My Amazon DVD Reviews: Ralph Bakshi's "Wizards"

Family Friendly from Fritz The Cat?
4 Out Of 5 Stars

I saw this movie when I was in High School, in a grindhouse type of theater and - at the ripe age of 17 - thought it was fantastic. After all, it had crazy (read not Disney) weird animation, wizards, and seemed really 'adult' at the time. It took me a few more years before I discovered "Heavy Metal" magazine, but Ralph Bakshi's "Wizards" was probably as close as I got to an introduction to that kind of underground comic style.

For whatever reason, I felt a pique of interest in watching it some 35 years later. While I still admire what Bakshi did with an eccentric and new style of animation, "Wizards" has lost a little of its fascination over time. Bakshi (who started his career doing Terryoons for TV like "Deputy Dawg") wanted to prove he could do more than his controversial adult 'toons like "Fritz The Cat" or "Heavy Traffic." He also started using trace animation and the coloring in of stock footage, which makes for odd effect. But how Bakshi would consider this "family fair" is baffling, as the fairies and dwarves may be cute and fun, but the themes are strictly for grown-ups.

In the war between the brother wizards Avatar and BlackWolf between magic and technology, the flagrant use of Nazi footage sure skips the subtlety of any message, and the heroine is clearly showing her nipples under her sheer fairy wear. (As to the Anti-Nazi themes, one needs to remember that Bakshi's family came to the US to escape persecution in WWII.) The jokes are often forced and poorly timed, with the 'goons' of BlackWolf's army often slipping into slapstick that - while dopey at age 17 - now seem like jaggedly improper fits. Still, Bakshi's vision for "Wizards" was unlike anyone else making animation at the time, and kin only to R. Crumb.

I also have to admit that I am giving the "Wizards" DVD a bonus star because of the bonus feature interview with Bakshi. He talks about the politics of making the film, interesting tidbits about being pals with George Lucas and making his film the same time Lucas was readying "Star Wars," and inside stories about becoming an animator in the early 60's. His talk explains a lot about the quirks in "Wizards" as well as his future "Lord Of The Rings" movie. Even more illuminating is hearing Bakshi explain that "Wizards" is his favorite among his creations, and the only one he ever has sat down for an interview upon its DVD release. To swipe from a title of one of his other movies, "Wizards" is a really Cool World.