With The Voices Of: Lea Michele, Kelsey Grammer, Jim Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Martin Short, Oliver Platt, Hugh Dancy, Megan Hilty, Patrick Stewart, Bernadette Peters, Douglas Hodge, Bryan Adams
Directed By: Will Finn and Douglas St. Pierre
Well, this is exactly the kind of film that I expect to hate, and I expect critics to hate. It’s a cheesy kids film from a D-rate animation studio. How on earth could this ever be good? Well, it’s not. It’s also rather harmless, and suffers more from being pointless than anything else. If you have little kids, they might enjoy this, but it won’t be their favorite film. There are much better animated films, funnier animated films, and prettier animated films. We’ve raised the bar for animation, so Legends Of Oz will always seem like a sub-par work.
Lea Michele lends her lovely voice to a few songs in the film, but the better question is why some of the other singers in the cast don’t have more to do? I’m talking specifically about Bernadette Peters, Douglas Hodge, and Kelsey Grammer. All three should have had more to do, vocally. Instead, they only have little blips. Megan Hilty has a solid opportunity to show off her vocals, but the others not so much.
The story moves along so fast that it can’t even really get a story going. Dorothy is pretty much swept back into Oz almost immediately after returning home, adn finds that everything has changed. Hasn’t it only been like five minutes? What could have possibly happened that quickly? The main villain just didn’t have enough time to enact his plan. Once she gets there, she’s greeted by her friends Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man, who all immediately get pushed to supporting roles. She then spends the movie recruiting new characters, including a fat owl, a marshmallow man, a china doll princess, and a tree. These new friends help her defeat her new foe. Once she does so, she returns back home, knowing how to fix her problems.
It’s a home video type of film, not a big screen show. It’s also on Netflix, so you can see it without really needing to spend any more money than you would normally be spending. Please, don’t spend extra money on this. It’s just not worth it.
FINAL GRADE: C-