Wizards

[Chopper]

i bought this on DVD and i was listening to the director's commentary, which is quite interesting. then i hopped on IMDB to see what the masses thought about it, and much to my suprise it had a low rating along with a lot of bad comments.

i know it's a little old, and the animation isn't as high-tech as a lot of today's stuff. but there's just something about this film i've always liked.

anyone else seen it?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076929/

and for Andrew's review:
http://www.badmovies.org/movies/wizards/index.html

[Fearless Freep]

Loved this movie

[daveblackeye15]

I like this movie quite a lot.

[Metalbeast]

It's been a long time since I last saw this movie(gotta be going on 10 years now), but from what I remember I have fond memories of it.  And is it just me or did that big red mercinary  guy ( I think his name was Peace or something) remind anyone else of Boba Fett from the cartoon on that god awful Star Wars holiday special?

[ED]

Other than the dated look of the rotoscoping and psychedelic appearance (not my thing), I liked it quite a lot.   ITs has a neat story, and my compaints are merely in the choice of style.  
I'd watch it again any time.
-Ed

[AndyC]

Funny, it was the style that I liked. Those sort of surreal 70s animated features bring back a lot of fond memories. The post-hippy years produced a lot of unique entertainment.

[ED]

To be frank I have Rankin-Bass animation nightmares (and don't mention Krafft Brothers!), maybe I'm a  bit too young to "get" the psychedelic stuff.  It was dead or dying as I became aware of TV.  The end fight of Wizards was so cool I was fondly remembering it the other day while mowing.  There are more then one type of magic out there.  
Funny enough I watched "The Hobbit" recently, and I found it sort of teeth-gritting.  It was one of my fondest memories too.  Watched it on network TV in the 70's.
-Ed

[daveblackeye15]

I liked the style of it to(o?). The "film live actors then color it in" technique was done a lot better in this movie than the "Lord of the Rings" movie he did later. The end fight was awesome as well and I liked the ending.

[Yaddo42]

Maybe it was not seeing "Wizards" until after many years of hype from people who had, but I was disappointed by it. In fact the first time I saw it, I fell asleep.

I've never been a big fan of Ralph Bakshi or his way of using rotoscoping, I've always found it off putting for some reason. Also Bakshi strikes me as someone whose ambition exceeds his talent and budgets.

Plus the way some of the scenes jump between being serious dramatic action and Saturday morning kiddie cartoon hijinks (that one chase through the woods springs to mind). And the cheesy use of tinted footage from "Zulu" and other films in the backgrounds just seemed lazy.The whole thing was less "out there" than I was lead to believe, if I had seen it when I was much younger or before I had seen much anime I might feel differently.

Pointless digression related to  "Wizards":  for years there was a comic shop in my town called "Wizards" (the owner even had the poster on display in his front window). The owner made a point of contacting Bakshi or the studio to get permission to use the name (and I guess the poster), he seemed quite proud that he did this. Which seems to have been something of a rarity for him, he used to openly sell bootleg dubs of movies and anime he owned (at huge jacked up prices) and later got "cease and desist" letters from Disney when someone informed them he was running a kind of unlicensed daycare center by charging parents to babysit their kids after school and showing video tapes of their films everyday. Probably one of his employees narc-ed him out, since everyone who ever worked for the guy used to go out of their way to subvert his business.

[Dunners]

Actualyl I hated this movie, I saw it when I was about 9 years old. I dont know why but it's scared me for life.

[jga5000]

I've only seen Heavy Traffic, which is by the same guy. It was good but then the experimental yet too simple animation at some parts kind of were boring. Maybe cause of today's standards and I'm not from that generation.

I'll have to check Wizards, it has an intersting concept.

[Andrew]

I definitely think that "Wizards" is his best work and I like it.  The whole bit with "They killed Fritz!" used to make us almost die laughing.  Don't know why, but it just struck us as funny.  That and Larry.  "Master feeds Larry, Master loves Larry..."

However, I watched the little documentary on the DVD and Bakshi is so full of himself that it actually made me annoyed with him.



Post Edited (08-17-04 18:42)

[AndyC]

Andrew wrote:
> However, I watched the little documentary on the DVD and Bakshi
> is so full of himself that it actually made me annoyed with
> him.

Remember when he got his nose out of joint because Peter Jackson didn't consult him on Lord of the Rings? What a doofus.

Still, that was more of a publicity grab than anything else. Stir up some interest in his crappy version while the story is hot.

My favourite Bakshi creations had to be Rocket Robin Hood and the old Spider Man cartoon. Both were really bad, really fun, and contained some of the laziest animation I've ever seen, although it's a close race.

Bakshi had to be the laziest animater who ever lived, as shown not just by his rotoscoping and tinting of live film, but also by his use of still frames with a bit of movement, frozen characters sliding across the screen, segments reused and recycled again and again, psychedelic paint splotches as background, and the ever popular scenery that keeps repeating itself.

In that light, Wizards is definitely his best work.



Post Edited (08-17-04 19:18)

[peter johnson]

Gee . . .
Well, I for one first saw "Heavy Traffic" when it first came out on the big screen in London in 1973.  This was the unedited X-rated version, with the castrations & God's penis, and the automotive sex-acts, etc., that is simply unavailable these days from anyone.  Check it out:  Only R-rated versions can be purchased.  Fig leaves and deleted scenes.  To hearken back to the AVP thread, a rating sometimes does make a real difference in the whole flavor of what you're getting. I've seen 'em and it ain't the same film.  The tacky live-action ending that you see on the available version was forced on Bakshi by the distributors, who found the original ending too downbeat.
I still find this film -- 30 years and many viewings later -- to be a visionary movie.  Don't call it "animation" if some of the choices bother you.  As a just-plain-movie it works just fine for me.
Lots of Bakshi's background choices -- Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks", the fortune-teller at the carny, the use of the pinball machine,etc., were used as artistic points, not as laziness.  As Jean Cocteau's "Blood of a Poet" unfolds in the time it takes for a 300ft. exhaust chimney, blown up at the base, to collapse to the ground, Heavy Traffic unfolds in the time it takes to play a game of pinball.  Granted, he did use way too much rotoscoping in both Wizards and Rings, but this was ultimately for budgetary reasons more than lack of energy.
Sure, Bakshi comes across like a pompous ass sometimes, but I think he gets slammed for it because he's now quite broke.  If you're rich and act like a pompous ass, people line up to kiss yours.
peter johnson/denny crane

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ralph Bakshi. An underrated director.

"Wizards" An underrated film by an underrated director. Watch the action sequences in the film. He knows how to do an action sequence. Actually, I hold he knows how to do an action sequence  better then most live action directors working today. And I love the final confrontation between Avatar and Blackwolf. And remember "They killed Fritz."