The Steam Engines of Oz

The Steam Engines of Oz (2018) is the final movie of my binge section before I watch Wicked: Part 1 (2024) later this month and it was horrendous.

Positives for The Steam Engines of Oz (2018): THERE ARE NONE!!!!!

Negatives for The Steam Engines of Oz (2018): The animation in this movie looks absolutely atrocious and it is among some of the worst-looking animation I've seen in either movies or television. The story is a mess and it doesn't feel like it's going anything with the characters. The voice acting is horrendous and no one is even trying at all. And finally, the movie doesn't come close to being "So bad, it's good!", it's just plain boring.

Overall, The Steam Engines of Oz (2018) is the worst of the Wizard of Oz movies that I've seen during my binge section and it is one of the worst animated movies of all time.

I watched all O'Reilly's animations and its like he go from better to worse, and I mean MUCH worse. Pixies was not bad looking easy pass for DTV title, than was Howard Lovecraft two movies... well... I think its like fan-made, also very obscure material so I was like ooookay. But now THIS. Its OZ for god sake! Can you even try? Why bother with Shatner and Perlman, when my eyes actually bleed from animation. And visuals concept... why Tin Man looks like gorilla? And why... WHY some lions like furries, and some - not. Do the Brave Lion have sex with humans? And yes backgrounds... like in Howard Lovecraft its just desert. I know 3D models cost money, but... its like 2018 now, not 2004. Setting was interesting, though. Idiea of stempunk in Oz is good.

OK, first of all this is based on a comic book series of the same name. Now there difference is that while the comic book contains fantastic illustrations and art-style, this film opts to uses horrendous CGI that looks like a series of cut scenes stitched together from a bargain bin Playstation game in the 90s. There are barely any textures or proper lighting used in the animation and the characters move very awkwardly, and to be honest, even the character designs themselves are ridiculously ugly. I get that they tried to make this cuter than the comic book so that it attracts a younger audience but it reflects no artistic skills, attention to detail, or even creativity and imagination. It's like they just slapped this project together with the goal of making money. It looks and feels so uninspired. It's quite sad and pathetic. Even the storyline is boring and uneventful. The saddest part is that this film was produced by Arcana Studio, the company that makes the comics...and the writers and artists were totally on board for it. How they agreed to release this abomination is beyond me. In conclusion: Sit this one out; it's not worth your precious time.

It's 100 years after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Victoria Wright works endlessly to keep the steam engines under Emerald City working. The Witch of the North, Locasta, with her flying monkeys warns Victoria that Tin Man who now runs Emerald City is pushing the world to war as the city keeps expanding its destructive influence. Victoria helps Oscar 'Oz' Diggs escape who turns out to be the Wizard's brother. They meet Magnus, the son of the cowardly lion. They're joined by munchkins.

The animation is low grade CG. The story is a generally flat road movie. The most interesting part is the world construction itself. It's fascinating to see Oz 100 years later. The Tin Man story is intriguing. This does need a better road trip. The quest needs a different starting point. It should start with a munchkin losing its home due to Tin Man's Emerald City and the munchkin would head off to the city. The group would arrive at the city like traveling to the Heart of Darkness. This world is a wonderful world to play in. It just needs some better writing and more grown up CGI.

As mentioned in other reviews, amateurish animation, but not so nearly amateurish as the script. The saving grace of the film was making the point "War is not the solution to our problems". Beyond that the concept was bland, characters cliche, and voice acting only as good as the script allowed. It's not a "bad" movie, just not good enough to call tolerable. Not even good as a children's film, as much of the morality-play aspect will be beyond their understanding. The ending (just after the credits start to roll) is incomprehensible and without point.

Basically, this is an unbelievable tale that really seems to make no point other than "Don't be the bad guy". Yeah, we get that much. How about the point, "If you're going to make a movie, make a good one"?