Let me first say that I am a big fan of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, to which Return to Oz is a sequel. The Wizard of Oz is a classic and I'm not trying to belittle it (or Judy Garland's performance) in any way. I just want to clarify that The Wizard of Oz and Return to Oz are completely different movies, and Fairuza Balk's Dorothy Gale has little in common with Judy Garland's. For starters, Fairuza turned ten during shooting of the movie, much closer to Dorothy's actual age than Judy was at sixteen. And while Judy's Dorothy sings, dances, and is largely cheerful, Fairuza's Dorothy is one of the most serious young girls you've ever seen. And she has good reason to be so serious.

Return to Oz is set six months after the events in The Wizard of Oz. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em lost their old house in the tornado and are struggling to build a new one before winter. Dorothy talks nonstop about her adventures in Oz, and Aunt Em (Piper Laurie) takes Dorothy's stories, which of course she doesn't believe, as a sign of mental illness. Well-intentioned but mislead by 19th-century science, Aunt Em thinks that the only cure for Dorothy is electroshock therapy, to be administered at the local insane asylum.

Aunt Em takes Dorothy to the asylum and reluctantly leaves her there overnight. Lingering shots of the building’s empty hallways, bare light bulbs, and sinister-looking doctors emphasize Dorothy’s discomfort. The scenes in the asylum are among the most suspenseful I’ve ever seen in a children’s film, as is Fairuza’s acting in these scenes. Dorothy’s obvious and understandable mistrust of the doctor and fear of what he is going to do to her is so real that it is almost palpable.

It is at the asylum that Dorothy first encounters the strange, lovely young girl who is much later revealed to be Ozma, the child queen of Oz. Although 13-year-old Emma Ridley, who plays Ozma, has a small role, her ethereal beauty lends itself well to her mysterious character (Ozma’s true identity is not revealed until the end of the film, leaving Dorothy and the viewer to wonder exactly who she is). But despite the mystery surrounding Ozma, Dorothy trusts her completely because, unlike the adults, she doesn’t think that Dorothy is insane or lies to her by pretending the asylum is a safe place.

Dorothy is saved from electroshock therapy by a thunderstorm that conveniently knocks out the power. She flees from the asylum in the storm and jumps into a raging river to escape the nurse chasing after her. She climbs into a floating box crate, falls asleep, and wakes up in Oz. But it is nothing like the Oz that she remembers. The Yellow Brick Road is broken and overgrown with weeds. The Emerald City lies in ruins, and all its inhabitants have been turned to stone. The Emerald City is also guarded by “Wheelers,” gang of deformed humans with wheels instead of hands and feet. As a child, I loved every second of this film (and I still do), but those Wheelers terrified me for years.

It is after arriving in Oz that Fairuza and Dorothy really begin to shine. While in Kansas, Dorothy had obeyed every adult who gave her an order (including the frightening doctor), but in Oz, she takes charge of her own situation. In this film, Dorothy doesn’t get help from Glinda the Good Witch, the magical ruby slippers, or even her loyal Toto – who is replaced by the clever, clucking hen Billina – but she does have a fierce courage and determination that Judy Garland’s more vulnerable Dorothy lacked. Fairuza’s Dorothy is almost fearless in her quest to find out what happened to Oz and restore it to the way it once was. Even when Princess Mombi (Jean Marsh) captures her and locks her in a spooky tower, Dorothy is not afraid, only briefly discouraged, and she wastes no time in thinking up an escape plan. In fact, the only thing in Oz that frightens Dorothy is, you might have guessed, the Wheelers. Fairuza’s acting throughout is excellent, especially in her few scenes with Emma Ridley. You have never seen a young girl so angry as when the Goblin King taunts Dorothy with her ruby slippers, calling them “my ruby slippers.”

Like Judy Garland’s Dorothy, she meets three new friends – Tik-Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, and “The Gump” – but these friends are largely dependent on her. Jack even calls Dorothy “Mom,” emphasizing, in a somewhat strange way, that she is responsible for their group’s safety, like an adult. Judy’s Dorothy was rescued by her friends when trapped in the Wicked Witch’s castle, but with Fairuza’s Dorothy, she is the one who rescues the others – again and again. First she devises a plan to escape Mombi, and later she saves all her friends and all of Oz from the Goblin King. And she does it all without ever falling into the “You go, girl!” cliche that sometimes traps film heroines.

Although Dorothy returns to Kansas and gets a happy ending, you get the feeling that this return trip to Oz will give her nightmares for a while. But by the film’s end, you also know that this girl is perfectly capable of dealing with much worse things than nightmares. The sense of power and courage that she had adopted in Oz, she now takes with her back to Kansas. Fairuza Balk’s emerald green eyes and serious face will stay with you for a long time.