I first saw Return to Oz during its theatrical run. I was ten years old and the whole thing gave me the willies in a really desireable way. Today, I find only its first act nightmarish: Dorothy (Fairuza Balk, who is considerably younger than Garland was in the role but no less mature) has not slept a wink since returning from Oz months before, and so Auntie Em buggies the presumed delusional girl to Dr. J. B. Worley's (a subtly sinister Nicol Williamson) institution, where she will undergo shock therapy. (Worley's show and tell of the mind-numbing electric device is the film's most eerily effective moment.) A lightning storm and a mysterious fellow patient conspire to keep Dorothy untreated, and in her subsequent escape from the hospital she is swept away by the rain to...the Deadly Desert of Oz.

Murch's is a post-apocalyptic vision of Oz--even Emerald City is in ruins. Where The Wizard of Oz denoted Dorothy's transition from Kansas to Oz by a dramatic shift from sepia tone to colour, Return to Oz subtly desaturates upon her arrival. Dorothy is careful to avoid the sand that surrounds her point of landing (she knows more about this alternate universe than Garland's Dorothy actually learned the first time out, another sign that Return to Oz was intended as another stab at Baum's vision, not as a follow-up to the original movie), lest she turn to dust. Once on safer ground, and having picked a meal from the Lunchpail Tree, she sets about finding her three dear friends: the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. Oh, the horror: they've been turned to stone.

Dorothy winds a nearby mechanical soldier and interrogates him. The soldier's name is Tik Tok, and he's willing to accompany her on a quest to solve how the beautiful Oz came to be desecrated in her absence. Without delving into spoilers, I will say that a nasty (and prototypically Disney) queen with interchangeable heads is a good (or, bad, as it were) place to start.

The Wizard of Oz and Return to Oz coexist comfortably within my sensibilities. The latter isn't so much subversive to the former as it wishes to stand apart from it. (The film is dark yet uncynical.) For that and reasons outlined above, I don't think it fair to judge them against each other. Most people have unfortunately steered clear of Return to Oz--the very thought of another yellow brick road seemed to offend general audiences at the time of its release. Sure, there are places where a closer resemblance to its predecessor could only have helped Return to Oz (Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion look too much like stuffed animals here; filling in for Toto is an unlovable chicken (!); those unforgettable flying monkeys are nowhere to be found; and so on), but such quibbles are neither here nor there.

In terms of design, Return to Oz is largely dazzling, certainly more intricate than the expressionistic original. The film's special effects team employed a combination of puppetry, animatronics, and Claymation--often within the same frame. Will Vinton should have won a Special Oscar (the kind that was awarded to Richard Williams' work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit) for his stop motion work in act three, which is like watching Mount Rushmore come to life. (Vinton, the Walt Disney of plasticine, went on to create "The California Raisins".) It's so easy to lose track of what's fakery behind Dorothy's vibrant new companions that I found myself worried when they got in harm's way.

Mostly, I appreciate Murch's update because children's entertainment like it is an endangered species. The atmosphere is foreboding and the heroine's situation is bleak in Return to Oz, a sign of integrity more than anything else: kids relish the opportunity to explore the darkness once in awhile. And despite a couple of facile turns in the screenplay by Murch and Gill Dennis, I never sensed the filmmakers were patronizing the young adult audience. Return to Oz conjures memories of reading Baum's novels as a boy daydreamer, cold nights under the covers when I was alone with my imagination. While I've forgotten much of their content, I've carried with me the tone of his writing ever since.

(It's worth noting that Murch, who cut The Godfather films (and who shares with Francis Ford Coppola a knack for period imagery), among others, never directed again. That somehow jibes with the notion of Return to Oz being this grand experiment.)

Return to Oz is the first Anchor Bay DVD I've ever reviewed (or viewed, for that matter); reports of their sucking have been greatly exaggerated. The mini-studio has lately hit upon a niche market by licensing "black sheep" Disney titles and reissuing them on home video. (Other recent AB/Disney tapes/DVDs include Something Wicked This Way Comes and the much-maligned The Happiest Millionaire.) Unfortunately, Buena Vista's standing policies have prohibited 16x9 enhanced remasters.

Aside from occasional scratches (that litter the opening sequence, particularly), Return to Oz shines up real nice for DVD. To tell the truth, I'm not overly impressed by David Watkin's cinematography to begin with; his frequently bright lighting schemes give too many shots a flat, TV-friendly appearance. His overcast exteriors, not to mention the interior of Princess Mumbi's golden palace (chapter 10), are wonderful, however. Intense colour (reds and greens dominate) does not bleed in this transfer, and contrast is near perfect

A word of warning: compression artifacts do rear their ugly head in the form of pixellation here, especially on brighter calibrated set-ups. I can't stress the importance of taking tech guru Joe Kane's advice and keeping your gain down at all times. This will help preserve your tube and other characteristics such as sharpness will seem to improve. There are two aspect ratios to choose from on this disc; I recommend the sincerely widescreen 1.85:1 letterboxed version. Important side information disappears in the full frame version. (Colour and contrast quality are identical for both.)

The 5.1 Dolby Digital mix is the same six-track one that was heard in 70mm cinemas. Most of the sound is localized in the front left, centre, and front right speakers, although the surrounds carry parts of David Shire's august score and ambient effects. I must say, Return to Oz contains the most lifelike thunder I've ever heard in my living room. The .1 channel is active: there's a healthy amount of bass in the climax. My only complaint about Anchor Bay's audio presentation is its low volume--I had to crank it to hear the dialogue.

In addition to introducing the film, Fairuza Balk subjects herself to a retrospective interview. The fun short, called "Fairuza Returns to Oz", runs eleven minutes and was mastered in Dolby Surround. Fairuza continues to act in motion pictures (and run a Wiccan shop), although roles in American History X and The Waterboy did not tap into the talent evident from her debut as Dorothy. She recalls fondly the experience of working with Murch and company.

While the animated menus are nice, I do wish more effort had been spent on digging up additional supplemental material. Not even a trailer is included. (Nor, for that matter, is captioning of any sort. I'm not sure if this is standard practice for Anchor Bay, but it shouldn't be.) A production still postcard is included in the keepcase.-Bill Chambers