Tin Man (2007) - a Movie Review

Tin Man is a Sci-Fi Channel miniseries starring Zooey Deschanel as DG. The Tin Man is a retelling of the classic story "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum. DG is whisked back to OZ via tornado and runs into the brainless Glitch, the cowardly Raw, and the tin man cop Wyatt Cain on her quest to find her parents. Warning: My movie review contains plot spoilers.

Tin Man is a six hour miniseries. It originally aired over three nights on the Sci-Fi channel but is now available on DVD. I watched the DVD version over the space of two days and I was not impressed.

I have read numerous reviews saying the Tin Man is a wonderful new version of "The Wizard of OZ." It is not a retelling but a completely different story. My first complaint is that the movie's publicity touted the movie as a retelling of the classic story. I am all for retelling of a story and for the first four hours I enjoyed the differences in the scarecrow, the lion, and the tin man character. But as it turns out, Tin Man is a continuation of the story. I think it is like 500 years after Dorothy's first adventure in OZ. Apparently Dorothy returned to OZ and had children. Dorothy is DG's ancestor. Azkadellia, another descendent of Dorothy, is possessed by the Wicked Witch of the West who has been waiting 500 years for her revenge. After those little tidbits of information are finally revealed in the fifth hour of the movie, my perspective of the movie completely changed for the worst.

I really liked the movie the first four hours, when I thought it was a retelling of the classic story. Now that I realize it is entirely separate from the original Oz, I see that is just a terrible un-original story. It is now about the classic good versus evil told in a very boring way with silly flashbacks and a sympathetic villain. I hate sympathetic villains. Why can't someone be truly evil? Why do we have to feel sorry for them? By the end of the movie, we start to feel sorry for Azkadellia. I even told my boyfriend; just watch by the end of the movie, Azkadellia will be redeemed and not punished for all the horrible deeds she has committed over the last fifteen years. And that is exactly how it ended. So predictable.

The ending was such a letdown. DG holds Azkadellia's hand to vanquish the Wicked Witch. The two sisters and parents reunite, the sun comes out, and the movie ends. The movie started with a bang and ended with a whimper.

Besides the flaws in the plot and the boring characters in general, the special effects were amazing and the costumes were excellent. Visually the movie is appealing but looks aren't everything. The movie is a big disappointment. I give the movie 1 star out of 5.