Tin Man

Nick Willing's Tin Man (drama, sci-fi, fantasy)
8.5 / 10

Okay, so this is technically a TV mini-series, but whatever. It was released on DVD. It's got three 1.5-hour chunks spanning two discs, so it's about the same length as your average Lord of the Rings movie. Zing! Plus, it's one of the coolest Wizard of Oz adaptions ever made, so it deserves praise and... praise.

The cast. The cast! Zooey Deschanel pops up again in my reviews. I swear, it's as though she has the sense to pick good movies, or something. Weird. As usual, she plays the cute, mostly-confused character surrounded by weirdos and/or in some odd situation. Like Elf, Hitchhiker's, The Happening... You get the idea, right? Zooey is a cutie-patootie, but methinks she needs to pull a Jim Carrey a la Eternal Sunshine and break free of her typecast. I will say that she makes a pretty good new-age Dorothy Gale, or "D.G.", though.

Alongside Ms. Adorablepants is the frickin' amazing Alan Cumming, better known for his role as Nightcrawler in the X-Men series. Did you know this guy is Scottish?! I've seen him in a handful of roles now with German, British and American accents, but the guy is from Scotland. Fan-freaking-tastic. I had no idea whatsoever. I figured the British wasn't real, but the American accent had me convinced. He's his usual awesome self, playing the reincarnation of the Scarecrow. And if you don't finish Tin Man loving him and his character, you have no heart. Segue!

Neal McDonough, who you've probably seen and forgotten about, played an itty-bitty role in Minority Report, and apparently showed up at some point during Star Trek: First Contact, but I only remember him in the former. Despite a long list of credentials, the poor guy is relegated to the "Oh Hey, That Guy" list. He plays our Tin Man, and is essentially the other protaganist alongside D.G. There's a lot of plot surrounding his family, and not nearly as much about the Scarecrow or the Lion. Segue!

Raoul Trujillo. Oh. My. God. If you haven't seen the film Frankenfish, ask me for my copy and you can borrow it. Watch it several times. It only gets better. B-grade monster movies make me so happy. Maybe you've seen him in something else, but I sure haven't. Raoul plays our Lion, though the story doesn't make him out to be as cowardly as his predecessor. And the other characters keep commenting on his so-called cowardice. But I didn't notice any. Seriously. Raoul is the man, and that's all I need to say.

The general idea of the story is the same. D.G. is plopped in the OZ, or the Outer Zone, and tries to figure out why she's there. However, they've added themselves a hell of a lot of side stories, like D.G.'s parents. Instead of a green-skinned ugly witch, we have the lovely Kathleen Robertson as Azkedellia, our evil witch of the West. Er, of the OZ. Whatever. The Wizard is instead The Mystic Man, and you'll pee yourself when you see what they've done with Toto.

So basically, the Scarecrow wants his brain back -- it was stolen by Azkadellia for reasons that, obviously, he can't remember. The Tin Man is an ex-cop who was forced to watch the baddies torture his family over and over. (Fun tidbit: In Tin Man, the term 'tin man' actually refers to OZ police officers.) Finally, the Lion is a telepathic -- yep -- lion-man who doesn't really have much motive to tag along in the story, but does anyway... because Raoul Trujillo is amazing, and the movie needed more of him. And last, but not least, D.G. is trying to stop Azkadellia from throwing the entire OZ into eternal darkness. You know, the usual. She's also trying to figure out why she feels as though she's been in the OZ before... Ooh, spooky.

If I haven't convinced you to watch this movie yet, I apologize. I'll start threatening next. Watch it. Seriously. This movie... sorry, TV mini-series, is well-written, the score is incredible, the characters are the same and yet completely different from the original film, Raoul Trujillo is in it... Sorry, I can't get past that. When I realized who he was, I almost had a fit in the middle of the computer lab. There are literally tears of glee in my eyes as I type this.

Watch it.