crimson03
Joined Dec 2003
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Reviews12
crimson03's rating
I just watched "The Tin Man" on Netflix: I badly wanted to see it when it debuted on SyFy a few years ago, but being cable-less, I had to wait until now.
This turns out to be both a sequel and modern-day updating to the Oz tale: The heroine DG is an twenty-something aspiring artist who lives at home on her parents' farm and works at a diner, while having mysterious dreams that promise something more beyond her small town. When the evil sorceress Azkadellia learns of DG's potential to thwart her plans for permanent power over Oz, a series of events are set in motion that sweep DG into a dystopian Oz where she joins up with a forgetful wanderer named Glitch whose brain was taken by the sorceress, a hardened fighter Wyatt Cain who was a policeman (a "tin man" in Oz slang) before his family was destroyed by the sorceress's army, and Wookie-like seer named Raw. Together they race to save Oz from Azkadellia's permanent evil darkness.
Unfortunately the mini-series is a bit of a disappointment and it doesn't quite reach its potential for a couple reasons.
First of all, while the contemporary/steampunk approach to the story is a great concept and the plot has a couple interesting twists, SyFy obviously didn't make an investment in the script. I'd liken it to constructing a solid steel building framework and then filling in the walls with plywood. The dialogue is glaringly banal and clichéd to the point that even the admirable casting of solid actors like Richard Dreyfuss, Alan Cummings, and Neal McDonough can barely do anything for it.
And speaking of casting, I think it was a mistake to cast Zooey Deschanel as the lead: I know they are going for an alternative take on Oz, but her bored hipster routine is a little too one-note for this production. Her character of "DG" is an annoyingly inconsistent mix of too-cool-for-school woodenness, manic pixie girl naiveté, and forget about her effectively conveying any deep emotion: Her sad/emotional scenes are merely her being pouty. I think another TV starlet like Alexis Bleidel, Leighton Meester, or Emily Van Camp could have better depicted this character of DG, who is a mix of an independent rebel with ambitious dreams and a emotionally torn young woman who's trying to piece together her true life and destiny.
The pacing of the episodes is also a bit uneven: The exposition-heavy first episode drags interminably to the point that I actually paused the video to see how much longer was left. Part 2, however, is far more exciting and engaging despite being virtually the same length, and Part 3 is decent as well.
Overall, it's an impressively CGI-laden but rather mediocre TV movie that doesn't quite live up to its promise, but still is a entertaining way to pass 4 1/2 hours all the same.
This turns out to be both a sequel and modern-day updating to the Oz tale: The heroine DG is an twenty-something aspiring artist who lives at home on her parents' farm and works at a diner, while having mysterious dreams that promise something more beyond her small town. When the evil sorceress Azkadellia learns of DG's potential to thwart her plans for permanent power over Oz, a series of events are set in motion that sweep DG into a dystopian Oz where she joins up with a forgetful wanderer named Glitch whose brain was taken by the sorceress, a hardened fighter Wyatt Cain who was a policeman (a "tin man" in Oz slang) before his family was destroyed by the sorceress's army, and Wookie-like seer named Raw. Together they race to save Oz from Azkadellia's permanent evil darkness.
Unfortunately the mini-series is a bit of a disappointment and it doesn't quite reach its potential for a couple reasons.
First of all, while the contemporary/steampunk approach to the story is a great concept and the plot has a couple interesting twists, SyFy obviously didn't make an investment in the script. I'd liken it to constructing a solid steel building framework and then filling in the walls with plywood. The dialogue is glaringly banal and clichéd to the point that even the admirable casting of solid actors like Richard Dreyfuss, Alan Cummings, and Neal McDonough can barely do anything for it.
And speaking of casting, I think it was a mistake to cast Zooey Deschanel as the lead: I know they are going for an alternative take on Oz, but her bored hipster routine is a little too one-note for this production. Her character of "DG" is an annoyingly inconsistent mix of too-cool-for-school woodenness, manic pixie girl naiveté, and forget about her effectively conveying any deep emotion: Her sad/emotional scenes are merely her being pouty. I think another TV starlet like Alexis Bleidel, Leighton Meester, or Emily Van Camp could have better depicted this character of DG, who is a mix of an independent rebel with ambitious dreams and a emotionally torn young woman who's trying to piece together her true life and destiny.
The pacing of the episodes is also a bit uneven: The exposition-heavy first episode drags interminably to the point that I actually paused the video to see how much longer was left. Part 2, however, is far more exciting and engaging despite being virtually the same length, and Part 3 is decent as well.
Overall, it's an impressively CGI-laden but rather mediocre TV movie that doesn't quite live up to its promise, but still is a entertaining way to pass 4 1/2 hours all the same.