Movie · 1985 · Adventure, Family, Fantasy · 1h 49m · PG · English
Curator score: 3.1/10 (92.4K ratings)
An all-new adventure down the yellow brick road.
Overview
Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, finds herself back in the land of her dreams, and makes delightful new friends, and dangerous new enemies.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.1/10
IMDb: 6.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.43/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 59%
Metacritic: 42
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Walter Murch
Production
Oz Productions Ltd., Silver Screen Partners II
Cast
Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, Matt Clark, Michael Sundin, Tim Rose, Sean Barrett, Mak Wilson, Denise Bryer, Brian Henson, Stewart Harvey-Wilson, Lyle Conway, Stephen Norrington, Justin Case, John Alexander, Deep Roy, Emma Ridley, Sophie Ward, Fiona Victory
Where to watch
Disney Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A twisted, imaginative fantasy sequel that trades the original’s musical brightness for eerie atmosphere, practical effects, and genuine emotional unease. It’s not for viewers wanting comfort-food family entertainment, but it’s a striking, memorable oddity with real cult-movie power.
Best for
fans of dark fantasy
viewers who like 1980s practical effects and puppetry
people interested in revisionist fairy tales
cult-movie collectors
older kids/teens who can handle unsettling imagery
Skip if
you want a cheerful, song-filled Oz adventure
you’re sensitive to creepy imagery or psychological distress in family films
you prefer straightforward, lighthearted sequels
you expect the original cast and tone to return
Overview
Return to Oz is one of the strangest major-studio family films of the 1980s, and that’s exactly why it endures. Walter Murch builds a version of Oz that feels abandoned, haunted, and half-remembered, where the familiar iconography has curdled into something brittle and uncanny. The result is less a nostalgic sequel than a nightmare of childhood imagination, but one made with real visual invention and a surprising amount of care.
Worth noting
What makes it work is that the film doesn’t treat its darkness as a gimmick. Dorothy’s journey has a bruised, lonely quality, and the new creatures and settings feel like they’ve been assembled from scraps of dream logic and old storybook debris. The practical effects, stop-motion touches, and production design give it a tactile weirdness that digital fantasy still struggles to match.
Bottom line
It’s uneven and sometimes emotionally severe, which is why it can be divisive. But if you’re open to a children’s fantasy that is genuinely unsettling, visually distinctive, and a little mournful, this is a fascinating watch. It’s the kind of film that lingers because it refuses to behave like a safe sequel.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Patrick Willems (3★) · 1806 likes
Hard to imagine any kid watching this and not being deeply upset
Jay (3★) · 1262 likes
you know what i love in my retelling of the happiest and most beloved musical of all time? misery
Sam (3★) · 1103 likes
The fact that this isn't marked as a horror on here is absolutely insane
Doug Tilley (4★) · 844 likes
How about a sequel to The Wizard of Oz except there's no songs, none of your favorite characters return, and everything is fucking terrifying?
viewer 🛸 (4★) · 705 likes
LOVED this as a kid and have thought for years that it couldn't possibly hold up as an adult. I mean, I couldn't help but keep thinking of Dark Souls and its mythopoeic, ruined fantasy world — dead, but crawling with life sustained by magic; treacherous, yet warmly welcoming to its chosen interloper. This is one way of saying it held up for me. Its puppetry, stop motion and lighting effects are all kinds of wonderful and spooky.
1986 · Adventure, Family, Fantasy · 1h 41m · PG · Curator 6.1/10 (643.5K ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Hulu, fuboTV, Peacock Premium, Night Flight Plus, Netflix Standard with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
Shares the blend of fairy-tale logic, practical effects, and a slightly sinister undercurrent that makes fantasy feel tactile and strange.