16 Comments
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Helen Cox's avatar

It's up there. But can we please give a shout out to Angelica Houston's make-up in The Witches.

No 8 year old is prepared for that.

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

Yes! I don't think anyone told Anjelica that it was supposed to be a children's movie. 😂

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Helen Cox's avatar

I think it’s probably more likely that they told Roeg it WAS a children’s movie and he just ignored that piece of information.

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

Yeah that's a better theory lol

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Hugh Crawford's avatar

I haven’t seen the movie, but it sounds like a somewhat toned down adaptation of Ozma of Oz. I read the book when I was in 4th grade and loved it. I read Brave New World and 1984 in 5th grade and nearly caused a big ruckus with the school board, so maybe my experience was not typical. Anyway the book was great, and I suspect sort of unfilmabe.

The Oz books are pretty wild, all metaphors for monetary policy and feminism.

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

Never heard of that book! Anything "unfilmable" always piques my interest though...

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Calvin Blick's avatar

I like how the poster tries to make the new Return To Oz characters (and the new Dorothy) kind of look like the original ones, even though in the movie there is no resemblance whatsoever.

Aside from the creepy characters and electroshock therapy, once the characters do get to Oz the Emerald City is in ruins and the Yellow Brick Road destroyed.

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

I wish I could've been in the writer's room for this concept. "I have an idea, guys. What if we took the beloved original story that everyone loves...and we completely annihilated it?"

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Stephen's avatar

First film I saw in theaters as a child. Probably shaped my whole aesthetic, it was until way later I found out other kids found it traumatizing…

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

This movie messed up an entire generation! 😂 But damn, that's a wild one for a first theatrical experience.

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Stephen's avatar

That’s how you end up with kids whose favorite Disney movies are The Black Cauldron and Nightmare Before Christmas 🤣

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

Sounds like a well-adjusted kid to me!

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Stephen's avatar

If you have time you should watch Return to Oz is an absolute nightmare by In Praise of shadows on you tube... informative and professional

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

Excellent. I'll check it out. Thank you for reading!

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Stephen's avatar

The wheelers did not work, just about everything else did. The muck that has been made for some time for a young audience is bland, unfantastic and fit for no one.

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Jeremy Burgess's avatar

They really don't make 'em like this anymore!

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