The Steam Engines of Oz

Gr 2–5—One hundred years after Dorothy crashed down into Oz, plucky teenage mechanic Victoria ventures from the Emerald City to unite the lions and the munchkins to defeat the Tin Man. Having learned of the grisly origin of the Tin Man, which was originally recounted in L. Frank Baum's work, the group attempts to reunite the Tin Man with his lost love and his heart. Though backed up with some impressive voice talent, such as William Shatner and Ron Perlman, the story is convoluted and surprisingly violent toward the end. Human soldiers of Oz fight against a pack of lions, and when someone is knocked out they lie motionless on the ground. Though it's unclear if they died, there are never any scenes of these characters getting back up. However, the computer graphics are the biggest hindrance; backgrounds and buildings distractingly look like 1990s video game graphics. More important, the movie suffers from slow pacing, and the animation doesn't feel as polished as comparable films.