Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return (2014)

So much average

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Remember all those straight-to-dvd Disney sequels that nobody liked? You know what would be a really great idea!? Giving that exact same treatment to one of the most beloved family classics of ALL TIME! And boy, is it.It has a plot that's just as boring. It has songs that are just as meaningless and forgettable. It has writing that's just as child-pandering and groan-inducing. It has performances that are....arguably passable. But you cast Bernadette Peters in a musical and didn't have her SING?And in a freaky coincidence, the india-based animation company known as Prana frequently teams up with the studio known as DisneyToon that used to give us those movies! And currently makes all the Tinkerbell movies. Well, that also explains why it LOOKS significantly not up to par. Unspectacular, but not TERRIBLE, as some of the ideas and designs seemed upped for Oz, if safe. But the difference in quality from what we've come to expect from theatre animation, is not subtle. Which leads us to the BURNING question: How did this get released to THEATRES? In WIDE RELEASE? In BLOCKBUSTER MONTH?! (May 9th) Oh, and it didn't do well? Well, you don't say! Oh, and did I mention that the lion, Tin Man and scarecrow are BARELY IN THIS MOVIE? Now, acknowledgement: This movie was technically based off one of the original Oz books that I haven't read, so I don't know how exactly faithful it is. But I do know that the marshmallow guard that's an extremely prominent character WASN'T IN THE BOOK AT ALL. So that doesn't necessarily give me a bit of confidence. And even if the adaptation WAS faithful, it STILL wouldn't make this movie any less unbearable to sit through for me.

I wasted two hours of my life on this piece of trash. The animation is basic at best, the story is disjointed, the character interplay is amateur. Just goes to show without a good script it doesn't matter how many big names you have in a movie it's not enough to save the movie. It's a Canadian production so I'm sure my tax dollars are hard at work funding this piece of codswallop, I want my tax money back. To the producers, ever see toy story, yeah?, be more like them. Amazingly my kids aren't hating the movie.I want to poke my eyes and ears out with a hot poker. Someone referenced the Barbie movies in relation to this movie and I couldn't agree more, the first thing I thought at the beginning of this movie was it was the same production company.

You know, if I let my eyes glaze over, it's really colorful, and I can pretend it's something awesome. Joking aside, the film shot for the moon, and made it to Toledo. Great talent behind the voice acting, but the story was missing the wonder of the books, and the animation was woefully substandard for a $70 million production.I was so looking forward to this film. The trailers looked interesting, and I've been a "Wizard" fan since I was a kid. Where did the money go in this movie? It certainly didn't go to the script, or the animation. Both are sub-par and lacking in detail.Many of the jokes fall flat, and the film feels more like a direct-to-DVD production you'd find in the $5 bin next to the poorly animated Disney knockoffs. I don't like saying that, as I'm a huge fan of many of the stars voicing characters in this production, but it's just bad. I recommend watching the original instead of this poor effort.

This is supposed to be based on a book written by L. Frank Baum's grandson. Congrats to him for cashing in on granddad's legacy, I guess. The new characters are entirely forgettable so I won't bother discussing them. Why is Dorothy wearing cowgirl boots? Is that a thing? The opening credits go on way too long. The animation isn't the greatest. The backgrounds are flat and cheap. At times the movie looks like a video game made ten years ago. The voice work is passable but the actors can't make this work. Martin Short is having a field day but his enthusiasm is not contagious. The songs are very bland. Think 'Christian pop music' bland. The song about candy had me questioning why I was watching a movie clearly meant for toddlers. Man, it's pretty insufferable. I kept checking the time and thinking about my life choices. Look, if you're a parent of little ones, maybe they'll like it. If you're an adult who isn't very bright, maybe you'll like it. The rest of you, I would suggest you avoid this. It's not something most adults or teens will like. It's childish, corny, and boring.