Tin Man (2007)

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I grew up with Wizard of Oz once a year but I must be going thru my second childhood because this was great. I admit I'm not too critical of special effects because I don't have much to compare them to...all I know is what I like and I thought these were great. The story kept having twists and turns that you never expect. I thought the acting was great even though I may be easy to please, I couldn't wait to see what happened next and was almost sorry when the movie ended. There are a few other movies like this I enjoy and, like I said, I wish they would have had some of them when I was younger...I envy the kids and their choices today but I still can enjoy them at my age (69) too.

a great concept, poorly executed, even decent acting by much of the cast couldn't salvage questionable directing and horrendous dialog.Even with this, all could have been forgiven if they hadn't missed on the final line of the series when DG says, "This is the OZ I remember - It's so good to be home..." After all of the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) tip-of-the-hat references they made to the original film classic, they couldn't have paid one last slam-dunk of an homage with "...there's no place like home..."?!? COME ON!That could have sent the series over-the-rainbow, but instead, it just melted away...

...despite the elaborate (and often effective) production design by Michael "Riverworld" Joy, some nice camera-work by Thomas "ditto" Burstyn, an occasionally evocative score by Simon "Phenomena" Boswell, and relatively competent direction by Nick "(Close Your Eyes)/Doctor Sleep" Willing. The acting is okay, too, with the possible exception of Zooey "Almost Famous" Deschanel, who turns in a performance that relies far too much on wide-eyed innocence/confusion to play believably on a mid-20s woman. Kathleen "Beverly Hills, 90210" Robertson offers up a magnificent, tattooed décolletage and not much else (hampered as she is by several hideous outfits, and completely outclassed by her young counterpart, Alexia "Fido" Fast); Neil "Band of Brothers" McDonough plays the eponymous support role as a re-fried Harrison Ford; Raoul "Apocalypto" Trujillo is the Cowardly Lion stand-in, but is given nothing beyond plot-driven telepathy to make him stand out; while Alan "Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical" Cumming contributes a sometimes delightful, sometimes colorless version of the Scarecrow, this time named Glitz and afflicted with a bad case of zipperhead. Richard "you have to ask?" Dreyfuss has a few cameo appearances as Mystic Man, the revamped Wizard, but with so little to work with, even he fails to register more than momentary interest.The problem, as I see it, rests (as it usually does) with the ambitious-yet-unextraordinary script by the longtime writing/producing team of Steven Long "The Pretender"/"She Spies"/"Alien Nation" Mitchell and Craig W. "Same here" Van Sickle. Despite veering toward outright camp (check out some of those fetishistic costumes), and a plethora of references, veiled and not-so-veiled, to the MGM musical classic, "Tin Man" doesn't have a whole lot of heart, and not much in the way of good humor, either, and all this despite the avowed intentions of those involved (at least according to the DVD extras).I can only imagine that watching this mini-series as originally presented in a commercial setting would have been an exercise in frustration and tedium. It hits most of the same thematic notes that one would expect (friendship, knowing yourself, etc. etc. etc.), but none of it comes anywhere near the impact of either the original L. Frank Baum tales or the iconic Judy Garland/Four Friends version. It's worth a watch, but definitely not a keeper.

What an odd miniseries. Dorothy (Zooey Deschanel) is back in Oz, and is accompanied in her wanderings by a tin man turned human, a scarecrow that isn't a true scarecrow, and a beast-man who vaguely resembles the old Cowardly Lion. Toto isn't really Toto, but a shape shifter named Tutor. Dorothy has an evil sister who has locked away their mom and seeks an emerald to gain ultimate power over the land. I am yet to catch the whole thing but I can see it will certainly appeal to fans of ongoing Oz tales and who don't mind watching a very long story. I am not a big miniseries fan, and would rather see a 90-minute DVD of this, but I suppose that's never gonna happen. So one of these days I will have to watch this to the bitter end. It seems to me Frank Baum wrote several sequels to WIZARD. I wonder why Hollywood hasn't adapted them instead of creating new OZ material periodically. Maybe because the sequels do not all feature Dorothy. Anyway, the CGI work here is pretty good for TV, and there are some lovely torture scenes. And I like Zooey Deschanel in anything.