Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Lela 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.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Python Hyena Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return (2013): Dir: Will Finn, Dan St. Pierre / Voices: Lea Michele, Martin Short, Hugh Dancy, Oliver Platt, Megan Hilty: Unnecessary animated sequel of sorts to the classic masterpiece The Wizard of Oz. The villain here is Jester, the brother of the wicked witch of the original film. He takes over Emerald City with the fleet of flying monkeys overthrowing the Scarecrow, Tin Man and the now brave Lion. The Scarecrow sends a message to Kansas to young Dorothy Gale who has her own issues when her homefront is threatened to be sold. She and her dog, Toto are swept up within a rainbow and spiralled off to Oz. Like the original film she is accompanied by an assortment of characters including an overweight owl named Wiser, a marshmallow soldier named Marshal Mallow whom she met in Candyland, and finally an ornament China princess named Queen Mouse. These characters are appealing but the screenplay is stale. None of the songs are memorable but the animation is colourful and detailed. Directed by Will Finn and Dan St. Pierre with Lea Michele as the appropriate voice of Dorothy whose status is legendary. Martin Short provides amusement as the voice of villain Jester. Oliver Platt as Wiser struggles to fly, and Hugh Dancy voicing Marshal Mallow demonstrates loyalty protecting the China princess. Megan Hilty voices the uptight China Princess who learns a thing or two about self sacrifice. Children may enjoy the animation but parents may wish to introduce them to the film where Judy Garland sang about the true nature over the rainbow. Score: 5 / 10

utgard14 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.

Scottafls Fortunately I have two little kids now or I would have never watched this movie. In addition, I never heard this movie was coming out or anything about it until we all saw it on Netflix. My kids aged 9 and 2 1/2 years of age. They both love animated movies to death and have seen a lot of them. Animated movies are not my cup of tea, but because they are playing all the time in the house I see, hear, and remember the movies even though I am watching them indirectly.I was searching for yet another animated movie and I stumbled upon this one. Being older, I am a fan of the original Wizard of Oz movie from the 1930's having seen it a million times growing up. It looked interesting so we all watched it. Now for the critique:2. The Story (ebb & flow): It seemed like a logical sequel to the original live action movie that I love, although the sequel is animated. I thought it was easy to understand and wasn't illogical like some other reviewers stated. As an adult and an experienced movie watcher, I thought the story was well written and easy to understand. The fault lies in the source material. Most young people today do not know the story of the Wizard of Oz so they can't connect to it.3. Characters. Once again, as in the fault of the story, the characters are not recognizable to the target audience: kids. Yes the adults will know about the Wizard of Oz, but the core audience will see it as an original movie. No kids watching the movie will know about the Lion's courage, the Tin Man's heart, or the Scarecrow's brain. Their background is unknown and the movie does not make an effort to rectify the situation. The only character in the movie that you end up learning a lot about is the Jester and only because he talks about himself and his past near the beginning of the film. To me thats a bad idea. Why? Because kids should know about the good characters, not the bad ones. The good characters are the ones you want your children to connect with and feel sympathy for, not the evil ones. I felt they focused too much on the Jester character and not enough on characters that mattered.4. Animation. The animation quality wasn't bad. Was it the best I've ever seen? No, but it wasn't the worst either. I would say it was good animation that probably could have benefited with a little more financial resources allocated to it.5. Musical parts (songs): This is where the movie shines. I felt the songs in the movie were of high quality and very catchy. If this were a successful Disney movie, the songs from this movie would be sung by every boy and girl like what happened in Frozen. Frozen had like two or three catchy songs, where Legends of Oz had four or five that would be popular. Of course this is my opinion and I'm not a fan of musicals.6. Excitement & Entertainment. This is where the moneys made for a movie. Did you feel you got your moneys worth? The movies strengths were its musical numbers and the good story to support the songs. If they had instead used the songs in a more higher profile animated movie, it would have been a better idea.Bottom Line: An enjoyable movie that needs to watched more than once to really appreciate the strengths of the movie: it's songs. I bought the DVD!

Captain-112-352793 The movie was awesome... My kids loved it and now they want the sing a long DVD ...refreshingly original and fun...great family entertainment. New characters new adventures yet still keeping with the story and characters I loved as a kid. My daughters need more role models like Dorothy . As a parent I appreciated that the humor was kid friendly and not too adult oriented . Great examples of friendship and helping others through struggles and challenges. Best part was the music original and enjoyable. The jester was ...just menacing enough without being creepy scary for my four year old. This is a DVD I won't mind the girls playing over and over