''Guardians of Oz'' ( es, Guardianes de Oz; released internationally as ''Wicked Flying Monkeys'') is a 2015

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n 3D

computer animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refer ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

film, directed by Alberto Mar and executive produced by Jorge Gutierrez. The film was produced by Ánima Estudios, Discreet Arts, and distributed by FilmSharks International. The film is the first English-language and flagship CG production for Ánima Estudios,AFM: Film Sharks Toons Up Anima’s Feature ‘Save Oz’ (EXCLUSIVE) , Variety
/ref> as well as the studio's biggest production and is described as Mexico's biggest animated production.

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

's take on the early 20th century ''Wizard of Oz'' books by L. Frank Baum, it features an original story and new characters, and was released theatrically on 10 April 2015 in

. It was released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy w ...

on 24 January 2017 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and features the voices of Mikey Bolts,

Ambyr Childers Ambyr C. Childers (born July 18, 1988) is an American actress known for her portrayal of Susan Atkins in the NBC crime drama '' Aquarius'', Ashley Rucker in the Showtime crime drama ''Ray Donovan'', and Candace Stone in the Lifetime/Netflix t ...

, and Jenn McAllister.

Plot

After the Wicked Witch of the West is melted by a bucket of water, and Dorothy is sent back to her world,

Glinda Glinda is a fictional character created by L. Frank Baum for his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's 1900 children's classic ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', and is the most powerful sorceress in the Land of Oz, ruler of the Quadling Coun ...

, the Good Witch of the South, decides to revive the Wicked Witch and remove her powers by storing them in a magic broom. Glinda then gives the magical broom to Dorothy's friends,

Tin Woodman Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, also known as the Tin Man or—mistakenly—the "Tin Woodsman," is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. Baum's Tin Woodman first appeared in his classic 1900 book '' ...

Cowardly Lion The Cowardly Lion is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is depicted as an African lion, but like all animals in Oz, he can speak. Since lions are supposed to be "The Kings of Beasts," the Cowardly ...

, and

Scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesle ...

, and they become the guardians of the broom. Evilene, the Wicked Witch, conspires with her Flying Monkeys to retrieve her broom. However, a friendly little monkey named Ozzy forgets to close the gate of the castle and a battle ensues between the flying monkeys and the 'Bums of Oz.' Evilene retrieves her broom and repels the Champions of Oz from the castle. She then punishes Ozzy's father, transforming him into a chicken. Angered by the witch's spell on his father, Ozzy steals the broom from Evilene and runs away from the palace. Ozzy reaches Glinda to find she has been paralyzed by accidentally drinking a magic potion created by her niece Gabby, who is unable to create an antidote without a vital ingredient based on wood. Gabby and Ozzy set off to find the Champions of Oz. They are pursued by the other Flying Monkeys. They soon find

, who is out of sorts due to the witch's spell, but with some effort they guide him to the north town, where they find the

, who is extremely depressed by the spell. The spell-raged Lion smashes the Tin Man to bits, but calms down when Ozzy accidentally hits him with the magic broom. Ozzy, Gaby, and the Cowardly Lion take the Tin Man's parts to the Library of Oz where (due to the spell) Scarecrow is obsessively reading books in an effort to become more intelligent. He quickly repairs Tin with the help from a clue. However, the group is attacked by the Flying Monkeys, and in the chaos Ozzy cures Scarecrow of the spell's effects, but they are unable to save Gabby from being whisked away by the Flying Monkeys. The group arrives in Emerald City where the Wicked Witch gives an ultimatum to Ozzy to return the broom. The Guardians of Oz challenge the Witch but they are quickly defeated. Ozzy decides to break the broom in order to remove Evilene's powers for good, and tells the rest of the winged monkeys that they obey Evilene due to their dumb and cowardly mindset. The Monkeys rebel against Evilene who discovers there is some power left in the broom and tries to defeat Ozzy who escapes with a part of the broom. A chase through the streets of Emerald City ends with a crash in the fountain dedicated to Dorothy Gale, and the wicked witch is melted for good. As the story ends, Glinda breaks Evilene's spell on Ozzy's father and Ozzy learns how to fly on his own, being recognized as a hero by all of Oz.

Cast

Spanish cast

* Héctor Emmanuel Gómez as Ozzy * Susana Zavaleta as Eviline * Loreto Peralta as Gabby *

Raúl Araiza Raúl Araiza (; born Raúl Araiza Herrera on 14 November 1964) is a Mexican actor and television presenter. He studied drama in the Centro de Educación Artística of Televisa. Filmography Awards and nominations References External ...

as Yicky * Jorge "El Burro" van Rankin as Gak

English dub cast

* Steve Cannon (U.K.) / Mikey Bolts (U.S.) as Ozzy *

Melissa Hutchison Melissa Hutchison is an American voice actress, who is well known for her voice role as Clementine in '' The Walking Dead'' and its sequels, for which she won ''Best Performance by a Female'' at the 2013 Spike Video Game Awards and was nominated ...

(U.K.) / Jenn McAllister (U.S.) as Gabby * Stephanie Komure (U.K.) /

(U.S.) as Eveline * Chuck Kourouklis as Lion * Jeff Minnerly as Scarecrow *

Dino Andrade Dino may refer to: Prefix * dino-, a common prefix in taxonomy, meaning "terrible", "formidable" **Dinosaur People * Dino (given name), a masculine given name and a nickname * Dino (surname), a surname found in Albania and Turkey * Diño, a sur ...

as Tin Woodman / Gak

Production

Animation

The film's animation was done by Discreet Arts Productions in

and co-produced by Ánima Estudios. "We believe the ideal medium for this ambitious story was the use of 3D, hence the effort to use this technique for the first time in one of our movies," said producer Jose C. Garcia de Letona. He also said that the "experience has been very satisfying and we want to repeat it for our next project," which became ''

Top Cat Begins ''Top Cat Begins'' (also known in Spanish as ''Don Gato: El Inicio de la Pandilla'', ''Top Cat: The Start of the Gang'') is a 2015 computer-animated comedy film, produced by Ánima Estudios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures in Mexico. ...

'', animated by the same studio.

Designs

In addition to writing the story,

Jorge R. Gutierrez Jorge R. Gutierrez (born 1975) is a Mexican animator, director, painter, writer, voice actor, and production designer. He co-created (with wife, Sandra Equihua) the Annie and Emmy Award-winning Ni cktoon '' El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Ri ...

, along with his wife, Sandra Equihua, have designed the characters. In an interview with

Cartoon Brew Cartoon Brew is an animation news website created by Amid Amidi and animation historian Jerry Beck that was launched in 2004. Cartoon Dump It also created ''Cartoon Dump'', a weekly podcast showing poorly made TV cartoons featuring ''Mystery Sc ...

, he told them that “working with the amazing Mexican artists at Ánima Estudios was a blast! This film is yet another encouraging sign of the endless talent currently brewing in my beloved Mexico.”

Release

The film's teaser premiered on February 11, 2014. As of 19 May 2014, it has been reported that the film was sold to Top Films Distribution (Eastern Europe), Shooting Star (Middle East) and Cine Colombia (Colombia). With the budget of $55 million pesos ($4.5 million USD), it is the most expensive film produced by Ánima Estudios. The film's official Mexican trailer was released on 16 January 2015. The English-language trailer was released on 1 April 2015. The film was later screened at the

2015 Cannes Film Festival The 68th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 2015. Joel and Ethan Coen were the Presidents of the Jury for the main competition. It was the first time that two people chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers each received a separate ...

. The film was released on DVD in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

on February 13, 2017,The Guardians of Oz
eOne Films UK. Accessed on January 18, 2017. distributed by eOne. It was originally set to be released between in Q4 2015/Q1 2016 before its delay. Grindstone Entertainment and

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

released this film in the

on January 24, 2017 in

straight-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was ...

format.

Box office

On its opening weekend in

, the film opened at #3, grossing $13.1 million pesos ($0.79 million USD). It has grossed $21.8 million pesos in total.

References

External links

Official website (in Spanish)
*
Wicked Flying Monkeys 3D (aka Save OZ!) by Alberto Mar .:FILM SHARKS:.
* {{Oz 2015 films 2015 3D films 2015 computer-animated films 2010s children's animated films 2010s children's comedy films 2010s fantasy adventure films Ánima Estudios films Animated films based on The Wizard of Oz Animated films based on children's books 2010s children's adventure films 2010s children's fantasy films Films directed by Alberto Mar Indian animated films Indian 3D films Mexican animated films Mexican children's films 2010s Spanish-language films Films about witchcraft 2015 comedy films 2010s English-language films 2010s Mexican films