. . . they don't ring true (Dorothy Gale is too self-assured, Aunty Em and Uncle Henry are too young, Zeke & Hunk & Hickory are inexplicably M.I.A., Glinda is too helpless, the Lion formerly known as Cowardly is uniformly but ineffectually ferocious, Tin Man just dithers like a Clinking Clanking Clattering Collection of Colligenous junk, and Scarecrow is an Ivory Tower bumbler). LEGENDS OF OZ encompasses a few new faces but none are worth getting to know (Jester seems to be afraid of his own flying Henchmonkeys, Marshal Mallow only occasionally takes the initiative, the China Princess seems too small-minded and petite for him, Wiser-the-owl is a dumb gas bag, and the Bogus Appraiser from the framing story cannot lift Elvira Gulch's jockstrap). LEGENDS OF OZ incorporates one lame innovation (transport by rainbow), but seems to squander the wealth of its rich source material (human characters are nearly eliminated, most of the seven songs sound like rejects from Disney Princess Toons, the 1939 black-and-white real life\color Dreamscape device SHOULD have been done even more effectively here in animation, and the scare quotient has been "dumbed down" to toddler level). This flick will seem to last at least four or five dog years to most people--and to Toto, too.
Review of Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
