Tonight, I took 4 kids to see ‘Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return,’ the first children’s movie of the year (yes, it’s May) to feature a female protagonist. For that reason alone, I recommend ‘Dorothy’ for your kids. There will be a total of 18 children’s movies starring males in 2014, while just 6 will star females. Your kids will get a handful of chances to see a female be front and center. Note that in the poster below, Dorothy is insulated by 8 male characters, making her a Minority Feisty. The china doll on the right is another Minority Feisty. The third MF in the movie is Glinda, who spends most of the movie as a puppet.

Crowd scenes were male dominated, whether they were soldiers, flying monkeys, judges, police, or trees, females mostly went missing. But, Dorothy is the star of this film. She is heroic, she’s “the one” to save Oz, and she saves her hometown too. All this is a rarity in children’s movies, so I hate to write this, but there’s something almost unbearably bland about Dorothy. I wish she had more personality, was funny or silly, something. I never, not for one minute, lost myself in this movie.

Every time I see a mediocre Oz movie (recall last year’s James Franco vehicle) I pray Hollywood will make a movie about Ozma, the rightful ruler of the land over the rainbow. I’ve adored Ozma since I was a kid, she’s such a great character. Hollywood, are you listening?

Beggars can’t be choosers. Also, I’m 45, and the kids with me, ages 5 – 10 seemed into ‘Dorothy,’ so Reel Girl rates ‘Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return’ ***HH***