Tin Man (2007)

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

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

After reading the book "Wicked" and watching the TV miniseries "Tin Man", I can definitively say that the latter is a much more exciting experience than the former.While "Wicked" tries to fit itself into the Wizard of Oz cannon (and fails miserably in the process), "Tin Man" is more of a re-imagining of the Oz universe (think the 2001 version of "Planet of the Apes", but much better). A young girl named DG finds herself whisked away into a strange land called the Outer Zone, where she quickly meets a man who had his brain surgically removed (Glitch), a former police officer of the O.Z. Tin Man force (Cain), and a very hairy telepathic animal (Raw). The group, just trying to figure out what the heck is going on, is continually thwarted by Azkadelia, the evil ruler of the O.Z.Just from that brief description, it is clear that the key elements of the original "Oz" are in place, just a little stranger. However, where the series really succeeds is in its ability to mend both a tribute to "Oz", and creating its own unique storyline. Throughout the film, subtle little nods are given to the original cannon (think Superman Returns), while the main new protagonists embark on their own unique journey. Plus, by the end of the journey, the entire adventure actually finds its place quite nicely WITHIN the Oz cannon, not feeling pretentious (like "Wicked") or completely out of place.About the only "problem" with this series is its long runtime, which inevitably led to a few moments of tedium. All in all, though, this is fantastic Oz-related fiction that carves out its own little niche in the cannon material.

Is this my favourite adaptation of Oz? No, I prefer the 1985 film Return To Oz. Is this a groundbreaking miniseries that should be up there with "Rome" as one of the best miniseries' ever? No. Is this just a bit of fun that's worth at least one watch the whole way through? Yes.I have one complaint, The script. The dialogue was thinner than a standard A4 sheet of paper and at the end of the first episode, Kane falls into ice and starts sinking when at the beginning of the second episode, he's on the snow and he doesn't show any sign of being wet nor is there a crack in the ice. This can only be avoided if you REALLY turn your brain off. I also have one more pet peeve, this is supposed to be a re-imagining of the original Wonderful Wizard Of Oz book by L. Frank Baum yet DG is actually a descendant of Dorothy Gale. It should be a sequel set thousands of years after the 1900 setting yet "the real world" is set in normal time.I liked the performances though, Alan Cumming does a good job as Glitch and I liked the little twist they gave on "I haven't got a brain." The wicked witch also has screen presence considering that her plan was to make the OZ dark as opposed to being bright. Zooey Deschanel does a good job as DG but after seeing Fairuza Balk play Dorothy I can't see any variation of Dorothy besides the 6-12 year old, In spite of that Zooey does a good job.My only REAL complaint is the script being a bit thin. Other than that I recommend this series to anyone who wants a rather unusual variation on the L. Frank Baum classic or if you've never read the books (I haven't) a variation of the bright, happy 1939 film.

You could call it an obsession: I have fourteen of the original Oz children's books, a signed glossy from one of the actual Munchkins, a signed poster of the Broadway play 'Wicked' (which I've seen twice), the DVD release of 'The Wiz', and once I raise enough money I'll buy the DVD release of the original Wizard of OZ complete with classic black & white films done by the original Oz creator L. Frank Baum. So, when I say this was a good series, you can trust my judgment.A lot of weird interpretations have come out since the MGM film such as 'The Muppet's Wizard of Oz' and, god forgive us all, 'Lost Girls', but this film was actually respectful of the basic story and idea. Sure the story's a little shaky and the effects are sub-par but it's more than I expect from the infamously bad TV movie producing SciFi channel. It builds its own world while staying true to the form and I respect that.

What an odd miniseries. Dorothy (Zooey Deschanel) is back in Oz, and is accompanied in her wanderings by a tin man turned human, a scarecrow that isn't a true scarecrow, and a beast-man who vaguely resembles the old Cowardly Lion. Toto isn't really Toto, but a shape shifter named Tutor. Dorothy has an evil sister who has locked away their mom and seeks an emerald to gain ultimate power over the land. I am yet to catch the whole thing but I can see it will certainly appeal to fans of ongoing Oz tales and who don't mind watching a very long story. I am not a big miniseries fan, and would rather see a 90-minute DVD of this, but I suppose that's never gonna happen. So one of these days I will have to watch this to the bitter end. It seems to me Frank Baum wrote several sequels to WIZARD. I wonder why Hollywood hasn't adapted them instead of creating new OZ material periodically. Maybe because the sequels do not all feature Dorothy. Anyway, the CGI work here is pretty good for TV, and there are some lovely torture scenes. And I like Zooey Deschanel in anything.