Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 6 nominations total
Sean Barrett
- Tik-Tok
- (voice)
Denise Bryer
- Billina
- (voice)
Brian Henson
- Jack Pumpkinhead
- (voice)
Stewart Harvey-Wilson
- Jack Pumpkinhead
- (as Stewart Larange)
Lyle Conway
- Gump
- (voice)
Stephen Norrington
- Gump
- (as Steve Norrington)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn order to include the ruby slippers as part of this film, Disney had to pay royalties to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the studio which had produced The Wizard of Oz (1939). The ruby slippers did not appear in L. Frank Baum's original novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"; they were invented for the 1939 film to better take advantage of the newly developed Technicolor process. Interestingly enough, in "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," Dorothy wore a pair of magical silver shoes which were lost when she used them to return to Kansas. In the subsequent novel "Ozma of Oz," one of the books on which this film is based, Dorothy and her friends meet the Nome King who possesses a magical belt with properties similar to those of the silver shoes. Early drafts of the script for Return to Oz reflect this, with the Nome King cutting up the ruby slippers to make his magical ruby belt.
- GoofsTik-Tok's thinking mechanism is activated by winding the key under his left arm, and his talking is activated by winding the one under his right arm. However, when he asks Dorothy to wind his thinking key before entering the ornament room, she winds the one under his right arm.
- Quotes
Jack Pumpkinhead: If his brain's ran down, how can he talk?
Dorothy: It happens to people all the time, Jack.
- Alternate versionsWhen it was aired on the Disney channel, the following were cut: When "Ozma" unties Dorothy from the bed in the doctor's room, the line where she tells Dorothy that the screaming patients are locked in the cellar is cut. When Dorothy first visits Mombi, much is cut. A lot of shots of the heads behind the glass are cut, and so is a lot of footage when Mombi puts on her head. Because of this, a line is cut where she asks Dorothy how she looks, and Dorothy tells her she looks beautiful. In the TV version, it cuts straight to the line, "And just who might you be?" When Mombi wakes up, many shots of the screaming heads and EVERY shot of the headless Mombi trying to get Dorothy is cut. A few seconds of footage of the Nome King's death are cut, including when his eye turns to stone, and some of the "poison" shots.
Featured review
An excellent, dark take on the children tale
Be warned: this film may be found a little too frightening for the young ones. It's a shattered vision of the Land of Oz with the jovial munchkins conspicuously absent, and it opens with Dorothy in an insane asylum (!). What's surprising to me is I rented this film with the mindset that it was going to be complete trash, that a sequel to "The Wizard of Oz" was blashphemy. I stand corrected. This adaption is an effectively satisfying interpretation of the popular children's story. Child actress Fairuza Balk (now in such crap like "The Waterboy") is a very convincing Dorothy Gail, more so than Academy Award winner Judy Garland in the original. But it's the little things that keep you entertained: a severed trophy head, brought to life, quips, "If I had a stomach, I know I'd be sick!" when free-falling through the air; the evil Princess Mambi has an interesting collection on display in her palace; and the realization that the cause of Oz's decline into this dismal state may be directly attributed to Dorothy's departure in the prequel. One disappointment: Toto is left behind in favor of a talking chicken. I know, I know . . .
Grade: B
Grade: B
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Oz
- Filming locations
- Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, UK(Kansas scenes)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $25,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $11,137,801
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $2,844,895
- Jun 23, 1985
- Gross worldwide
- $11,137,801
- Runtime1 hour 53 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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