The Steam Engines of Oz

source: The Steam Engines of Oz

I got this movie at a Going out of Business sale at a Video Rental place, hoping that it would be a fun steampunk movie with a slew of gadgets used in the setting of Oz, but of course the only things that were even really steam powered in this movie and most were just things with gears slapped on were the Tin Man himself and some 1880's steam donkey engine models copied and pasted on a outer city background, the whole aesthetic didn't even feel steampunk at all. The story was rather boring, a girl named Victoria living in some dungeon repairing a mass of gears and pipes claimed to be a steam engine that pumps water for the city somehow, some ghost lady tells her progress is bad, she and two prisoners escape and get attacked by tailless lions and wonder into a munchkin village. Something, Something, Something, Blah, Blah, Blah, there's armymen covered in gear decals and wielding taser swords as the munchkins fly around in rockets, the bad guys send insect robots then gentlemanly-looking robots to fight, Tin Man comes out and wields his axe, the heroes go deep in the city to find Tinman's wife which I never remember hearing about before, they save Scarecrow and get the Tinman's heart, show it to him, war's over, the end. Animation was rather cheap looking to me, one of the voice actors didn't sound like he was really in it, I feel ripped off and just gave the movie to somebody else.

Watching this abomination with my daughter tonight and it made me feel so angry. I can't believe that this came out only a couple of years ago because it looked worse than toy story one, which came out more than 20 years ago. Unbelievably boring plot and terrible script and dialogue. This is not so much a movie as it is a torture device. Ron Perlman being involved is the icing on the cake, he'll clearly lend his voice for anything, this was probably the worst thing I've ever watched.

It's 100 years after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Victoria Wright works endlessly to keep the steam engines under Emerald City working. The Witch of the North, Locasta, with her flying monkeys warns Victoria that Tin Man who now runs Emerald City is pushing the world to war as the city keeps expanding its destructive influence. Victoria helps Oscar 'Oz' Diggs escape who turns out to be the Wizard's brother. They meet Magnus, the son of the cowardly lion. They're joined by munchkins. The animation is low grade CG. The story is a generally flat road movie. The most interesting part is the world construction itself. It's fascinating to see Oz 100 years later. The Tin Man story is intriguing. This does need a better road trip. The quest needs a different starting point. It should start with a munchkin losing its home due to Tin Man's Emerald City and the munchkin would head off to the city. The group would arrive at the city like traveling to the Heart of Darkness. This world is a wonderful world to play in. It just needs some better writing and more grown up CGI.

As mentioned in other reviews, amateurish animation, but not so nearly amateurish as the script. The saving grace of the film was making the point "War is not the solution to our problems". Beyond that the concept was bland, characters cliche, and voice acting only as good as the script allowed. It's not a "bad" movie, just not good enough to call tolerable. Not even good as a children's film, as much of the morality-play aspect will be beyond their understanding. The ending (just after the credits start to roll) is incomprehensible and without point. Basically, this is an unbelievable tale that really seems to make no point other than "Don't be the bad guy". Yeah, we get that much. How about the point, "If you're going to make a movie, make a good one"?

Even the worst zombie movie I was forced to watch had more life in it. Brain dead and simply a waste of time. There are not enough words to express how bad this dribble is.

Good animation!! Ignore the post about it being bad and clumsy. It is a 3D cartoon. They aren't supposed to look like real live people. Take anime, which I personally loathe, it is an art form which, to me, is ridiculously repulsive, but how wildly popular it is. The main character's face and entire head/body is designed to look like a barbie type doll, and it is not stiffly animated at all. The characters have good body movements, facial expressions, etc. Background artistry is very good as well With that said, there are two unfortunate things. Many of the voice overs (outside of the main 3 characters) are dull and uninspired. There should be some emotion or excitement of some kind behind many of the deliveries, but they are often deadpan The story is a good one, but the lackluster voice overs prevent attachment and attention to the story, and there is also slow delivery of the plot. Not enough awe-inspiring side quests to keep you interested during the wait. Not sure how the children will like it. I think it may be a little too slow for them as well but may be entertaining for awhile at least.

OK, first of all this is based on a comic book series of the same name. Now there difference is that while the comic book contains fantastic illustrations and art-style, this film opts to uses horrendous CGI that looks like a series of cut scenes stitched together from a bargain bin Playstation game in the 90s. There are barely any textures or proper lighting used in the animation and the characters move very awkwardly, and to be honest, even the character designs themselves are ridiculously ugly. I get that they tried to make this cuter than the comic book so that it attracts a younger audience but it reflects no artistic skills, attention to detail, or even creativity and imagination. It's like they just slapped this project together with the goal of making money. It looks and feels so uninspired. It's quite sad and pathetic. Even the storyline is boring and uneventful. The saddest part is that this film was produced by Arcana Studio, the company that makes the comics...and the writers and artists were totally on board for it. How they agreed to release this abomination is beyond me. In conclusion: Sit this one out; it's not worth your precious time.

I watched all O'Reilly's animations and its like he go from better to worse, and I mean MUCH worse. Pixies was not bad looking easy pass for DTV title, than was Howard Lovecraft two movies... well... I think its like fan-made, also very obscure material so I was like ooookay. But now THIS. Its OZ for god sake! Can you even try? Why bother with Shatner and Perlman, when my eyes actually bleed from animation. And visuals concept... why Tin Man looks like gorilla? And why... WHY some lions like furries, and some - not. Do the Brave Lion have sex with humans? And yes backgrounds... like in Howard Lovecraft its just desert. I know 3D models cost money, but... its like 2018 now, not 2004. Setting was interesting, though. Idiea of stempunk in Oz is good.

Good movie!