Login
The first of three re-imaginings of beloved, and public domain, childhood stories as something darker and combined with some of-the-moment science-fiction trapping, Tin Man may be the messiest one. But that’s a very small jump, think of the tiniest hurdle that a show pony in training walks over.
With The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as the base, someone along the way decided that Blade Runner, The Matrix, and various other fairy tales were needed to add more flavor to the original story. Oh, and it needed to be a prequel in which long-lost siblings reunite, and…. Look, I’ve already stopped caring about the plot, and you probably will too. Tin Man sucks all of the joy, hope, and fun out of its original premise, so why even do it this way at all?
The pace is unwieldy, probably from too many disparate elements demanding development and not getting any, and the overall tone is a dirge march into overblown hysterics. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is not a story that demands a Lord of the Rings style heroic quest, nor does it demand so much special effects work. Oz is primarily a sweet, simple story filled with warmth and good humor.
Tin Man mistakes overly fussy production choices and special effects overkill with heart and genuine feeling. There’s no solid core here, just a lot of razzle dazzle. And the razzle dazzle is exceptional, no doubt. For a TV budget, these are pretty spectacular and miraculous. 2007 was around the time that television budgets and ambitions grew larger and more complex, as a whole, and Tin Man’s large scale production values reflect that switch. We’re no longer burden with the questionable effects work of Hallmark movies past. If nothing else, Tin Man is nice to look at.
Zooey Deschanel does her typical quirky girl shtick here, Alan Cumming seems lost, Neal McDonough gives it more pathos than it deserves, and Kathleen Robertson plays the entire thing for wicked camp. Cumbersome, oh yes, very much so. There’s so much style to burn here that it ends up having a weird cancelling effect on the overall product.
