The Witches of Oz is a film based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the Land of Oz, directed by Leigh Scott.
It follows the exploits of the grown Dorothy Gale, now a successful children's book author, as she moves from Kansas to present day New York City. Dorothy quickly learns that her popular books are based on repressed childhood memories, and that the wonders of Oz are very, very real. When the Wicked Witch of the West shows up in Times Square, Dorothy must find the inner courage to stop her.
It has what can best be described as a rather curious distribution history. It was initially released on the Syfy channel as a two-part miniseries in 2011 and subsequently made available on DVD and Blu-Ray. However, a director's cut - retitled Dorothy and the Witches of Oz - was slated for theatrical release in the US on February 17th 2012. This newer version is an overall shorter movie with new scenes and about 90% of the special effects completely redone. There are plans to release the film version on DVD.
The trailer for the miniseries can be seen here
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The trailer for the theatrical-release version can be seen here.
This movie contains examples of:
- 11th-Hour Ranger: The Tin Man shows up out of the blue for the final battle.
- Adaptation Decay: Ilsa plans to make Dorothy's child-friendly books into Hotter and Sexier movies. She's not pleased.
- And You Were There: Like the MGM movie, some denizens of Oz have real-world counterparts/disguises.
- Answer Cut: Nick Chopper isn't the Tin Man, and wonders where he is. Cue the actual Tin Man coming out of nowhere.
- Beam-O-War: Glinda and Langwidere have one near the end of the film with their wand and magic sword, respectively.
- Big Applesauce: The majority of the film is set in New York.
- Big Bad: The Wicked Witch of the West is the main villain, and her plan to get the key causes the plot.
- Big Eater: Frick and Frack, and also Bryan, eat quite a lot of food throughout the film.
- Brainless Beauty: Princess Langwidere is very beautiful but isn't very smart.
- Bubble Gun: Glinda's wand uses bubbles to vaporize a monster attacking Nick.
- Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: A rainbow-colored butterfly appears often throughout the film, symbolizing Dorothy's lost memories. A black butterfly appears as well, symbolizing the trouble her regained memories can cause.
- Care-Bear Stare: Dorothy uses this on the Witch at the end to turn her good, which results in Billie's death.
- Circling Monologue: Dorothy and the Witch do this to each other at the climax.
- Corrupt the Cutie: The Witch plans to do this to Dorothy and make her serve at her side.
- Crystal Ball: A snowglobe version is used by the Baums to see Dorothy.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to the books and movie, this film is more adult and has some swearing.
- Demoted to Extra: Aunt Em and the Good Witch of the North are rarely seen or mentioned.
- The Dragon: Princess Langwidere is the main enforcer for the Wicked Witch, both as herself and as Ilsa.
- Evil Mentor: Billie turns out to be the Wicked Witch of the West.
- Eyepatch of Power: The Wicked Witch of the West wears an eyepatch, true to her portrayal in the books.
- Famous Ancestor: Dorothy's grandpa really her dad is L. Frank Baum.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: The Witch of the East has several ugly scars on her face, accentuating her wickedness and ugliness.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Ilsa wants to dress Dorothy like this in the planned movie of her book, to which Dorothy disagrees.
- Hot Witch:
- The Good Witches Glinda and Locosta.
- Langwidere and the Witch of the West when disguised; this trope is probably why the latter stayed disguised so long.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Ilsa raises suspicions when she knows details of Dorothy's unpublished manuscript.
- Large Ham: The Wizard over-enunciates a lot of lines and chews the scenery in all of them.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The real world makes people forget about Oz; interestingly, this also happens to the villains, at least in part.
- MacGuffin: The key to the Wizard's book, and the Changing Word, are powerful objects that the witches want.
- Mage in Manhattan: The climax has the Wicked Witch invading New York, with Dorothy's friends and other beings defending it.
- Magic A Is Magic A: Witches need magical items to cast spells; the reason the book is so powerful is because it's magical on its own.
- Meaningful Name: Billie Westbrooke is a disguise for the Wicked Witch of the West.
- Mythology Gag:
- Mia Sara plays Princess Langwidere, who is a witch in this adaptation. She also played the Wicked Witch of the West in the failed TV pilot Lost in Oz.
- References to both the Silver Shoes and Ruby Slippers are made.
- Naïve Newcomer: Dorothy isn't used to the bustle of New York City or its people, having grown up in Kansas her whole life.
- Neck Lift: Langwidere lifts Dorothy by her neck and smashes her into the ceiling when attempting to get the key.
- The Nth Doctor: Multiple people play Princess Langwidere due to her changing heads, though the 'main' one is Mia Sara.
- Off with Her Head!: Langwidere threatens Dorothy with this via magic sword. She herself has it happen a lot.
- Oh, Crap!: The Witch of the East had this when Dorothy's house falls on her.Witch: [looks up] ...Oh dear.
- Or Was It a Dream?: Dorothy finds out it wasn't as her adventures in OZ where true.
- Pinky Swear: The Wizard makes the Witch of the West do this during his deal.
- Playing with Fire: The Witch of the East had a flamethrower broom, and the Witch of the West has a fiery umbrella.
- Posthumous Character: The Wicked Witch of the East, who is seen in flashbacks.
- The Power of Friendship: Dorothy uses this along with the Changing Word to turn the Witch back into Billie, and give her a chance to make amends.
- Pretty in Mink: Dorothy has a fur-trimmed coat, and Billie has a long fur coat.
- Reality Warping: Once unlocked with the key and the book, the Changing Word can do anything, even make a Wicked Witch become good.
- Re-Cut: The shorter, theatrical-release version chopped up a majority of the miniseries and added some new scenes.
- Red Herring:
- That guy called Nick Chopper? The one who's motivated by love? Yeah, he's not the Tin Woodsman, although at one point even he believes otherwise.
- Billie claims to be Locosta, the Witch of the North, but turns out to be the Witch of the West.
- Redemption Equals Death: This holds true for Billie, as immediately after she cries from genuine remorse, she turns into dust and dies.
- Replacement Goldfish: The Wicked Witch of the West wants Dorothy to replace the Witch of the East.
- Revenge: As in the MGM movie, the Witch of the West wants revenge for Dorothy killing her sister, the Witch of the East; the Baum books never mentioned if they were related.
- Rewriting Reality: The Changing Word can rewrite reality to the extent of separating the Witch's persona from Billie and leaving only the latter.
- Sequel Hook: Dorothy meets the Wizard in real life, and two cops find themselves in Oz after the climax, and are offered help by Langwidere. Also, there's those other worlds the Witch mentioned.
- Shoot the Dog: Glinda tries to get Dorothy to kill the Witch of the West, but she can't.
- Shout-Out: The Wicked Witch of the West summons the Jabberwock during the climactic fight, and mentions plans to conquer Neverland, Camelot, Wonderland, Shangri-La, or perhaps Narnia.
- Spoiled Brat: Langwidere acts like a total diva whose only goal in life is to be beautiful.
- Steampunk: The Wizard's inventions, the Tin Man, and the briefly-seen Tik Tok all evoke this aesthetic.
- Take That!: The trailer for the theatrical version ends by saying that it will debut in theaters on Feb 17th..."in glorious 2-D," almost-certainly a jab at the 3-D craze.
- Tears of Remorse: This ultimately kills the Witch/Billie, as she literally can't be good and crying from remorse causes her to die.
- Vain Sorceress: Langwidere's main concern is her own beauty, and she thinks Dorothy's head would be perfect for her collection.
- The Voiceless: Aunt Em and the Good Witch of the North are seen but never shown speaking.
- Voodoo Doll: The Wicked Witch uses a voodoo doll to torture Langwidere, and later Dorothy.
- We Can Rule Together: The Witch tries this on Dorothy; unlike most examples, she had evidence to back it up and even says she could learn from Dorothy. Dorothy later turns this argument back on her.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Water for the Witch, but she can stop it before it reaches her, and disconnects a house's water supply as insurance. She also has her umbrella from the books.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Jabberwock just vanishes at the end without explanation.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: While an adult, Dorothy retains her childhood traits and innocence.
- Your Head A-Splode: Glinda makes Langwidere's head explode at the climax of their battle.
