User reviews

I have come across who like this movie and some that don't so much, sometimes downright hate it even. As for me, I don't love or dislike Wizards. It is certainly an interesting movie, and is certainly better than Cool World, but as far as Bakshi's movies go I do much prefer Heavy Traffic and American Pop. Wizards' flaws have been covered a number of times in previous reviews, but I do share my agreement with some that have been brought up. The dialogue I don't think has been a general strength in Bakshi's movies but I did find it very corny here. The soundtrack also felt a little cheesy and perhaps too 70s, and the pacing is awkward, often feeling sluggish. I had mixed feelings on the story, it was a great idea and while simple was generally interesting and engaged me once I got over its strangeness. But I did have issues with the narration; not since Don Bluth's Rock a Doodle have I seen an animated movie with such an (I feel) unnecessary overuse of narration. However, the film does look wonderful, the characters do look too cartoony but I liked their rough-around-the-edges charm and the backgrounds and colours are stylish and beautiful. The characters while on the stereotypical side are at least likable and engaging, I did find myself rooting for Avatar. The voice acting is solid on the whole. Overall, decent film and underrated but too flawed for me to consider it a masterpiece. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This cartoon was one of those in the seventies when animation was almost dead. A few folks revived it with movies like Fritz the Cat, Lord of the Rings, Fire and Ice and Wizards. Although Wizards didn't do well during the prime time, it rocked as a midnight movie.

But, even with the simple plot, engaging characters and sporadic humor, one gets the impression that this movie was not well-planned. There is conventional animation, rotoscoping and overexposed film sometimes being used on the same screen. It also seems that they ran out of money and had to resort to stills with a narrator (nice voice)...

You'd think that this would make the movie worse; however, it gives the movie a charm that a slicker production wouldn't have...

One thing i'll say for Ralph Bakshi's cult classic "Wizards": Its got brains. The whole political allegory coupled with a cautionary tale about fascism, propaganda and the amorality of technology really worked here. Rarely do you get this sort of thing in animated movies back in the 70s. The fact that it is coupled with an overall "fairy tale-ish" look that seems more at home among those cheap "ages 3 to 8" cartoons makes the viewing experience a very unique one.

It really is too bad that so much time and effort went into developing the whole underlying political themes that nothing much else went into the aspects of the film that would matter to most people, aka the dialog and the animation itself.

Though the story is simple enough to follow, the characters come across as just plain boring thanks to, IMO, horribly written lines and sub-par acting. Aside from Blackwolf the evil wizard and his good brother wizard Avatar, the rest of the characters sound like they are reading off a bedtime storybook and not engaging in dialog. Emoting comes in two extremes; either the actors ham up their parts to the point of annoyance, or there is hardly a hint of emotion behind the voices. Dialogue style also seems to inconsistently switch between an archaic "Shakespeare play" style (common in most fairy tale animated movies) and a typical "everyman" speaking style (how me and my neighbor would talk), sometimes within the same scene and by the same character.

I found it really difficult to get emotionally involved in the show. All of them have a stylized and even marginally grotesque look to them. Even the "good guys" like the elves have yellow eyes and sharp teeth; and the sub-standard animation did not help either. The animation is about as bad a cheap Flintstones holiday special with numerous animation short cuts like looping motion, re-used stock footage and out of sync sound effects. A good deal of rotoscoping was thrown in and I usually have no problems with that, Except in this case, the rotoscoped images were not "drawn over". There was no attempt to make the rotoscoped images blend with the style of the animation which led to a very disjointed feel during the battle scenes. The only time this jarring clash of animation styles actually worked was during the final climatic battle where the surreal images and the hauntingly dark rotoscoped footage effectively conveyed the hectic confusion of a real battlefield.(though i question the choice of retro jazzy background music)

To be honest, I found myself rooting most for Blackwolf's green gas-masked soldiers. ("THEY KILLED FRITZ!!"). Their little moments in the film really managed to get a chuckle out of me; they had a certain loony toons-like charm about them.

With a larger budget and a more experienced production team, Wizards could have been an avant garde work of art that entertains as well as conveys a message. What I discovered was an averagely animated film that does convey a message but falls short in the "entertainment" aspect. A couple of witty one liners here and there and some lush painted backgrounds is not enough to save this film from its numerous flaws.

By today's standards, Wizards will hardly be able to garner a mainstream following, nor would it impress the younger viewers anytime soon. It pains me to say this, but Wizards may forever remain as merely a cult classic curiosity of the 70s.

This is one of the most brilliant movies ever made. Though the film alters in tone quite often from dark and moody to light and whimsical, it's one of my all time favorite movies. It's Ralph Bakshi's first film aimed at children, but it's actually very intense, violent battle sequences, some mild adult language, suggestive material, and some dark themes that are more suited for older audiences. It's a story of Avatar and Blackwolf, two wizard brothers. Avatar rules the peaceful kingdom of Montagar with wisdom and magic, while the evil Blackwolf rules the dark land of Scortch with technology and war.

It's a great combination of science fiction and fantasy set years into a strange post apocalyptic future where broken tanks, guns, and Nazi propaganda are regarded as ancient artifacts. Wonderful supporting characters include Weehawk, a courageous and cynical elf, Elinore, a young fairy princess whom Avatar is in love with, and Necron 99, a robotic assassin who is turned into a good robot named Peace. This movie has a great deal of symbolism and is very thought provoking, it deals with the power of propaganda and the dangers of the over reliance on technology.

I was impressed by the surreal and creative animation, and I was mesmerized by the mystical and otherworldly music score. The film's climax is brilliant and fits the overall tone of the film. Treat yourself to a symbolic retro-future style film loaded with psychedelic animation, memorable characters, and a truly wonderful adventure that will transport you to a whole new world set ten million years into the distant future.

Ralph Bakshi, the man you might know best as the director of that animated The Lord of the Rings film, has in fact had a long and illustrious career as an animator of the weird and bizarre. His films are rarely all that politically correct, kid-friendly or even sane. So, what if he decided to direct a family-oriented fantasy epic?

Well... it would morph into an allegory about the founding of the nation of Israel, the use of propaganda in the Nazi war machine and the struggle between the forces of natural world and the industrial revolution. Nazi flags and swastikas would feature prominently, the main protagonist would be a drug abusing garden gnome lookalike, with a love interest so skimpily dressed that it would not even fly in most strip clubs, and would feature enough gore, horror imagery and acid trip sequences to satisfy even the legendary Caligula.

You know, for kids!

So yeah, the film certainly didn't hit its once intended mark, but when you put that aside, the film itself is actually quite a lot of fun. Sure, it goes bat guano insane with remarkable frequency, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, is pretty inconsistent when it comes to the quality of animation, contains numerous plot holes and errors, and is all around just a blatant mess. But what a glorious mess it is! This is pure let your jaw hang loose and just take it in kind of experience. The film makers were clearly taking something while animating and you can get the last remaining whiffs of that from this film.

Is it for everyone? Absolutely not! It's offensive, insane and unhinged. But, if that sounds like fun to you, you're in for a ride. My advice: bring booze.

The earth had suffered countless nuclear blasts after five terrorists set off the first explosion. The world is a struggle between powers of Technology and Magic. It took 2 million years to allow the sky to clear. In the good areas, the true ancestors of humans; fairies, elves and dwarfs, have returned to live in peace. In the desolate places, humans have changed into mutants. Delia queen of the fairies has given birth to twin wizards Avatar and Blackwolf. After the death of Delia, Blackwolf tries to assume the role of dictator and Avatar is able to defeat him. Blackwolf vows to return and rule the planet. In the badlands, he becomes the Führer of Scortch ruling mutants and restoring ancient technology. Eventually he finds an old projector with Nazi military propaganda. He uses magic to create a powerful weapon against the elf army. Meanwhile Avatar becomes the president's daughter Elinore. Blackwolf sends the robot Necron 99 and successfully assassinates the president. Avatar reprograms the robot and renames it Peace.

It's a post-apocalyptic world of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth if the evil side copied the Nazis. The use of live action war footage in the animation gives the Ralph Bakshi unique vision of the artform. It has the sensibilities of 70s animation including some borderline jokes and a highly sexual fairy. The look is iconic and memorable. It also tries to make a statement about the power of propaganda. This really sticks with you.

Ralph Bakshi wrote, produced and directed this animated combination of the post-apocalypse and fantasy genres, in which two brothers, Avatar (voice of Bob Holt) and Blackwolf (voice of Steve Gravers) both grow up with magical powers. The thing is, Avatar is a good guy and Blackwolf is just plain evil. Avatar goes on a quest to face and vanquish his putrid sibling, accompanied by an elf named Weehawk (voice of Richard Romanus) and a fairy princess named Elinore (voice of Jesse Welles).

Largely aimed at a younger audience than previous Bakshi films, "Wizards" still does offer some pretty intense battle sequences, some cartoon gore, and a little suggestiveness (such as how Elinore is dressed throughout). What makes it interesting is that Avatar rules his kingdom of Montagar benevolently and kindly, while Blackwolf relies on weapons and technology, and also uses Adolf Hitler as a role model. Blackwolf reaches into Earths' past and appropriates Nazi propaganda to brainwash his minions, leading to some inspired use of live action sequences within the frame.

Nowadays viewers are much more conditioned to computer generated images, but for the time this was made, this remains a fine example of traditional hand-drawn animation. Some of the images are quite striking, and character and creature design are enjoyable, as elves and mutants ultimately engage in war.

The vocal performances are wonderful, especially from Holt; also lending their voices are David Proval (Romanus' co-star in "Mean Streets") and Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill.

A short-and-sweet running time (81 minutes) and a rousing score composed by Andrew Belling further assist in making this an enjoyable feature, if not as satisfying overall as Bakshis' later "Fire and Ice".

Seven out of 10.

I found this movie as a teen and used to show it to friends the morning after parties. It's sort of a Saturday morning cartoon gone horribly awry. I've never seen animation like it before, though I understand Bakshi has other stuff out there. I like it better than Heavy Metal and American Pop. I found it while looking for Rock and Rule, which I didn't find very memorable. This, however, I saw once and had to see again! Everyone I've shown it to has liked it- it's a sci-fi fantasy cartoon with a moral message and enough plot and humor to keep things interesting. Again, great morning after type stuff, though perhaps a bit intense and/or slow at times.

This was one of the only three Bakshi films I have seen along with "Hey, Good Lookin" and "Cool World". Wizards is the one I remember the most. I saw it when I was 9 at the theatre and was absolutely enamored with all the imagery, characters and animation. This is a story of Good Versus Evil personified between twin brothers. Avatar is the good and friendly little chubby wizard. Blackwolf is the sinister and evil leader of the army of mutants and neo-Nazis. I also adored the beautiful Elinore and all the cute little cherubs and creatures. The character of Peace was my favorite. This is a cartoon that I enjoyed seeing as a child, but didn't fully understand its underlying political and moral messages till I was an adult. I wish Ralph Bakshi had a protégé who could revive and continue his work, because this surreal animation can be very powerful and direct when handled properly. Wizards may suffer from its cut-rate budget, but there is enough production quality and rotoscoping to enhance its appeal. The whole idea of this animated film stands solid on its own merits.

Ah, Wizards. Now this is a movie that newsgroups love to pick apart. But look past it's cheapness and it's technical flaws, and you'll find an underrated gem of animation. Although oddly structured (our protagonists don't set off on their quest until about half an hour into the movie) and weighed down with exposition, Wizards tells a good story, the art is excellent, and it has one of the coolest animated battles I've ever

seen... think Ralph Bakshi does Braveheart.

This was on IFC about a week ago, and I think Wizards is pretty damn cool.

I may have misjudged it a little bit because I was very tired, so I may not have gotten the full effect of the film, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless.

Wizards is a little simple on the outside (Good vs. Evil) but it turns into more depth with the characters take their full stance on the situations at hand (the assassin become Peace).

I'm going to look for this movie so I can give it another watch and give a firm and final stance on my opinions of it, but I don't think i'm too off the mark with a 7 out of 10.

Good watch, good times.

First of all let me say that I love movies. In addition to that general love of film, there's a special place in my heart for animated films. So when I finally saw the DVD of "Wizards" I had hoped to see an overlooked classic. Instead, I sat through a poorly animated, horribly written waste of 83 minutes.

The biggest problem with this film is the story. None of the characters really came to life with believable personality, and had no motivation for what they said or did. The notable exception was Necron 99, who was fascinating. Underused in this film, his character could support an entire feature or comic book line. The attempt at humor was lacking to say the least. But as unfunny as it was, the heavy-handed attempt at allegory was even more disappointing. Much more effective than using real 20th century Nazi symbols would have been to use icons reminiscent of this familiar imagery. Yet, we are supposed to believe a wizard has found a working projector and reels of film from MILLIONS of years ago and by showing the old propaganda film, it will magically inspire the enemy and demoralize the good guys? Not to mention that in addition to the projector, that tanks, guns, and ammo from WWII survived a nuclear holocaust 2 million years prior?

Then there is the issue of the animation itself. I'm all for rotoscopic animation when used to good effect. However, the shadow army in this film is atrocious. How many times did Bakshi think he could use the same frames of rotoscopic animation as well as traditional animation over and over in the same film? It just looked lazy. The only characters that looked like they had been designed with any thought were Necron 99 (once again, the only character I liked) and the gas-masked troops of Blackwolf.

If you want to see a great animated feature from this time period, see "The Hobbit" (Rankin-Bass, 1977). If you want to see an example of a wonderful story redeeming poor animation, see "The Black Cauldron" (Disney, 1985). But skip "Wizards" if you value your time.

When one imagines wizards, usually knights, mounts, damsels, and dragons come to mind almost exclusively. But would one think of the haunting memories of the holocaust, or any actions Hitler's Nazi Regime took whenever magic-wielding wizards are mentioned? Not likely.

Bakshi's able to pit the essence of fantasy against the monstrosity of an ever-growing being we call "technology." The animation is simple (albeit complex and interesting at times) yet unique, the characters are conflicted and well-developed, and the twisted, somewhat random humor adds a twist of reality in a seemingly hopeless world. Definitely a movie to watch and a movie to criticize in its own rite.

I first watched this film at the tender age of 9 and even then found it awfully sloppy and crude by animation or narrative standards. Bakshi claims that this movie is aimed at kids, and while I have to admit it's a lot more kid-friendly than something like COONSKIN or HEAVY TRAFFIC, there ain't a lot here for kids to like.

Truly, this film doesn't hold up too well with a lot of unsuccessful blending of animation with rotoscoped footage, which, to be honest is more often just processed film than it is truly "rotoscoped", which would imply actual work went into it. The final battle scene is actually pretty hard to tell what in the Hades is going on with so many reused cells and ugly roto'd stock footage. I'm happy to see that his techniques in this area blended together much more beautifully in his next 3-4 films, the high point of which would be FIRE AND ICE.

Too much of the script feels awfully first drafty. For instance the villains of the piece don't really seem to have much motivation for their desire to destroy the world beyond just the usual "oh, they're evil" mentality. Similarly, none of the heroes are likable or even the slightest bit interesting aside from the criminally underused Peace, the red uniform wearing android from the cover.

However, I have to hand it to Bakshi for making up for his lack of resources with a lot of heart and a lot of love in rampant abundance. The most successful portions of this film are the side-vignettes showcasing the ridiculous villains. The scenes in "Skortch" are wonderfully gloomy and campy, complemented quite well by Andrew Belling's excellent (though at times quite dated) score. A lot of the vignettes are quite funny, though the success and amount of humor follows with the rest of the film's elements as being quite inconsistent.

WIZARDS is a film with a lot of little things in it to appreciate even though the film as a whole is disjointed, cruddy, and rather tedious. I can say though that I'm glad I own it and watch it once every few years just because at the very least it's a great mood piece and has a much more personal & creative feel to it than most more recent animated features.

While I haven't seen everything by the man, I have nothing but the up most respect for animation auteur, Ralph Bakshi. Had it not been for this man and his influential work, independent, adult and even television animation would not have prospered up to the point of The Simpsons, the works of Don Hertzfeldt, anything good on adult swim, and a lot of creator driven cartoons on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, or even Disney. So let's go back to the late 70s, when Bakshi decided to take a break from adult animation to give us his first "family" film, Wizards. The result is a flawed albeit thought provoking and intriguing fantasy film that still remains in tact after 40 years.

The story is about two wizard brothers named Avatar (the peaceful wizard who rules with wisdom and magic) and Blackwolf (The evil ruler of the dark land Scortch with technology under his belt to wage war). What we get is a great social commentary of an evil sorcerer trying to let science and technology rule over peace and prosperity for his own selfish needs, kinda like old dictators who used whatever they could to take over. The characters themselves, while not the most developed, definitely shine with their roles. Avatar is the good hearted wizard who struggles whether to use his powers for good or bad reasons, the robot Peace also struggles with siding between killing those who are good or preserving them, Weehawk is definitely a bad ass you don't want to mess with, and while Eleanor and Blackwolf are the least memorable characters, the savagery that Blackwolf inflicts on his creatures is just gut wrenching and Eleanor is pretty decent eye candy if nothing else.

The animation shows that it was made cheap, yet it still retains itself with it's own style, whether it be the cartoonish designs, the mystic colorful backgrounds, the comic book style storyboards, and especially usage of the rotoscoping that really gives the film an old school feel to it. This is one of the grimmest and vibrantly colorful films I've seen in quite some time, and it looks so unique that it's worthy viewing to gain a sense of 70s animation.

The movie isn't without it's flaws though. The editing can come off as a little uneven and choppy at times, some of the voice-acting is kinda wooden, , and let's just say the final confrontation isn't as epic as the rotoscoped battle scenes. Otherwise, if you're looking for a time capsule to the 70s that takes a great approach to the fight between peace and technology, then find Wizards any way you can. It's certainly worth a watch if you're into post apocalyptic films as much as the next guy.

In a post-apocalyptic Earth there are two warring wizards--Avatar who is good and Blackwolf who is evil. Over the years Blackwolf amasses a huge army of mutants and ancient war weapons like guns and tanks and attacks Avatar and his peace-loving friends. Avatar seems totally unable to defeat him and Blackwolf may rule the world.

To say this is weird is an understatement. After a needlessly plot heavy prologue it throws us right into a story with bad dialogue, unfunny comedy and unlikable characters. This is also WAY too violent for a PG rated film--the war scenes are incredibly bloody and graphic. And one fairy (Elinore) is way too underdressed for a "family" film. However the visuals are never dull. There's some incredible mixing of live action and animation and there's always something to look at it. Also the animation itself is just great. I can't say this was a good movie (the plot and characters are a little TOO strange) but I was never bored. This is perfect for older teenagers and adults looking for something different. NOT for kids despite the rating.

Ralph Bakshi is one of those animators I never grew to like. His films are adult, but not necessarily mature. Some find social commentary in his work - I just find him raunchy for the sake of edge.

Wizards is one of his tamer works (It was released as a PG film). Is it a parody of high fantasy tales? Is it a violent, sexy take of the genre? Kinda both, kinda neither. Wizards is surprisingly uninteresting, plain and average. If it weren't for some adult themes, it would be forgettable, only remembered as a childhood classic by the middle aged. The characters are stock, and the plot offers little innovation. Bakshi states its about technology, and the plight of the Jewish people. Those were the last things on my mind during this movie.

Yeah, people get shot. There are fairies in skimpy clothing. But outside a scene here and there, the plot itself is borderline family friendly. Its actually not adult enough, not so outrageous to have a guilty fun time. And fantasy fans won't have much to take away from it, besides the odd point of Nazi propaganda used to as mind control. Its a dumb plot device - those tapes mean nothing without the context of the culture and time.

It does get credit for doing what few films do. There aren't many adult animated films in the west, especially in fantasy. The animation's quality is alright, considering the budget and the time. The use of rotoscope is pretty bad in a few scenes.

Some thought the ending was clever. Let's just say I didn't. >:I

If you adore fantasy and animation, you could watch this. If not, I wouldn't recommend it.

This is one of the trio of Ralph Bakshi animated features that appeared in cinemas in the 70's. The most high profile was his adaption of The Lord of the Rings, while his most respected was the subversive Fritz the Cat. Wizards falls somewhere between these two. It combines the fantasy world of the former with the adult themes of the latter. As a result it is a bizarre and somewhat uneven feature that is undoubtedly somewhat unique. Like Fantastic Planet and Heavy Metal, it falls into that small group of animated movies that can be considered bona fide cult movies.

Its story has a couple of twins, one good (Avatar) and one evil (Blackwolf) fight one and other for domination; the former with magic, the latter with technology. This is our world in the future, a world of elves and wizards. Old war machinery and Nazi propaganda films are rediscovered by evil beings and used as a means to militarily conquer weaker peoples. It's quite clear that the story as such presents a cautionary tale. It suggests that uncontrolled technology is a very bad thing, while it also reiterates the evil of fascism. What, of course, is so strange with all of this is that it is presented within the framework of an all-out fantasy adventure cartoon. Wizards is a good example of one of the earliest examples of animation that was consciously moving away from children's stories. In truth, though, the story here isn't all that great and the characters not especially good. For this reason, the film never fully engages.

In terms of visual artistry Wizards is something of a mixed bag. It combines traditional animation alongside detailed still drawings, real footage and rotoscoping. The latter always feels like a bit of a cheap way to do animation but it is done here more successfully than it was in Bakshi's later Lord of the Rings. It's used in a more stylised way here and doesn't seem so out-of-place. The various art styles are put together in what has to be termed a multi-media approach. I think it mainly works and certainly gives the film a different look and feel. Some of the animated characters are a little poor though such as the character of Avatar who looks ridiculously comical. This juxtaposition of children's comic characters with decidedly heavy imagery such as swastikas and Nazi footage is weird to say the least. The scene where cartoon characters watch old Nazi films is certainly very memorable.

In the final analysis Wizards is a strange movie. Not an entirely successful one but at least it was daring to be different. For fans of cult 'toons this is a must though.

Ralph Bakshi was a one of a kind filmmaker. He actually created his own genre. No one else has ever tried to make movies like the ones he made. "Wizards" takes a little while to get going but that doesn't really matter. It's consistently watchable. This movie makes me wonder what Bakshi could have done done if he ever had a real budget. Oh by the way, despite what my daughter says "Wizards" isn't just for aging stoners.

I like Ralph's work. But was kind of unsure about Wizards. Many reviews said the story makes no sense and the film is amateurish. Okay, after watching the thing... let's make things clear:

1. The story DOES make sense. You just have to watch the film several times, very carefully.

2. The animation is quite good. For you all who likes perfection (are you sure you even know the meaning of the word?), in "making of" Ralph himself states he does not care about cleanliness, as long as a movie has soul.

3. About elves with Brooklyn accents. Have you ever seen an elf??? Do you know how they speak? Or do you think they come from Wales exclusively?

4. I said everything above. ^

I love this movie. It is one of the foundational movies of my childhood. The epic battle between good and evil is played out in an entertaining format, cast in the typical "coercion" v. "freedom" format of the era. From start to finish the movie is fresh, clever, entertaining and even a bit inspiring - though not preachy. I loved the voices chosen - they added exactly the right flavor to the characters.

Are not we all wizards in our own realms, playing the part of one extreme or the other (at times, at least)? This isn't the best made movie, but the story is strong and the movie is never boring. It is timeless yet connects well with "now" - both chronologically and psychologically.

Maybe it was because I saw this while staying up really late but I found Wizards boring after a while and a little confused as a result. Having said that, I did like some of the humor presented here, my favorite being the "They killed Fritz!" segment that I recognized as Ralph Bakshi's reaction to Robert Crumb's killing his beloved underground comic cat character after Bakshi's adopting Fritz for the big screen. Some of the battle scenes with footage of Hitler and his men and silhouette of various live-action movie battle reenactments of World War II mixed with animated depictions of blood also were pretty interesting. And the way the good wizard dealt with his bad wizard brother made a satisfying ironic touch to this magic vs. technology parable. It just seemed to fall apart, however, as the narration kept giving so much exposition that I just couldn't keep up. Maybe another viewing would clear my mind of all the goings on here but for now I'm giving this one a 5.