanted to like, so I wish I had more positive things to say about it. There are a couple nods to the MGM musical and a few more to the original Oz books, but I don't see this satisfying fans of either. Honestly, I would have a difficult time recommending "Dorothy and the Witches of Oz" to anyone. And I'm the sort of person who can often find redeeming qualities in movies that others might dismiss as simply terrible.

I'm somewhat shocked that a sequel is supposedly in the works. Call me a hopeless optimist or just morbidly curious, but if that actually gets made, I'll most likely end up watching it as well, hoping that it might be better than this movie, which it would almost have to be.

At the end of the day, it's a film by the infamous The Asylum; most of the films they make are terrible, there's a rare couple that are good. This one isn't their worst film, the movie wasn't terrible. But it's nowhere near as accurate to the original books as Return To Oz. 5/10 {I'll admit that I'm being generous here, most of these points go to Christopher Lloyd and Mia Sara}