Talk:Return to Return to Oz/@comment-36627132-20190916222949

Here is a long winded bit of history that nobody is probably going to see, but what the heck I'm writing it anyway.

Return to Oz is one of those underrated masterpieces that everyone should watch at least once in their life. It is a shame that it doesn't get the praise it deserves. It was a film that Disney tried to destroy while it was still in production, despite the company's long history (which predates the 1939 film) of trying to bring their own version to the screen.

I think that a lot of the lack of appreciation comes from those who don't realise that The Wizard of Oz (1939) isn't the first and only incarnation. It originated as a series of stories L. Frank Baum told his children and their friends which he eventually wrote as a book, published in the bridge between 1899 and 1900. The book became an immediate success and was dubbed America's first fairy tale. The book was so successful that it would span 14 sequels (17 if you count the short novels) which L. Frank Baum would write for the rest of his life.

What might be shocking to most people whose only exposure to Oz is the 1939 film, is that the book itself had Grimm style violence, most of which would never be allowed in a film for children.

Although this is pretty pointless to mention, many Oz films would come before the famous 1939 version. Most of which still exist.

Return to Oz is a compound of the second book in the series The Marvelous Land of Oz, and the third book Ozma of Oz. Disney tried to sabotage the film while it was in production, even once shutting it down entirely.

The film was a box office flop. The reason for its lack of success is probably due to the fact that nobody wanted to accept an Oz that wasn't the blindingly colorful 1939 musical which was at its peak in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s.