The main concept was borrowed from 'Wizard of the Oz', but a modernized with the three episode tale. The director is not a stranger to me, because I liked his previous television mini series 'Neverland'. That was another reason why ended up watching this one. As far my observations, this director is very creative because he just takes the original concept as an inspiration and improvises it. Those were really the good work to build something around the original idea and somewhere he overlaps between the two to make a connection. In an understandable way to say, his TV mini series all were kind of unofficial prequels or sequels to the original classic fantasy tales.DG is a small town waitress that she's not happy to spend her rest of the life there. She always dreamt to escape it in search of a cheerful life. Like a wish come true, one night a storm take her to a land called OZ. It is a paradise, but affected by a magical spell cast by the evil force. She meets the people who suffered from the evil queen's outrage. Later she comes to know the reason she was brought there and her involvement in the ongoing issues in OZ. The present and the past both were simultaneously narrated about what happened and is happening and what should be done to stop the bad things. So the Dg's journey commences accompanied by a few men who help her to travel safe.''I'd shoot you in the heart if I thought you had one.''The film had lots of upgrading items, like it was set in the modern world still the main character hop into the magical world called OZ. Here the OZ is abbreviated from 'Outer Zone'. All the three episodes were so good, each of them had twists at the end. The story was unexpectedly good, the fan of the original tale will definitely love it. The concept of protagonist and antagonist was built on a reasonable plan that will probably satisfy most of us at the end. It can be viewed by all ages. No silly costumes for the characters like from the storybooks. As it was a television product the quality was normal standard. Of course the technology and other options were easily fetchable, but the filmmaker used all the computer related resources in a limit. It's not like that they can't offer it, but to keep everything simple. I loved everyone's performances. In fact, Kathleen Robertson, who was in a negative role impressed a lot than the Zooey Deschanel. No one had the tough stunts in the movie, but felt that Zooey Deschanel had not comfortable with them. The guest appearance of the original tale was a surprise. Overall, it is the movie, a must see by the 'Wizard of the Oz' fans. A few things you must remember before giving it a try. It was kind of an sci-fi-fantasy, but the story and twists were the highlights.

The actors (and acting) is low grade. A waste of Alan Cumming's abilities. Ms. Deschanel is a silly, weightless presence (if I can even use the word "presence" for her, here) and everyone relies too heavily on that so-called (niche) talent of hers. The idea was really good but very poorly executed. Well-crafted nods to the original book or 1930's classic movie would have been great little "drops" in this series production but not done, or the few that were were again, poorly done. Why the focus on the Tin Man, I don't know. That character in this production is not in keeping with the original and the actor was not up to it. Goodness knows why the lion's character, Raw, was in there as he was barely a set decoration (again, weak, weak script and all the character names were weird, random and not clever). The scarecrow had a plausible twist but poor writing ability and script development dropped the ball and instead tried for random quirkiness which fell flat, flat, flat. The nemesis character was another waste. The costumes were as predictable (and therefore boring) as the script was goofy and meandering. I bought the DVD's for $5 and it's going in the trash.

Several years ago, the SyFy channel decided to take a crack at re-inventing the classic Wizard of Oz, a noble task, that many have tried and failed. I didn't know what to expect, but I assumed it would be some variation of the classic tale, hoping it would be more the like books and less like the films. Tin Man is defiantly not for kids and takes a unique approach to the classic story. In this version, OZ is not the friendly lovable place with strange characters and happy times for all. It's a dark story, about a dark place, where presently there is a lot of pain and misery. The big twist in the story is that this OZ is centuries past the one visited by Dorothy Gale. In the Outer Zone (O.Z.), Dorothy Gale is a revered as the start of the royal families bloodline, but she has been dead for centuries! That being said, quite ingeniously, the future residents of the O.Z. parallel the old story, but not because they have to, they are in a sense mocking the original story in subtle ways. There's D.G. (Zooey Deschanel), the girl from the other side, who was forced into the O.Z., with no memory of ever having been there before. She soon meets Glitch, (Alan Cummings) a man who had part of his brain removed for disobeying the Queen. As they try to figure out what is happening around them, they run into a man (Neal McDonough) being punished in a Tin Man suit. This man was a Cop or Tin Man in the O.Z. who was deemed a threat, and put into this horrible form of torture. Finally, they come to the rescue of a native healer, named Raw (Raoul Trujillo), who has become trapped by carnivores and is about to become dinner. Together they go to see the wise man, to find out how to proceed in helping D.G. The Wise Man (Richard Dreyfuss) turns out to be a drugged out magician doing parlor tricks! There are a million other parallels to the original story that make the journey through the O.Z. that much more enjoyable. Zooey Deschanel is the star and even though people often mistake her unique style of acting for inexperience, she was the perfect choice to play D.G. The other standout is veteran character actor, Neal McDonough, who gives a gut wrenching and strong performance as the tortured former cop, in search of his family. The rest of the supporting cast was equally as impressive, taking you through the full range of emotions. As I said before, this is certainly not the OZ you grew up with and it's certainly not what I expected. Everything from the special effects, to the story, and even the modernization, was extremely impressive. It really is a shame that this was only a three part mini-series, but this would have made for one hell of a regular series. Some of the parallels are obvious, but there were plenty of times where I legitimately forgot that I was watching The Wizard of Oz. Leave the musical for the kid, this is what Frank Baum had in mind when he started this series, and it's most defiantly meant for mature audiences only.

This was entertaining but not mind blowing. Essentially it's the Wizard of Oz all over again but with a new twist. The plot is new and not fully explained. Zoey Deschanel plays DJ also the modern Dorothy. She's pretty emotionless and the story doesn't capture the your heart, but does well for the imagination.Now.For those hardcore, Wizard of Oz fans, you may not enjoy this, given that it uses the world of Oz to write the plot, but do not expect the original. With that said, the story is compelling and it would have been better if Zoey Deschanel had more emotion in life.