BY MIKEY MIGO
Some childhood memories are left better untouched. Of course I saw “Wizard of Oz” a billion times in my life. I’m only human. It’s a classic. Everyone has seen it at least ten thousand times. That’s only a 10% hyperbole bump too. Not too many people remember “Return to Oz” though. It’s a 1985 “unofficial sequel” to “The Wizard of Oz”. I saw it as a kid and it creeped me out. I remembered the movie being darker, scarier, surreal, and just really fucked up. Those emotions were still of a positive reflection. I looked back and enjoyed it a lot. I’d randomly bring it up to people and I’ve learned that it is sort of a “cult film” now. The movie stars Fairuza Balk as Dorothy. In the original she seemed a bit older, but whatever. The story is that Dorothy is back home and shit is not good. A long with her family having hard times no one believes her stories of Oz. So much that she’s sent off to get electro shock therapy. Before you know it, Dorothy is wandering through the debris of Oz with her chicken “Billina”. She comes across a slew of characters that are pretty much the same personalities and traits of the original “Yellow Brick Road Posse” (that’s what I call them). It’s that mid 80’s point in cinema where things were gritty and dirty still from the 70’s, but just starting to get hokey once the 80’s got going. I call it “The Dudley Moore Time”. Call me crazy, but I think all of this dude’s movies fit into the same awkward weirdness of what I just described. This movie was pretty twisted. A “witch” who wears different heads? Holy shit! A gang of roller-hand types? Nightmares! A flying makeshift couch with wings and a moose head? God, yes! This movie is just really crazy and random. I read that this movie is based on the second AND third OZ books. So really, it’s a loose adaptation. It still does the original’s iconic story justice. Lots of little call backs to the 1939 “Wizard of Oz”. This was also a Disney project, which surprised me. It wasn’t AS creepy as I remembered it being as a child. The story made a lot more sense now than it did then. I think I was too scared shit-less to even form an opinion about this movie. It’s not the best movie. It’s nowhere close to “The Wizard of Oz” in terms of grandeur and cultural impact. It’s still a fun movie. I’m glad I watched it again after all these years. If you’re looking for a good surreal movie that’ll blow your inner child’s mind then you DO need to see this. Actually, I feel like this is one of those movies that EVERYONE needs to see before really judging. I still don’t know if I loved it or if I hated it. Just know I had fun watching it and I’m still sort of unsettled by it. It’s those damn “Wheelies”, I swear! B+
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