There's a strong moral focus to Dee & Friends in Oz that helps keep it from being just a distraction for young children. The series logically continues the theme of outsiders learning to overcome their insecurities and courses this lesson through "Dorothy" herself—with much less peril and wicked witches involved, of course. But the show also finds itself stuck in the ways it expresses itself; the world of Oz here is both colorful and too ordinary, and its storytelling is both sincere and too rigid in its structure. For example, when Dee comes back home to the real world at the end of each episode, it's meant to feel as if she's applying the moral lessons to her daily life, but the connection is just too flimsy and makes these scenes feel more like unrelated epilogues.

It's not the most polished children's animated series in the world, but when Dee & Friends in Oz lets itself be a little weirder, its art direction shines. Talking trees, for one, are still just about as eerie as they're meant to be, though not necessarily in a way that would psychologically scar your kids. It's good to see the show take risks, even if they're few and far between.