The Wizard of Oz has remained a cinematic treasure ever since its release in 1939 and its revised broadcasted version in 1956, mainly for its charming childhood presence, lovable characters and timeless musical numbers. So of course, when something gains massive popularity, there are bound to be knock offs and sequels, such as the case with this film. Originally conceived by Fred Ladd and Norm Prescott in the early 60s, the project had an all-star cast, including Judy Garland's daughter Liza Minnelli as the iconic Dorothy Gale. Due to their finances collapsing however, the attempted sequel had to be shelved until Prescott and producer Lou Scheimer made their money back with their company Filmation in 1970. Similar to its predecessor, it didn't do very well on its original release and only performed fair on TV, but unlike its processor, it fell into obscurity, and for good reason.
The film follows Dorothy and Toto after she winds up back to Oz through a cyclone. Once she and some new friends learn that the Wicked Witch's cousin Mombi is going to take over the Emerald City, Dorothy must save both Oz and the Scarecrow (who is now king of the Emerald City). The biggest problem with Journey Back to Oz is that it feels more like an excuse to go back to the merry ol' land than an actual continuation. Much of the plot feels very repetitive, as it features Dorothy meeting character after character, and even when she does meet her old friends for help, they are unwilling to do so for personal reasons. Even the new characters she meets, such as Pumpkinhead and Woodenhead the horse, are only built off bare origins and don't really grow from there on out. In addition, while queen Mombi's intention of taking over the Emerald City with an army of giant green elephants sounds frightening in its own right, the film lacks a lot of necessary thrills and suspense to give this plot line the right amount of meat it deserves. Also, without giving away the ending or even climax, the characters don't go through any serious dilemmas and just pull off a pathetic deus ex machina to save the day. Sequels work best when you tell a story that lets the former characters evolve with continuing adventures; this film has no point of going back to Oz other than petty corporatism.
Now to the film's credit, the voice acting is mostly spot on, including Liza Minnelli providing the vocal and singing performances for Dorothy. As she recorded her material when she was 15 (28 when the film was finally released), she feels appropriate for her age, and while she does sound similar to her mother, she still put her best foot forward with a voice worth resonating to emotionally. The other cast consists of Paul Lynde as the nervous neurotic Pumpkinhead, Herschel Bernardi as the stern Woodenhead, Ethel Merman as the menacing witch Mombi, Mickey Rooney as the stressed out Scarecrow, Danny Thomas as the Tin Man, Milton Berle as the pompous Lion, Mel Blanc as Mombi's pet crow, and operatic mezzo-soprano Rise Stevens as Glinda. If anything remotely glamorous came from this film, it would have to be their performances, as one can tell they did the most given what they had to work with. Unfortunately, the characters in general are not very interesting, and they might not have worked as much without the actor's contributions. Also, nothing against Rooney, Thomas or even Berle, but they didn't even try to sound like Ray Bolger, Jack Haley or Bert Lahr at all (and Thomas's tracks sound slightly deteriorated). When the cast can deliver better material for your characters than your script can, at least you have something that can save them from being completely worthless.
Being a Filmation production, the animation is not even close to matching the superior Disney content, but it's far above all the other poor quality schlock the studio made. At the film's most creative, some fantasy sequences contain lush visuals and colorful artistry, and even a lot of the backgrounds look very surreal and vibrant in their own right, including the Emerald city before and after Mombi's breakthrough. While the character animation can be static at times, the animators still gave off some charming performances with specific gestures sprinkled throughout. The only thing that's holding the visuals back is that the returning characters come off as genericized carbon cartoon copies of themselves, down to barely looking like how they used to. As for the songs by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, they range from fun to insipid, of course lacking the timeless appeal of the 1939 film's soundtrack. The best ones were sung by Liza Minnelli and Ethel Merman, including one at the end that came close to touching my heart. The songs by Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Lion and even Woodenhead do build around their new traits that they don't really have, but the rest are easily forgotten as soon as they finish. Not to mention, most of the musical numbers stop the film dead in its tracks, including a pointless one with a post sign at the beginning, something that would be fixed by better animated films later on.
Unless you're a Liza Minnelli enthusiast or a die hard Wizard of Oz fanatic, this film has nothing much going for it and can be scrapped aside like most spinoffs of the 1939 classic. Although Journey Back to Oz does save itself from being poor thanks to some quality voice work, imaginative environments and some worthwhile songs, it still doesn't work very well due to its mundane premise, bland characters, and shoddy climax. The 1939 film may not be completely perfect, but the genuine heart and effort that went into it is why people still fondly remember it to this day. This feels more like a dated product of its time, as its main purpose was to cash in on the popularity of the iconic feature, and that is why nobody really cares for it nowadays outside of people who grew up with it (not that I want to take away their love for it). Like most of Filmation's content, this sadly represents everything poor about animated content back then.