The Witches of Oz — What Jared had to say

So, I watched The Witches of Oz on demand. I understand this was the miniseries cut, however, the two parts were sloppily put together and image was stretched to fit a standard TV screen.

But ignoring that, I enjoyed it.

I'm not going to say much because Sam is interested in reviewing his DVD, so here's the thing:

Dorothy Gale is a young woman who's been writing stories about Oz she has in her head as a series of children's books. She gets an offer to have her books made into a movie, and moves away from her widower uncle Henry in Kansas to New York where her agent Billie Westbrook has everything set up for her to start her new life.

However, everything's not as it seems to be. Witchy things begin to happen behind the scenes as tiny elfin folk begin to give Dorothy memory dust. What's going on? Whatever it is, it seems there's more to Oz than Dorothy realizes.

While it's definitely a reinvention of Oz mythos, the production shows great respect for the original Oz books. And it's not like they took random characters and events from the series and threw them together. Rather, elements all the way from The Magic of Oz and Glinda of Oz are referenced and even are worked into the plot, and worked very well, actually. The characters used are mainly in character, though a few liberties are taken. But as it is a reinvention, this can be forgiven, especially as the characters don't act unbelievably out of character.

Oh, and Christopher Lloyd as the Wizard? While he's not as spry and lively as Baum's Wizard, he's amazing in the role.

I understand there should be a movie edit released soon, with the story cut down to about half the length of the miniseries version, and I look forward to seeing it!