The Witches of Oz (2011)

Absolutely Fantastic

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Dragged. Bad actors with bad lines. Good actors with bad lines. Bad special effects. Seriously folks, I really tried... ...just bad. Crap. Crap. Crap!

A grown-up Dorothy Gale is a successful children's book author from Kansas. She travels to New York to develop her Oz books and she soon discovers that Oz is a real place. She and several of the Oz characters have been deposited into the real world and forgotten their origins. The Witches and Princess Langwidere are after the key to the Book of Bini Aru which holds the Changing Word that created Oz.This is almost three hours of a modern revision of the Wizard of Oz. The premise could be interesting but this is an utter mess. There is the confused exposition to lay down the groundwork at the beginning. The main actors are bland. There are a few bigger actors slumming it here. It's a grind of confusing characters, unnecessary turns, and second-rate CGI. The ambition simply outstrips the abilities.

When I finished watching this, I said aloud, "That was, like, the worst thing I have ever watched in my life." There wasn't even anyone in the room to hear my words, I just needed to audibly vent my disappointment. The script! The acting! The one liners!All awful. I only bought this on a whim (yes, I spent my hard earned money on it) because I trust Christopher Lloyd. Never again, Lloyd, never again. Back To The Future will not give you immunity forever. My least favourite element, and there are plenty to chose from, are the exchanges made between Dorothy and Uncle Henry. Geez, could she look any more meek and demure! Even in the parts when Dorothy was attempting to convey bravery, I still felt the burning urge to punch her in her stupid, pathetic face.Don't watch this drivel. It is a trap.Especially if you love The Wizard Of Oz.

This is a review of the close to 3 hour miniseries and not the considerably shorter theatrical release. The Witches of Oz is written and directed by Leigh Scott, a man who cut his teeth working at The Asylum, and if you're familiar with their work then alarm bells should already be ringing. It sees an older Dorothy realising that the stories she writes of Oz are actually all true, and now the wicked witch is in our world to try and take over. AAAHHHH! This film is both ambitious and terrible for the most part. The first episode deals with painfully unfunny slapstick and cartoon caricatures. The second episode turned into an all out battle and tried to be a lot darker. The film has its ups and downs. The likes of Lloyd and Henriksen give great performances as they usually do, especially Hendrcksen who has a lot of experience in no budget territory. But we also have two Lord Of The Rings alumni trying hard not to die of embarrassment on screen. It's hard to tell with Astin and Boyd whether they are simply giving bad performances on purpose or if Jackson was just a much better director when dealing with actors. No doubt these two looked around the set and couldn't believe what their (I'm guessing by now, former) agents had gotten them into. Still, it's hard not to admire Scott's ambition and vision. He uses practical and computer effects well, and some of the designs are pretty cool, especially the Tin-Man. It obviously has designs on being a big epic fantasy, but it's impossible to take it seriously. I hear the hour shorter director's cut has better effects and is better concerning the pacing. There's certainly enough to make a child friendly kids TV special, maybe at the 70-80 minute mark, but I wouldn't sit through the whole thing again.