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Phantom's Review: Based on the second and third "Oz' books. this film is far darker in tone than the 1939 classic musical.But it's a good film in it's own right. Unfairly compared to the Judy Garland film this movie is a more faithful adaptation of the L. Frank Baum novels. Very entertaining and a bit scary. I think the film is worth watching, just don't expect any singing or dancing.
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I quite liked this one too - not a musical, but that's not what I required of a movie as a child...I never got to see this at the cinema but I remember I was about 7 years old when we first hired the VHS.
It scared me, that much I can clearly recall.
I remember being a bit taken aback by the "different" characters, but yes having seem the original illustrations in the Baum novels I can see that they were designed in a pretty close manner to them.
Having seen it again just about a year ago, I think it still holds it's own as a pretty good "kids" movie, if you can call it that.
As far as the grounds as a sequel, I think it does pretty well there too - there are perhaps some things "missing" and "different" from the musical predecessor, but this to me is the stuff of pretty good sequels, continuity and time gone by...really loved the changed Oz.
This, the "original", and "TinMan" actually make for a great collection.
One day, I'll try to get a collected edition of all the Oz stuff, as I understand it the books proceed quite a bit past the Dorothy stories.
I went and saw Transformers 3 yesterday, expecting very little.
I've not really enjoyed this series much at all, so when the third came around I thought "yep, more explosions".
Surprisingly enough, this one actually had a coherent, and IMO actually decent plot...sure, it was relatively simplistic but compare it to the two films that came before it and it's a pretty major upgrade.
The storyline was ok, the characters...hit and miss...with a just a tad more depth to their interactions with each other and the machines.
Have to say the new chick just looks like a freak to me...while I'd hit it, her mouth makes her look like an alien...she wasn't actually that terrible though, her accent was a little bit annoying - reminded me of Lady Penelope.
***Personally, I know Fox got fired etc...but I thought it would make more sense to bring the Australian chick from the first one back, rather than establish a brand new character out of nowhere...though I suppose her storyline and the events involving her didn't play out too badly***
The machines dialogue and interactions with each other was also an improvement, and in one particular scene...was actually a bit heart wrenching.
The fight scenes were pretty spectacular, and this time they seemed a little less cluttered - better to tell what was going on - They were longer and just, put together in a way I much preferred.
The atmosphere was more tense this time around, and the overall events were on a much larger more significant scale.
I actually...liked this film...
It has everything the others do, it just feels like a better movie.
I don't think it's about to win any awards, but for those who have not enjoyed the series thus far it might be worth a chance.