Reception
The movie received mixed reviews from critics, who described the film's content as too dark and intense for children. "Children are sure to be startled by the film's bleakness," said The New York Times's Janet Maslin. "It's bleak, creepy, and occasionally terrifying," added Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader. The film earned $2,844,895 in its opening weekend, finishing in seventh place. The film ultimately grossed $11,137,801 in North America. It has since gained a cult following.
The film received an Academy Award nomination for "Best Visual Effects". Fairuza Balk and Emma Ridley were nominated for Young Artist Awards. The film received two Saturn Award nominations for Best Fantasy Film and Best Younger Actor (Fairuza Balk).
The film’s interpretation of Oz is featured in the Storybook Land Canal Boats attraction at Disneyland Resort Paris. Amelie Gillette of the The A.V. Club frequently refers to the film's dark nature as unsuitable for its intended audience of young children despite it being one of her favorite movies growing up. The film inspired a fan-made documentary titled Return To Oz: The Joy That Got Away, made especially for the Internet.
Read more about this topic: Return To Oz
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“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
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“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)