Quick DVD Review – ‘Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz’

Moment of shock and confusion.

(shocked; confused) “Tom and Jerry…THERE’S ANOTHER ONE OF THESE?!!!”

AND YES, I SHOULDN’T BE SURPRISED AND SHOCKED AS I’M REVIEWING IT TODAY! I PURCHASED THE DVD MYSELF FROM AMAZON.CO.UK!!! BUT STILL…WHAT?!!!

My shock and surprise shouldn’t amount to anything since I know about these mash-up movies of classic cartoon icons coupled with classic films. That’s not just with Tom and Jerry. Scooby Doo has had encounters with Batman. I am dead serious! Scooby Doo and Batman have done films together.

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

There are Tom and Jerry movies about ‘The Wizard of Oz‘! Two of them in fact! And I reviewed the first movie ‘Tom and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz’ back in November 2017 along with ‘Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory’. These ‘Tom and Jerry’ mash-up films are pretty bizarre here.

My parents and I watched ‘Tom and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz’ and its sequel ‘Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz’ on Easter Monday this year. It was a day before we went to see the actual ‘Wizard of Oz’ film re-released at Showcase Cinemas in Nantgarw, Cardiff for a short time in that same week. Good timing?

Yes, because ‘Tom and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz’ happened to be a successful film, it guaranteed a sequel to it. ‘Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz’ directly follows on from the events of the first film. I enjoyed watching ‘Back to Oz’, but like the other ‘Tom and Jerry’ films it was pretty bizarre, even for a sequel.

I find it interesting that there is a sequel to the first ‘Tom and Jerry: Wizard of Oz’ film since the original ‘Wizard of Oz’ film didn’t have a proper sequel. I did wonder why the original ‘Wizard of Oz’ didn’t have a sequel, but my Dad pointed out that it would’ve been expensive to make in those days.

There have of course been sequel-like films such as ‘Journey Back to Oz’ starring Liza Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland. There’s also the Disney 1985 film ‘Return to Oz’ and the Disney 2013 prequel film ‘Oz: The Great and Powerful’ starring James Franco. But there is no actual sequel with the original stars.

So watching this ‘Tom and Jerry’ film made me wonder if this could be what happened after the original ‘Wizard of Oz’ film with Judy Garland in it. Probably not, but it was interesting to see. They certainly would have had a larger budget to make it in live-action in those days as well as not have the cat and mouse. 😀

Anyway, like the first ‘Tom and Jerry: Wizard of Oz’ film; there are two versions to enjoy on the DVD. There’s the full-colour version as the main option and the black-and-white sepia tone version which is included as a special feature. My parents and I saw the ‘sepia’ version of ‘Back to Oz’ on the DVD.

It’s interesting to watch the ‘sepia’ version of ‘Back to Oz’ as it matches more or less to how it was done in the first film. But there are some inconsistencies especially when the Scarecrow; the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion come to see Dorothy in Kansas. Yet they aren’t in colour as her ruby slippers are.

It was also strange when Dorothy; Tom and Jerry and the others had now entered the colour world once we were in Kansas State Fair. Um, shouldn’t it still be in black-and-white while we’re in Kansas? I thought it was all colour in Oz. Mind you, this could be the Wizard’s doing. He was at the state fair.

But yeah, the film has Dorothy; Toto; Tom and Jerry finding themselves back in the land of Oz once the Scarecrow; the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion summon them for help. Apparently Oz is now in trouble. The Gnome King and his minions take over Emerald City and rule the land of Oz themselves.

And no, this is not another dream that Dorothy; Tom and Jerry might have been having as in the first film. This seems to be actually happening even when Aunty Em; Uncle Henry and the boys aren’t around. It makes me wonder if it was all real in the original ‘Wizard of Oz’ film or if it was all a dream!

There are some new songs featured in this film. As well as ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ and ‘We’re Off To See The Wizard’, there are songs like ‘No Place Like Home’ which I like; ‘A Mighty Fine Affair’; ‘What’s Mine Is Mine’ and ‘Oh My, Oh My, Oh My’. I’m not certain these songs will catch on though.

I was surprised when the song ‘The Jitterbug’ made an appearance in this ‘Tom and Jerry’ movie as well as the Jitterbug character himself. ‘The Jitterbug’ was a song that got abandoned during the making of the original ‘Wizard of Oz’ film. So it was nice to see it make an appearance in this film. 😀

Droopy once again makes an appearance in this ‘Tom and Jerry’ film. And he and Butch seem to be working for the Gnome King this time round. First Droopy was a criminal mastermind in ‘Willy Wonka’; then he worked for the Wicked Witch of the West; now he is working for the Gnome King.

I am getting very worried about Droopy here. 😀 As well as Droopy and Butch, Tuffy the Munchkin Mouse makes an appearance in the film though for a brief time. There’s also a Queen Mouse with her bunnies driving her chariot as becoming a love interest for Jerry. There’s also Spike and Tyke. Wait! Spike and Tyke are living in Oz now?!

The film also features…a talking tractor. A tractor that the Scarecrow; the Tin Man and the Lion manage to make it talk when they meet Dorothy; Toto and Tom and Jerry in Kansas. Was I dreaming that? I must’ve been dreaming that! I can’t believe that was real and the tractor talked in the film. 😀

I did like that joke in the song ‘Oh My, Oh My, Oh My’ where the Cowardly Lion; the Tiger Queen and some random bear sang the lyric “Lions and tigers and bears!” Okay that was a rather clever in-joke taken from the original ‘Wizard of Oz’ film. Stupid, but clever! The film’s climax was very exciting too.

So yeah, ‘Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz’ is a pretty bizarre, wacky cartoon film featuring Tom and Jerry and the characters from the original ‘Wizard of Oz’ film in this sequel to the first ‘Tom and Jerry: Wizard of Oz’ film. But I still enjoyed it and found it a nice distraction to watch on an Easter Monday.

Not sure if I’ll be reviewing any more ‘Tom and Jerry’ films after this. Might be a while before I get to do another one but I wouldn’t mind doing ‘Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars’ or ‘Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse’. I must check out those Scooby Doo/Batman movies sometime though.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂