Return to Oz is a 1985 dark fantasy film released by Walt Disney Pictures, co-written and directed by Walter Murch. It stars Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, and Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale in her first screen role. The film is an unofficial sequel to the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film The Wizard of Oz, and it is based on L. Frank Baum's early 20th century Oz novels, mainly Ozma of Oz (1907). 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 Disneyland; this led to the live-action film 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 effects and performances but criticizing the dark content and twisted visuals. However, it 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 L. Frank Baum's works. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects.
Plot[]
In the autumn of 1899, Dorothy Gale is taken to the sanatorium of Dr. Worley by her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, concerned her continued obsession with the Land of Oz is a sign of delusion. Worley and his assistant, Nurse Wilson, plan to administer electrotherapy to Dorothy, before lightning causes a power failure. Dorothy is rescued by a mysterious girl, who tells her the machines damage patients, and the two escape. Nurse Wilson chases the girls into a river, where Dorothy floats away on a chicken coop, unable to save the other girl.
Dorothy awakens in Oz with her chicken, Billina, who can now talk. They follow a damaged yellow brick road to the Emerald City, which is in ruins and its citizens, including the Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, turned to stone. The Wheelers - people with wheels instead of hands and feet - seize them but they are saved by Tik-Tok, a mechanical man, who explains that Scarecrow, the king of Oz, told him to await Dorothy's return.
In search of Scarecrow, they arrive at the castle of Princess Mombi, who has a collection of "wearable" heads. After she reveals that the Nome King, who is responsible for the devastation of Oz, holds Scarecrow at his mountain, she imprisons the group in a tower, intending to take Dorothy's head for her collection. They encounter Jack Pumpkinhead, who explains he was brought to life by Mombi's Powder of Life. Dorothy steals the powder to construct a flying creature from furniture and the head of the Gump, a moose-like animal, which flies them across the Deadly Desert to the Nome King's mountain, pursued by Mombi and the Wheelers.
The Gump crashes on the mountain, where Dorothy is briefly reunited with Scarecrow. The Nome King turns Scarecrow into an ornament and offers each of the group three guesses as to which of his ornaments it is. 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 and used them to conquer Oz; he offers to use them to send her home instead, but Dorothy refuses.
With her last guess, Dorothy selects a green gem, which turns into Scarecrow. Realising inhabitants of Oz turn into green objects, she finds and restores Jack and the Gump. Enraged, the Nome King imprisons Mombi as punishment for Dorothy’s escape, then grows to gigantic size. He prepares to eat Jack, before Billina lays an egg in Jack's head that falls into the Nome King's mouth and fatally poisons 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 a restored Emerald City, where a green medal on Gump's antler is restored into Tik-Tok.
The people of Oz ask Dorothy to be their Queen, but she desires to return home, while Billina chooses to stay. Princess Ozma, the girl from the sanitarium and rightful ruler of Oz, is freed from the mirror Mombi imprisoned her in and ascends the throne. Dorothy hands over the ruby slippers to Ozma, who uses them to send Dorothy home, promising she can return in the future if she wishes. Dorothy is found by her family on a riverbank in Kansas, where Aunt Em tells her that the clinic burned down, with everyone except Worley surviving. Nurse Wilson is arrested for her part in Worley’s experiments. Returning home, Dorothy sees Billina and Ozma through her bedroom mirror and calls for her Aunt Em, but they signal for her to keep Oz a secret.
Cast[]
Live action[]
- Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale
- Nicol Williamson as Dr. J. B. Worley/Nome King
- Jean Marsh as Nurse Wilson/Mombi
- Sophie Ward as Mombi II
- Fiona Victory as Mombi III
- Piper Laurie as Aunt Em
- Matt Clark as Uncle Henry
- Emma Ridley as the Girl at the hospital/Princess Ozma
- Justin Case as the Scarecrow
- Pons Maar as Lead Wheeler/Nurse Wilson's assistant
- Bruce Boa as Policeman
- Tansy as Toto
- John Alexander, Rachael Ashton, Robbie Barnett, Ailsa Berk, Peter Elliott, Roger Ennals, Michele Hine, Mark Hopkins, Colin Skeaping, Ken Stevens, Philip Tan and Rob Thirtle as the Wheelers
Voice cast[]
- Denise Bryer as Billina
- Sean Barrett as Tik-Tok
- Brian Henson as Jack Pumpkinhead
- Lyle Conway as the Gump
- Pons Maar as Nome Messenger
- Beatrice Murch as Princess Ozma (uncredited)
Puppeteers[]
- Mak Wilson as Billina
- Timothy D. Rose as Tik-Tok (head operator)
- Michael Sundin as Tik-Tok (in-suit performer)
- Brian Henson as Jack Pumpkinhead (head operator)
- Stewart Larange as Jack Pumpkinhead (body performer)
- Lyle Conway and Steve Norrington as the Gump
- Deep Roy as the Tin Man
- John Alexander as the Cowardly Lion